Norton failing to supply fixes without third party assistance.

sturgess · ‎05-06-2011

I notice of late that a contributor going by the name of Quads is continually required to fix users machines ? I have licences for both NIS and KIS available to me but have chosen to use my Norton licences in the past, however I am getting increasingly concerned at what appears to be the reliance on third parties (Quads) to fix users machines, and Nortons apparent failure to protect the machines in the first place?

Edjr60 · ‎02-21-2011

sturgess wrote:
I notice of late that a contributor going by the name of Quads is continually required to fix users machines ? I have licences for both NIS and KIS available to me but have chosen to use my Norton licences in the past, however I am getting increasingly concerned at what appears to be the reliance on third parties (Quads) to fix users machines, and Nortons apparent failure to protect the machines in the first place?

You may have a valid point. That being said, I really don't think Quads is 'required' to fix users machines here in these forums. Like others, I believe Quads with his expertise volunteers. I have never had any help from Quads, but if I did I would be more than grateful.

Ed

SendOfJive · ‎02-07-2009

Hi sturgess,

No security product can make a PC bullet-proof. Antivirus products decrease the risk of infection, but sometimes new malware succeeds in evading detection, or users fail to follow best practices to keep their machines safe. Norton offers several different options for malware remediation, including a fee-based service. Users however, are not precluded from choosing from the many other alternatives available - that does not make Symantec reliant on third parties.

As a percentage of Norton users worldwide, the number of users posting malware issues on the forums (and receiving volunteer help from Quads and others) is incredibly small. I'm not sure that you can draw any negative conclusions about product performance or reliance on third parties from this. If anything, infections seem to be relatively rare.

floplot · ‎04-11-2009

Hello sturgess

There are many people here in the forum who help other users fix problems with their computers or who can offer other programs to help clean up their computers. I wouldn't say that Quads is a third party. He's part of this community who is very knowledgeable and trained in cleaning up malware. Some malware can't be cleaned up automatically by another program with out some directions from a person. Sometimes the directions have to be customized a little to the individual's computer and programs on it. Norton can supply fixes also that are customized to the individual computer, but those cost a fee. There are alternative ways of getting help. Thanks for reading.

Success always occurs in private and failure in full view.

Coronamaker · ‎11-17-2008

I would like to add an opinion just for the sake of possible clarity. As stated above, no one product can ever cover all potential avenues or types of infections. Antivirus products have a defined scope of items that they are designed to deal with. That only leaves Spyware, Adware, and Malware to deal with, and Malware being the other major risk factor. Yes I will acknowledge that Spyware can steal your information, but it typically does not cause computer catastrophes like Viruses and Malware.

Almost every A/V product I have worked with has some over lap into the other areas. Most Anti Malware/Adware/Spyware products also have overlap into the world of Virus detection and prevention/removal. Nothing does it all though.

Consider also that once an item is discovered that is flagged as possibly a problem, the folks at the various security companies then have to fully identify it, determine how to fix it, and test those fixes to minimize problems and conflicts with a huge variety of system configurations. Then they can release the fix to the community. This process can be as few as a day or two if it is a close mimic to an existing security threat, or as long as a week or so. And that is after it has been detected and submitted for review in the first place.

Personally I run Norton products on all of my computers. I also run MBAM with a Pro License on all of the systems that I don't want to have problems with. Between the two, coverage is about as complete as it is likely to ever get, both work well together and do not cause me performance issues.

Perhaps most important of all as relates to your post, this is not a virus removal tech support forum, it is a discussion forum to discuss the products. There are many actual removal forums throughout the internet where free help is available. Most of these are at the various Anti-Malware sites as it is technically Malware that makes up the majority of computer infections currently found online. That includes the infections being dealt with in the recent posts that I have seen in this forum.

sturgess · ‎05-06-2011

If Norton finds malware I expect it to do what Quads appears to be doing for them and to fix it.

SendOfJive · ‎02-07-2009

sturgess wrote:
If Norton finds malware I expect it to do what Quads appears to be doing for them and to fix it.

If you have read Quads' posts, you know why that is not always possible, and why it is sometimes necessary to use specialized tools and manual removal to restore a system to working condition.

sturgess · ‎05-06-2011

I have just been reading a thread on this page started by AdamSydney and continued by propinion which is about to exceed 16 pages and still no end in sight for the poor fellow. Perhaps the guys who actually work for Norton should be supplying a fix don't you think ? I run Norton 2012 and Prevx 3.0 as my security combo and if Prevx can't fix your machine after a malware attack they give you your money back, perhaps Norton should do the same ?

Bombastus · ‎11-16-2009

sturgess wrote:
If Norton finds malware I expect it to do what Quads appears to be doing for them and to fix it.

All anti-virus programs are far far away from 100% detection and removal. With 65,000+ unique pieces of malware appearing every day, they are falling further and further behind every day. Norton and other security solutions have other ways of combatting new malware, like behaviour detection and cloud detection, but sometimes these also fail.

And Norton has millions of more users than most anti-virus programs do, which means more people infected, even with good or better detection rate than the competitions.