Symantec getting too big? - No more Norton for me

Since my first Wintel PC, I’ve used Norton’s various Utilities for maintenance and antivirus. Not any more. Last week I read a post by Stephanie at CMXtraneous saying “Is Apple getting too big”. Appears that Symantec has the same problem. They’ve become so big and have automated so many tasks that they’re not able to support their users.

Two weeks ago, my Norton Antivirus subscription came to an end so I clicked the renew-link and bought a new subscription. When the process was finished, I tried to paste the subscription code into the software and I got a message saying it was invalid. So I read all the FAQ’s and info I could find but couldn’t really figure out what the problem was. Every request to Symantec support takes 2-3 days and they never really look into your case or read the former messages you’ve sent. They just send you the same old links that will not fix the problem. After two weeks mailing back and forth with either humans or dumb auto-responders at Symantec.com I figured that the link from within the program had sent me to a wrong page. I had accidentally bought a renewal for Norton Antivius only, not Norton Internet Security as I had installed. It sort of explains why it didn’t work, but this was after all the product that Symantec themself linked to and recommended I’d buy. I trust them with the security of my computer, so why should I not trust them to be able to sell me the right subscription?

Anyway - tonight I’ve uninstalled all Norton software and tried installing the version I supposedly have a lisence for, but to no vain. After 7 (!) restarts to get all the updates with LiveUpdate, it still won’t accept the CD Key I purchased. Guess I’ll try AVG now. They offer a free version for home users and a way better 2 year subscription deal than Symantec. A friend of mine has recommended AVG on several occasions and says they do a better job of protecting the machine while not slowing it down as much as Norton does.

Updated: My machine is now blazingly fast with AVG installed. Norton sure slows a PC down…