Norton 360

[groucho]

Registry cleaners are considered the snake oil of computer software. There are many articles about this on the web. They damage your computrer rather than speed it up or optimize it. Nonetheless N360 not only includes a registry cleaner but also runs it automatically on your computer, making whatever changes it deems necessary to your Windows Registry, the heart and brain of your computer system. As result, some of your programs may stop working and at some point your computer may not even boot any more. Why has Symanetc integrated such a dangerous component into its N360 security suite?

[delphinium Norton Fighter]

Hi groucho:

For the most part, I agree with you, depending on the automatic settings.  Once in a blue moon a cleaner can be a necessary thing, but mainly it is not only unnecessary, but dangerous in the wrong hands.  I agree that it should not run automatically unless it is relatively harmless.  When it starts asking users, who are unfamiliar with the process, to "click fixed", it can definitely be a problem, as can all cleaners.

It is, however, a utility offered by hundreds of other software developers.  It is expected to be offered in a suite of utilities.

[ricafern]

Thanks for pointing this out.  What you both say makes total sense.  So I believe that even if a Registry Cleaner is expected in a suite, at least Symantec should place a warning about possible issues it might cause and not leave the registry cleaning as a Default setting.

 I am on the 30 day trial with 360 and think I may cut that short because I just found out it is not a competent anti virus program.  It failed to flag or clean a virus in a piece of obvious spam mail and it didn't get it with either a quick scan nor a full scan.  The free version of Avast got it as did Gmail.  

I guess paying Symantec doesn't guarantee you get what you pay for.  Fortunately I decided to go the 30 day trial route.

[ricafern]

So as not to be totally negative I must say that I do like the 360 interface, the way it works quickly in the background, and does not noticeably slow down my computer.  

[huwyngr Norton Fighter]

Welcome aboard -- I've been preaching that message here for ages .... ever since on a multiboot machine it decided to fix an "error" in Windows 7 registry by pointing to a file on the XP system ....

Fortunately there is effectively an Undo ......