Norton Internet Security 2002
by Symantec

List Price: $69.99
Our Price: $30.99
You Save: $39.00 (56%)
Availability: Usually ships in 2-3 business days
Buy Used and New: from $0.01 (click here)
Category: Software
See more product details and other editions

Software Summary

Software Reviews of Norton Internet Security 2002

Customer Review: Good concept, MANY pitfalls...
Summary: 2 Stars

First, the good news. NIS's firewall is easy to use and works well. There are plenty of customizable features, good protection against intruders, and awesome cookie-blocking. The Ad Blocking feature is wonderful, though it has issues, as I will soon explain. Norton AntiVirus 2002 (NAV) is, as any Norton user knows, a great antivirus program, and it integrates perfectly into NIS. If NIS could manage to keep all of these components working, this would be one fantastic suite of software.

As other reviewers have noted, NIS has some bugs that Symantec has yet to fix. There is nothing more annoying than having a problem, visiting Symantec's Tech Support website, and finding a lovely "We have no solution to this problem at this time" message. Very polite, Symantec, but not helpful at all. One bug in particular that's causing me some problems involves the Ad Blocking feature. It suddenly does not work anymore... Apparently this has something to do with an update I downloaded with LiveUpdate. Now, correct me if I'm wrong, but aren't updates supposed to *improve* one's software? Hmm.

Another bug involves Norton AntiVirus (NAV). Sometimes, AutoProtect will not be enabled when I start up Windows. If I right-click the tray icon and select "Enable AutoProtect," nothing happens. If I attempt to enable AutoProtect using the NAV menu in NIS, I get a wonderfully useless "Internet Script Error" message. The same thing happens if I try to enable AutoProtect using either the NAV menu in NAV itself or the Options menu for NAV. I found a fix at Symantec's site, but really... What a pain.

Now, for the really messy stuff. The following complaint only applies to Windows XP, as I never had this problem before I upgraded my laptop's OS from Win 98 SE to Win XP. I'm rather good with computers, but know this: Don't even try to uninstall Norton software unless you're a pro. It took me about four hours to uninstall and reinstall NIS after it decided I wasn't allowed to install NAV. Apparently even though I uninstalled NAV using the uninstall tool of Windows, traces of NAV remained. Therefore, whenever I tried to install NIS, it informed me NAV was already installed, even though I had "uninstalled" it. So, I tried using the "Remove NAV" option on the NIS CD after installing NIS without NAV. This didn't work. I uninstalled NIS completely, tried to reinstall it again, and, *surprise*, NAV was supposedly still installed after I supposedly removed it TWICE. At this point, I debated chucking my laptop out the window.

I went to the Tech Support website, desperate for a solution. The only solution I found was to use RNIS.exe and RNAV.exe, two removal utilities available for download at Symantec's site, to remove NIS and NAV from my system "completely." Interestingly, Symantec doesn't provide tech support for people using RNIS.exe and RNAV.exe to remove their products. After using these utilities to remove NIS and NAV, there were *still* traces of these programs on my system. I had to run regedt32.exe (Windows' registry editor) and manually delete all registry keys for NIS and NAV. This took *forever*, and, somehow or another, deleting the registry keys for NIS and NAV messed up my other Norton software programs, Norton Utilities (NU) and Norton CleanSweep (NCS). How fun.

Boiling with rage, I uninstalled NU and NCS, then searched my registry for every single Norton registry entry by searching for the words "Norton," "NAV," "internet security," etc. I also found keys for Norton Personal Firewall (NPF) in my registry, which is interesting since I "uninstalled" NPF before I upgraded to XP. So, now my system was *completely* purged of all references to Norton. Finally, I was able to install NIS, with NAV, completely and without problems. Then, I reinstalled NU and NCS. After hours of work, my computer once again had its once-beloved Norton programs! The big question is, was all of this toil worth it? If the problems I mentioned before I began detailing my uninstall horror did not exist, yes. However, NIS has issues with NAV AutoProtect and Ad Blocking, so I feel cheated.

Everything except Ad Blocking works right now, so I'm fairly content. I'm just glad I have virus protection once again, although I'm angry it took so long to get the stupid thing running! For the everyday Joe who doesn't know much about the inner workings of computers, this product gets one star. You're stuck if you start having problems... Unless you want to give your first-born child to the tech support people, who demand millions of dollars in ransom for solutions to problems their software causes! Thankfully, I've never called that hotline, aware of the garbage involved. For more advanced computer users, I give this product three stars. If you can get past all of this nonsense and get the software to work, the features are great.

To amazon.com customers, I say, "Purchase at your own risk." To Symantec, I say, "Shame on you for lousing up such a great product. If software isn't fully compatible with Win XP (and yes, that includes uninstallation!), don't claim it's compatible!" Sigh. (...)

Description of Norton Internet Security 2002

Four tools make up the Norton Internet Security 2002 suite: Norton AntiVirus 2002, Norton Personal Firewall 2002 (two topnotch products also sold separately), Privacy Control, and Parental Control. This is the same mix as before, but each element has been modestly upgraded. For example, instant-message filtering keeps personal or confidential material from being transferred via Instant Messenger, while the ad-blocking feature removes banner ads from online sites, noticeably speeding up page downloads. The parental control features in this new release keep young people from accessing inappropriate material through file-sharing programs and instant messages, in addition to blocking the content of specific Web sites.

Like earlier editions, Norton Internet Security 2002 is virtually self-configuring--simply insert the CD, install, and reboot. Then use the Security Assistant wizard to customize your level of protection simply by clicking links or answering Yes/No questions, although the preconfigured settings are sufficient to protect PCs in most situations. A new network wizard makes configuration of the personal firewall on home networks easy by detecting local files and printer shares. It also greatly simplifies setting up a firewall to protect multiple PCs sharing one Internet connection; it automatically identifies all machines on the network and configures the gateway that is actually connected to the Net.

If you already own Norton Internet Security 2001 this year's model may not be a compelling upgrade, but those without PC protection software or for users of Windows XP, Norton Internet Security 2002 is a complete protection solution. --Roger Gann, Amazon.uk.co

Norton Personal Firewall blocks hackers' intrusions. Whether you have a dialup, DSL, or cable connection, your PC needs this vital safeguard. Worried about Web sites getting your personal information without permission? Worry no more with Norton Privacy Control. It helps you keep e-mail addresses and credit card numbers secure, and control which sites track your activities with Internet cookies.

Norton Parental Control keeps your children safe on the Internet. It includes a comprehensive, customizable list of objectionable sites, and lets you set up different Internet access privileges for each person in your household. Get Norton Internet Security 2002 today and protect yourself and your PC when you e-mail, bank, shop, or play online.

Virus Protection Software

• Software > Categories > Computer Security
• Web Development