Got a call from a good friend of mine today, said he had tried to install the latest version of Norton Antivirus on his laptop. Version 2006, not long released, bought and paid for online. He downloaded the install file and proceeded to run it and follow the instructions. Mid-way through the install process the program errored out with a message saying there had been problems with the install and to contact Symantec. Contact details were on screen, but the PC switched it’s self off just seconds after the message was displayed, not enough time to write down the details.

Restarting the machine revealed chaos. No icons were displaying, few programs were working, system was very unstable, shortcuts going no where, control panel all but inaccessible. Logging on as Admin in safe mode produced the same result, as did last known good config from the boot menu. System restore was also completely unavailable from all possible points of entry.

I spent around 10 minutes on the phone with him trying to talk him through possible restore options, long enough to realise that this Norton Antivirus 2006 installer had at best messed around with a lot of core system settings (like how it handles .exe files and such basics) and at worst virtually corrupted his whole registry. A blue screen of death frequently showed at startup.

I am going over there a week today to see what I can do for it with some restore tools, but it seems likely that it will need a complete re-install. He has backups of work, but all his music from iTunes will be lost due to DRM (yuk!), as will a whole host of installs of programs, updates that took hours to download etc.

Not being one to leave it at that, I asked around. Turns out Norton 2006 likes doing this sort of thing. Friend of a friend had to buy a new hard drive after a failed install (the thing wouldn’t even format - completely dead), and I have found whole lists of angry symantec customers who have had their PCs destroyed, recieved no support that is of any use (costing them money and ending up being told to contact their manufacturers), and have recieved no offer of refund, in fact have had it denied when directly asked for one.

Symantec, this is DISGRACEFUL. People buy your software to protect their PCs from viruses and worms, not to have their machines ruined in a way worse than many viruses can do! I used to use Norton AV on my laptop and indeed recommended it regularly - I shan’t be doing so any longer.

Many people will believe that this is an isolated incident, but don’t be fooled. I copy below real comments from all over the web from people who had the same errors. If this has happened to you, please post your story below as a comment. If you don’t have Norton 2006, don’t buy it. There is a high possibility will lose all your data - plain and simple. If you have to use Norton, just renew your subscription for an older version (although using an alternative in protest would be better IMHO!)

Here follows genuine Symantec customer comments who have had exactly the same experience:-

1. I purchased the Symantec Norton AntiVirus 2006 and downloaded it from the web. During the installation, I was advised that a fatal error had occured, and that I should contact Symantec Technical Support. When I tried that clickable link, I found that I was no longer able to access ANYTHING on my computer. After extensive telephone contact with Symantec Tech Support, I was advised that I should contact Dell (my computer manufacturer)and that I would most likely have to reinstall my operating system. I contacted Dell, and am awaiting a disc from them to do this. My computer is totally non-functional at this time, and I do not know whether or not I will be able to restore many important documents and photographs. Symantec Tech Support told me that this has happened “in a couple of instances”. I will post an update to this after I re-install my operating system. So far the cost: 49.95 for Symantec 2006 upgrade, 99.00 for Dell 1-time incident support. Ian McIntyre, Miami,FL.Comment by Ian McIntyre — 10th Oct 2005
2. Same thing happened with Norton IS 2006 and me. I was ‘helping’ my sister and this happened to her computer. Now active desktop is disabled and we can’t acccess anything on her desktop. Even restoring to last good config didn’t help. Wish I hadn’t done it. Now she’ll have to start over. I feel like it’s my fault, but it isn’t. This is why I keep my files backed up and hesistate downloading files. I’ll bet a couple of instances is bigger than they’ll admit. They’ve already been paid. I should have done a search for the program before I installed it.Comment by Jackie — 26th Oct 2005
3. I tried installing the Norton Antivirus 2006 on my computer when a fatal error occured and I am unable to access anything on my computer. All applications (MS word, Excel etc), all files, etc all seem to have frozen. Looks like this has happened with others also. I am currently trying to get in touch with the telephone support and since you guys have already tried this stuff out, it does not help. I hope I am able to save my files.Comment by Chandramowli Krishnan — 07th Nov 2005
4. i take norton system work 2006 and when i click for install it start.but when i remove it and all its components then my system is restated and a fatal error is being occered.i tried options like best known configurations,safe mode,start window normaly,etc but nothing happens .any body tell me how can i restore my system and obtain my data without formatting.Comment by chander — 23rd Dec 2005

Convinced yet? I am. Comments below please