After upgrading to Mac OS X Sierra decided to re-install my Norton subscription as had previously removed due to incompatibilities with previous OS X releases. Thinking that it would be a 5 minute job was one mistake, re-installing an obviously unstable product may be my second.
Having worked in areas of professional software development I'm glad that I had some understanding of what happens during installation, live update and how the product (and its competitors) works. These are some of my observations of the process and suggested areas of improvement.
1. After installation and de-facto restart, Norton decided it needed to run a live update session and promptly disabled all system access to the internet, firewall configuration and hung until forcefully re-booted.
2. Following a second reboot, it was not until I entered my account details and successfully logged into my Norton account through the user interface that the live update session completed properly and released control of my Mac.
3. After a successful scan everything gave green-lights so I thought I was protected... when I checked my firewall settings in apple->preferences it had been disabled by Norton... from a reputable security product???!!!
4. I manually restarted my firewall and now feel that I might be better protected.
How does a security software provider allow for a firewall to be disabled as part of its product install and does not re-activate it once installed? How does this make less understanding users' systems more secure? - it doesn't and it leaves huge room for improvement from the manufacturer. So step-up Symantec / Norton.