uninstall virus-norton antivirus

How does a person uninstall Norton Antivirus. It is a virus unto itself. They're updates are so frequent and they take sooo lonng to download, it totally takes away from the internet experience. All these downloads are slowing my computer to a crawl. Certainly can't blame viruses because everytime it says it has a new update I let it happen and now it just doesn't seem to be working at all. Somebody please tell me how to get rid of this Norton Antivirus virus. This stupid laptop came with it all ready installed and it is driving me nuts!!!