Activation

[SparkleKitty]

Hey everyone. I have a question about something that my Norton Antivirus software has been doing.

I am using Norton Internet Security/Antivirus 2005. In these past two months, a certain problem problem has occured twice. I noticed a little red "x" on the Norton icon on the taskbar, and when I opened Norton up, it said I needed to activate it. I've had this computer for over two years and had this same Norton software the whole time, and it just started to do this recently. This concerns me, because it's not a very good thing to have your antivirus software go out.

Anyone know why it may be doing this?

 

[clintblack]

I used to have that problem. I would usually have to wait a few minutes and the X would go away on its own. However, I have also had my Norton Antivirus crap out on me after working fine for 3 months. Norton software has been getting worse over the years. 2002 and earlier seems to work fine. However, the newer software craps out unexpectedly for no rhyme or reason. I highly recommend you switch to AVG or Avast. They are free and do a much better job.

 

[SparkleKitty]

I always have prople tell me to get AVG, but I'd just rather use Norton since I'm used to it.

I actually tried AVG on my comp once, and it kept on screwing up.

Thanks for your help.

 

[clintblack]

What kind of system do you have? I have loaded AVG on several low end systems and it worked fine. When I used to use Norton, I had that issue with the red X showing up every so often. I would just wait and it would eventually go away. If none of those programs work, it could be indicative of a hard drive issue. Perhaps even a spyware issue. Here is what I would do first:

Download "Ad-aware" and "Spybot Search and Destroy". Get them updated and run them.

If there are no major issues discovered, defrag your system. I do this a lot at work. Doing just that solves a large chunk of the problems I run across.

If Norton is still screwing up, uninstall/reinstall the program. Run all of the updates again and see if that fixes the problem.

 

[SparkleKitty]

It doesn't mess up that often. Maybe once every 2 or 3 months, if even that often.

I've had Adaware and Spybot for some time, and they never find anything.

Also, the part of AVG that doesn't work is the updating. Some told me that Norton can interfere with that.

 

[Pick1]

Have you thought about Norton 360, it's a new product. I loaded it on 2 "client" machines about a month ago, and it seems to work well for them.

PickOne (not an ISP even thou it sez I am)

 

[SparkleKitty]

I have another question....since I'm using the 2005 version, is that going to be too outdated soon? I could I continue using it for another couple of years?

 

[clintblack]

FYI, it is never a good idea to use multiple antivirus programs at once. They tend to cancel each other out. This morning, I had a client do that exact thing. He had Panda Antivirus, McAfee, and AVG all loaded and running at once.

Anyway, back to your other question. I wouldn't spend the money to upgrade Norton. It really isn't worth the money. The updates should continue to cover security holes in the program as well at virus definitions. Norton comes out with a new version of their products every year, but it doesn't mean that they are better. My parents use the 2002 version and it still works fine.

 

[lb63640]

To add a "me too" to clintblack's post, I have an old Win98 machine at home that I let visiting nieces & nephews play games and do homework with. I'm running Norton 2000 on it, and updates are still available, and that version is still going strong.

 

[clintblack]

I would say that the older versions of Norton are better than the newer versions. I had the 2004 version and it was really nice. Then I thought that it would be a good idea to upgrade to 2006 because Symantec had a $20 rebate on it (making it cheaper to upgrade than to update). Well, the program crashed my system and on top of that, Symantec never sent me my rebate. So my opinion of Symantec's products and customer service has since changed.