Norton Systemworks 2003 - Good or Evil?

[Xaccers]

Originally Posted by dilligaf1701

It could be worse - I know quite a few people who don't bother with ANY anti-virus software, because 'it won't affect me' - or 'i'm not worth sending a virus to'

Then they get infected - and have to pay me to fix it

Or "I've never had a virus before"
Without AV, how the hell do they know???

[Defiant]

Originally Posted by Xaccers

At NTL they use McAfee, which merrily stood by and let nimbda and other viruses propogate throughout their corporate network.
If it wasn't for a contractor having NAV on his laptop, we'd never have known what was causing all the problems.
Had a friend with McAfee too, and the hassle she had to go through to update virus definitions etc was alarming!

Could be because they hadn't updated the dat files to tell mcafee about nimbda. Every antivirus software has to be told about new one's. The last company I worked at was hit by a virus. They kept it hush hush because it was in there machine room. After this however they have every machine updated and setup to auto updated from one of the server's

[dilli-theclaw]

Originally Posted by Xaccers

Or "I've never had a virus before"
Without AV, how the hell do they know???

or - 'i got one with my pc so i'm ok' - even tho it's four years old

[Xaccers]

Originally Posted by Defiant

Could be because they hadn't updated the dat files to tell mcafee about nimbda. Every antivirus software has to be told about new one's. The last company I worked at was hit by a virus. They kept it hush hush because it was in there machine room. After this however they have every machine updated and setup to auto updated from one of the server's

Oh it knew about it, merrily reported (after a manual scan) that nimbda was there, didn't prevent it infecting tho.

[Defiant]

Originally Posted by Xaccers

Oh it knew about it, merrily reported (after a manual scan) that nimbda was there, didn't prevent it infecting tho.

Then in that case again its down to the NTL IT department being as stupid as there boss's. They should have setup MacAfee to QUARANTINE or DELETE it

[Xaccers]

Originally Posted by Defiant

Then in that case again its down to the NTL IT department being as stupid as there boss's. They should have setup MacAfee to QUARANTINE or DELETE it

That's IBM for you

Mmmmmmmm.... ok then..... it's pretty much what i thought


As far as the AV is concerned, i think we could argue which is best till the cows come home.... get milked.... and eventually carted off to the knackers yard I'm sure we all have stories about which software let through which virus, i personally switched to McAfee when Nortons let through 2 Yahas and a Trojan at the same time, even though it was automatically updating McAfee saved the day....... but at work MSBlaster on an individual pc (not the network) was only really removed by the Nortons stinger, the McAfee one appeared to be faking it

Anyone tried to run the Nortons AND McAfee AV at the same time? I know you're not really supposed to but i think Lord Nikon mentioned doing it with no problem a while ago

I suppose my concerns with the Systemworks software as a whole have been more or less answered.... well mentioned anyway
The one thing i used to use weekly, if not more often was the Disk Doctor bit.... my registry keys were being swapped and deleted at a regular rate and yes..... i let it fix the problems automatically
What can i say apart from quote Jack Lemmon in Some Like It Hot....

I'M A GIRL........ I'M A GIRL....

So what can you expect

The advice seems to be..... as long as your AV is good..... leave well alone? I'm not a complete muppet as far as PCs are concerned but having to do lots of homework to find out what registry changes are needed or advisable are not in my life remit at the moment

Would perhaps installing Systemworks and only using it superficially, as in Ghost etc rather than using it to fix possible errors be a less problematic solution? And would using a another regcleaner/mechanic be safer in the long run?

OR!! how about my not doing anything about any of it unless i feel there's a problem to start with? Why mess with something that isn't broken?


Big thank you to all for posting your comments and......

Hello Dell and welcome back Defiant

[Tezcatlipoca]

Originally Posted by Defiant

The last company I worked at was hit by a virus. They kept it hush hush because it was in there machine room. After this however they have every machine updated and setup to auto updated from one of the server's

My work used to use Sophos. Excellent AV prog. But then the license ran out & they switched to "Panda"....big mistake (IMO )

[ian@huth]

If you have Norton Systemworks and let it fix problems automatically just try telling it that you want to manually fix the problems and then look at the different solutions it throws up with the first one being the one that it would use if on automatic. I have seen it suggest over 100 solutions for a problem with the first 90 odd being suggestions to replace a missing file with a file from an entirely different piece of software. Never, ever let it fix problems automatically. It is a good piece of software if used intelligently and you know what you are doing.

[Macready]

about 50% of the problems I get with friends of my families PCs and people that ask me to have a look at their kit, are to do with Norton and their products.

Its antivirus is much higher in system resources than other programs that are freely available for private use - such as grisoft.com - AVG Free Edition.

The "Internet Security" on most of the peoples PCs I have found it on, has been the root of their "internet problems" with websites not displaying, again there are many free firewalls that all operate better in my opinion than these, such as Kerio or Sygate.

Originally Posted by ianathuth

If you have Norton Systemworks [Snipped]............... Never, ever let it fix problems automatically. It is a good piece of software if used intelligently and you know what you are doing.

ok ian....... we've already established that i have no idea what i'm doing as far as the registry is concerned (and i HATE having to repeat it lol) so won't be allowing Systemworks to fix anything that doesn't involve removing shortcuts
But.......in that case..... is a regular regmechanic safer to use for a pleb like me?

Originally Posted by Macready

[Snipped].......

Its antivirus is much higher in system resources than other programs that are freely available for private use - such as grisoft.com - AVG Free Edition.

[Snipped again]

We have Sophos running on the networked PCs and i'm sure that the NHS won't let the licence expire without renewing it but we have a stand alone pc that i'd dl the AVG Free Edition on to until...... one of our I.T bods saw it..... once he'd stopped laughing, he asked WHY????
So i swapped it for AntiVir

[Defiant]

Originally Posted by kink

we have a stand alone pc that i'd dl the AVG Free Edition on to until...... one of our I.T bods saw it..... once he'd stopped laughing, he asked WHY????
So i swapped it for AntiVir

Yea perhaps its because its meant for people who cannot afford a real antivirus package or those who just can't be arsed. The fact is AVG is not as good as the one's that cost. Well apart from Norton thats mostly used by NONE IT bods

Originally Posted by Defiant

Yea perhaps its because its meant for people who cannot afford a real antivirus package or those who just can't be arsed. The fact is AVG is not as good as the one's that cost. Well apart from Norton thats mostly used by NONE IT bods

This is where i need a Ooooooooooooooh smilie Back on forum and form, eh Defiant? but you're right in that we couldn't be arsed, i don't control the purse strings for my dept....... so cheapo freebies it had to be Although I.T bod extraordinaire did offer us a copy of Nortons Now how professional is that :pp Anyway...... i am a non IT bod....... i'm an information professional not an I.T one

No comment on the regmechanic instead of using Systemworks for a non I.T bod then?

[Defiant]

Originally Posted by kink

No comment on the regmechanic instead of using Systemworks for a non I.T bod then?

Hmm not heard of that b4. Is it anything like this http://www.majorgeeks.com/download.php?det=2048

Originally Posted by Defiant

Hmm not heard of that b4. Is it anything like this http://www.majorgeeks.com/download.php?det=2048

Yes, i suppose it is I meant this one specifically:

http://download.com.com/3000-2094-10....html?tag=list

If Systemworks is evil for those that aren't sure of what they're doing.... is this any safer?