Review by PB Addict

I purchased a new laptop and it came with Vista and 60 day trial of Norton Internet Security 2007. Because I am a registered user of a previous version of Norton products I received an offer directly from Symantec to buy Norton 360, 3 PC version for less than the Amazon price even with purchase of the download-for-a-year capability.

The good:nn- The download and install of the product went smoothly in about 20 minutes.

- The protection is very broad and covers all the typical types of assaults.

- The controls are easy to manage and tweak.

The bad:nn- After the download, whenever I go to PayPal the logon is prevented because the browser think’s PayPal’s security certificate has been revoked. Both PayPal and Symantec blame Microsoft, but it worked okay before 360 and it works fine on the Vista desktop I have protected by Live OneCare. The workaround is temporarily suspend anti-phishing protection, which 360 makes easy.

- 2 days after purchasing the software I went online to load Norton 360 on my second desktop. The site rejected my order number as invalid. When I logged in to the Symantec site, it shows I have an active license but doesn’t show I have any orders. After 4 attempts I finally got a response from the Symantec email support team. It was obvious they hadn’t read the details of my problem, only the header. They gave me the link to put in my order number to download, but of course that is the problem. The note also warns I shouldn’t contact them about the same problem again for 7 days. I guess I could use my dime and queue up for who knows how long on their phone response support, but that doesn’t seem cost effective for less than $50, especially when the result may be the same. I have contacted the email support team again, no response at this point. So I am less than a week into a 3 computer license with a year of download protection with only one copy working and no way to get the other copies. If they do not respond by the time my credit card statement comes I am cancelling the software payment and will unload the software.

I have happily used Symantec products in the past but was never reduced to using their download service or online support. It appears ignorance is bliss as my experience with the service and support is that they are extremely poor. So if you do want to try this product I strongly suggest staying away from Symantec’s online store and get the CD. This should reduce the probability of problems and needing to interact with Symantec itself.