Digital Journal — Our first mistake was installing it. More accurately, trying to install it; our copy of Norton SystemWorks 2006 was missing key files from the start. But after a long, exasperating bout of searching, patching and rebooting, SystemWorks took residence in our machine.
In retrospect, we shouldn’t have been so gung-ho about installing it, because SystemWorks essentially broke our computer. The system crashed multiple times, weird error messages kept popping up and our performance slowed drastically.
Before you blame the incompetence of Digital Journal‘s tech staff, check out Amazon’s user reviews for similar complaints. You’ll see 31 of its normally gushy reviewers gave SystemWorks 2006 an average of one-and-a-half stars out of five, with several users clamouring for a “zero-star” option.
Oh, Norton. You used to produce such great utility wares back in the DOS days. What happened?
Take a look at the company’s recent print ad campaigns: They promise “No viruses,” “No spam,” “No downtime” and “Email done right.” The final tagline is “Be fearless,” but the accompanying graphic is a nervous-looking bald guy staring off-screen cluelessly. Symantec’s familiar yellow colour scheme covers the guy’s face, making him look nauseous at the prospect of even using the software.
SystemWorks was a good idea when it first came out. It packaged Norton’s prized antivirus program with a handful of other useful utilities to maximize your PC’s performance. But now, a few versions later, it’s become more bloated than Michael Moore after a bad sushi buffet.
Though SystemWorks includes a spyware removal tool (along with half a dozen other tools done better by third parties), the program itself acts like the world’s most annoying spyware app. Running SystemWorks today is like surfing into a ruthless barrage of pop-ups: “YOUR COMPUTER MAY BE AT RISK!!!”
Well, no kidding. But you don’t need to remind us every few seconds. Just look at the software’s package design — a hand model protectively clutching her keyboard — and it shows just how neurotic Norton must consider its users.
While it’s nice to be able to protect your PC from invasive elements, that’s all rendered useless when SystemWorks installs hidden software that hogs your resources, slows your browser and stretches your boot-up time by several minutes.
So Nort, on behalf of computer users worldwide, please clean up your act. Either go back to making software with the consumer in mind, or just drop the charade and go full-steam into the Trojan horse business.
