Installing WD’s Smartware on my laptop just about wiped out my system! First of all WD Smartware instructions are to disable any anti-virus programs and then install their software. On my first attempt my laptop crashed and would not reboot. A system restore was needed. Not satisfied that Smartware had been conceived by either incompetent or just plain evil developing engineers I tried again. Much to my surprise as the software was installing with Norton 360 disabled (Just as the WD instructions said to do.) I watched the Norton 360 icon vanish from my tray.
Upon trying to launch Norton 360 I received an error which autofix could not find a solution for. (This is not the fault of Symantec.) Several tries later I was still confronting the fact that WD Smartware had killed my Norton 360. Needless to say this was extremely upsetting. After falling back to a previous restore point my Norton 360 was back! (And the WD Smartware was gone.) Be very careful if you want to use WD’s Smartware software! I would strongly recommend staying away from it altogether. I know I will never trust WD software again.
Note: This only concerns Western Digital software and not the drives. I still believe WD drives to be of excellent quality.