I bought Norton Internet Security years ago when it first came out. While it didn't have all the features I would have liked, it was better than anything else I could find at the time.
Unfortunately, Symantec has since chosen to follow McAfee's lead in selling unbundled programs (It's better to sell 10 programs at $30 each than one integrated suite at $100), with conflicts between the programs, lots of bugs, no customer service, and a $30/year per program charge for updates.
The only way we can show our dissatisfaction with this sort of foolishness is to vote with our feet. So I'm offering the following alternative, hoping that other reviewers will suggest others.
Trend Micro has just come out with "PC-cillin Internet Security 2004," an upgrade of "PC-cillin 2003" (a top-rated anti-virus program---see Amazon user reviews), which offers a personal firewall providing protection from network viruses, spam email, inappropriate web content, and Spyware programs.
If you do decide to move away from Symantec, you should be aware that the normal uninstall process will not remove all Symantec files from your computer (this has been a serious problem with Symantec from the beginning). In the case of Norton Anti-Virus and Norton Internet Security, the remaining files are likely to conflict with replacement software (they definitely do conflict with Trend Micro's products). To remove them, go to Symantec's website and download a file named "RnisUPG.exe". Run it, and it will remove the offending files.
I bought Norton Internet Security years ago when it first came out. While it didn't have all the features I would have liked, it was better than anything else I could find at the time. Unfortunately, Symantec has since chosen to follow McAfee's lead in selling unbundled programs (It's better to sell 10 programs at $30 each than one integrated suite at $100), with conflicts between the programs, lots of bugs, no customer service, and a $30/year per program charge for updates. The only way we can show our dissatisfaction with this sort of foolishness is to vote with our feet. So I'm offering the following alternative, hoping that other reviewers will suggest others. Trend Micro has just come out with "PC-cillin Internet Security 2004," an upgrade of "PC-cillin 2003" (a top-rated anti-virus program---see Amazon user reviews), which offers a personal firewall providing protection from network viruses, spam email, inappropriate web content, and Spyware programs. If you do decide to move away from Symantec, you should be aware that the normal uninstall process will not remove all Symantec files from your computer (this has been a serious problem with Symantec from the beginning). In the case of Norton Anti-Virus and Norton Internet Security, the remaining files are likely to conflict with replacement software (they definitely do conflict with Trend Micro's products). To remove them, go to Symantec's website and download a file named "RnisUPG. exe". Run it, and it will remove the offending files.