Love the netbook, hate the antivirus
Thursday, May 26th, 2011 07:46 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
tsaikoMy netbook came with a 30 day trial version of Norton Antivirus. Norton Antivirus is owned by Symantec. I had Symantec on my old laptop and had had no issue with it. I had the ability to put it on my netbook, but figured I'd give Norton a try. After all, they were owned by the same company. How different could they be?
Different. Very different.
I began to regret my decision almost immediately when Norton popped up a screen saying if I agreed to let them get information from my computer to improve their product, they'd give me an extra 30 days of Norton for FREE! At that point I didn't even know if I wanted to use them at all. So I clicked "No." This pop-up proceeded to come up every time I started or brought my computer out of sleep mode.
Then there was the toolbar in Firefox. I hate toolbars. Loathe them. If there is a toolbar preloaded into my browser, I will unload it even if I never use that browser. SUCH IS MY HATRED OF THEM.
What was the purpose of this toolbar? Why it was to tell me which websites were OK. Livejournal? OK. Facebook? OK. Wikipedia? OK. Icanhascheezburger? OK. My surfing habits are not so wild and exotic that I need to be told that every site I visit is okay. I have a set list of sites I go to every day and then, if I'm feeling adventurous, I might go to delicious to get my slash fix.
The final straw was the damn pop-up windows. Norton is the software equivalent of a five year old. "Mommy, mommy I blocked a tracking cookie!" "Mommy, mommy there was a toolkit. I blocked it." "Mommy, mommy I made a poo!" I could not care less. And unlike a small child, I cannot just give Norton back to it's parents and let them deal with it.
So when my 30 day trial expired in 5 days, I said good riddance, got my copy of Symantec, and started loading. Problem. I have to uninstall Norton first. I do so, bidding farewell to Norton and starting Symantec loading.
Windows had a fit. OMG, NO ANTIVIRUS DETECTED. No kidding. That's because it's loading. Symantec loads and starts configuring. Windows throws another fit. OMG, YOUR ANTIVIRUS IS TURNED OFF. Well, yes, because it's configuring. After it configures, Symantec goes out to download the updates. DID YOU KNOW YOUR ANTIVIRUS IS OUT OF DATE? Thanks, Windows. I never would have known what with Symantec telling me it's downloading and installing the updates. I swear, I feel like I'm a teen and having to deal with a parent yelling "Make sure you use protection!" as I walk out the house with my date. Yes, dear Windows parent, I know how to have safe internet browsing.
After an entire evening, I finally have some antivirus that doesn't actively annoy me and Windows seems to have calmed down now that I have the virtual condom installed. I'm not sure I like this more active role my computer/software is taking. The only thing I want out of my software/operating system is for it to tell me when there's a problem and then just run in the background. That's it.
Seriously, does anyone like to be nagged by their computer? I sure don't.
Different. Very different.
I began to regret my decision almost immediately when Norton popped up a screen saying if I agreed to let them get information from my computer to improve their product, they'd give me an extra 30 days of Norton for FREE! At that point I didn't even know if I wanted to use them at all. So I clicked "No." This pop-up proceeded to come up every time I started or brought my computer out of sleep mode.
Then there was the toolbar in Firefox. I hate toolbars. Loathe them. If there is a toolbar preloaded into my browser, I will unload it even if I never use that browser. SUCH IS MY HATRED OF THEM.
What was the purpose of this toolbar? Why it was to tell me which websites were OK. Livejournal? OK. Facebook? OK. Wikipedia? OK. Icanhascheezburger? OK. My surfing habits are not so wild and exotic that I need to be told that every site I visit is okay. I have a set list of sites I go to every day and then, if I'm feeling adventurous, I might go to delicious to get my slash fix.
The final straw was the damn pop-up windows. Norton is the software equivalent of a five year old. "Mommy, mommy I blocked a tracking cookie!" "Mommy, mommy there was a toolkit. I blocked it." "Mommy, mommy I made a poo!" I could not care less. And unlike a small child, I cannot just give Norton back to it's parents and let them deal with it.
So when my 30 day trial expired in 5 days, I said good riddance, got my copy of Symantec, and started loading. Problem. I have to uninstall Norton first. I do so, bidding farewell to Norton and starting Symantec loading.
Windows had a fit. OMG, NO ANTIVIRUS DETECTED. No kidding. That's because it's loading. Symantec loads and starts configuring. Windows throws another fit. OMG, YOUR ANTIVIRUS IS TURNED OFF. Well, yes, because it's configuring. After it configures, Symantec goes out to download the updates. DID YOU KNOW YOUR ANTIVIRUS IS OUT OF DATE? Thanks, Windows. I never would have known what with Symantec telling me it's downloading and installing the updates. I swear, I feel like I'm a teen and having to deal with a parent yelling "Make sure you use protection!" as I walk out the house with my date. Yes, dear Windows parent, I know how to have safe internet browsing.
After an entire evening, I finally have some antivirus that doesn't actively annoy me and Windows seems to have calmed down now that I have the virtual condom installed. I'm not sure I like this more active role my computer/software is taking. The only thing I want out of my software/operating system is for it to tell me when there's a problem and then just run in the background. That's it.
Seriously, does anyone like to be nagged by their computer? I sure don't.