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Home > Computers & Internet > Software > Symantec Norton SystemWorks 2005 Full Version for PC (10288981)
Symantec Norton SystemWorks 2005 Full Version for PC (10288981)

Symantec Norton SystemWorks 2005 Full Version for PC (10288981)
Overall Rating: Product Rating: 1.5

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Norton System Works 2005 - Decent System Protection, If Your Computer Is Fast Enough.

Written: Nov 21 '06 (Updated Nov 22 '06)

Product Rating: Product Rating: 4.0
Pros: Good antivirus protection, decent suite of utilities aimed at less experienced users.

Cons: There are better freeware versions of many components.

The Bottom Line: Norton System Works is a very decent suite of programs designed to keep your system safe and running well.
mongkut's Full Review: Symantec Norton SystemWorks 2005 Full Version for ...
Even though NSW 2005 has been out for about two years now, I decided to review it anyway given all the negative reviews previously published here. Although Norton System Works 2005 isn’t perfect I still believe it offers a good combination of security and system maintenance for the average user. The only caveat being don’t pay full price for these products. Symantec always has some program going on either through upgrade discounts for users of previous versions, mail in rebates, or bundle discounts. As an example the MSRP on Norton System Works 2006 is currently $69.95 but several retailers currently have bundles that include NSW 2006 plus Norton Personal Firewall 2006 for only $59.95, so you get two products for less than the MSRP of just NSW 2006. Symantec is currently Beta testing a number of products in anticipation of the January (Maybe) 2007 release of the consumer versions of Microsoft’s new Vista operating system. As such I would expect there will be a new version of NSW arriving around the same time. For people sticking with Windows XP, I would recommend waiting until Symantec starts offering any deep discounts on the new product.

About System Speed: Norton System Works has the ability to 'set and forget' where by you turn on those features you want monitoring your computer to prevent problems and protect your system. You'll see me use the term overhead throughout this review to describe the impact all of these monitoring programs have on system performance. Overhead is simply the demand these programs place on your computer's processor and RAM in order to remain actively monitoring in the background. A good example of this is any antivirus program that continually monitors a computer for virus intrusion. Norton System Works requires a fair amount of overhead so depending on how many components you turn on for automatic monitoring you will see anything from a slight to moderate decrease in general computer performance on older systems, i.e. those more than 2 years old.

Note: At the end I’ll show you some free alternatives to System Works for those inclined to do it yourself.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

The Software
One Button Check Up
Norton Utilities
Norton Antivirus
Norton CleanSweep
Norton Cleanup
Extra Features
Norton Go Back
Installation
Subscription
Support
Overall Opinion
DETAILS
Free Alternatives to Norton System Works Programs


The Software

Norton System Works 2005 is actually a suite of individual programs that are linked together through a common user interface. The programs offer users antivirus protection, disaster recovery, and system maintenance utilities.

COMPONENTS


- One Button Check Up

One Button Check Up offers users the ability to check the status of the operating system, installed programs, and anti-virus protection and to either fix or recommend a solution for problems that it finds. This check up can be scheduled to run automatically anywhere from once to daily. The default is to perform the check up weekly. The user can also review the history of scans and repairs and can undo repairs if a problem arises. The check up can be customized to ignore problems or to omit parts of the scan as well as how long to save repair log files.

One Button Check Up includes: Windows Registry Scan, Program Integrity Scan, Virus Definitions Check, Auto-Protect Check, Last Virus Scan Check, Shortcut Scan, and Norton Cleanup Scan. The registry scan looks for entries in the operating system’s registry that are no longer valid. The program Integrity Scan checks to ensure the path of installed programs and required files are where they are supposed to be and that nothing is missing. The Virus Definitions Check, Auto-Protect Check, and Last Virus Scan Check are redundant versions of the three checks from Norton Antivirus intended to ensure that the program is updating and protecting the system properly. The Shortcut Scan looks for shortcuts that point to programs that have either been moved or are no longer installed. The Norton Cleanup Scan checks for artifacts from internet browsing such as cookies and removes them.

My opinion - I would say that overall One Button Cleanup is fairly useful for less experienced users in that it is an added layer of security in ensuring that Norton Antivirus is up to date and functioning properly. The program and registry scans are of limited benefit as they can not handle complex problems. For the most part they are good at removing remnants of uninstalled programs, but not much beyond that. The cleanup is a good way for people who don’t perform more frequent browser cleaning to get rid of cookies and internet files. The best part is that it ties all of these functions into one interface that is very easy to use.


- Norton Utilities

Norton Utilities consists of a suite of tools to help optimize system performance and solve problems. Norton Utilities consists of Speed Disk, Norton System Doctor, UnErase Wizard, Norton Disk Doctor, Norton WinDoctor, System Information, and Wipe Info. Speed Disk goes beyond the basic disk defragmenter which simply attempts to move fragmented pieces of a program so that all pieces of one program are contiguous, but can still leave the programs themselves separated all over a drive. Speed Disk helps to move all of the programs together to, hopefully, not only speed up seek times but also lessen the likelihood that additional fragmentation will occur. It also has the added benefit of allowing more frequently accessed programs to be moved to the beginning of the disk to speed up access. Norton System Doctor monitors your system and alerts you to potential problems such as free drive space, drive optimization, CPU usage, memory performance and usage among others. UnErase Wizard helps you to recover erased files. Norton Disk Doctor goes beyond Windows native scan disk utility to help diagnose and fix problems with your hard drives. Norton WinDoctor checks your operating system and applications for errors and attempts to fix them. Some of these functions are performed in the One Button Checkup. System Information provides details of system components such as CPU type and speed and the amount of installed memory. Wipe Info attempts to permanently erase files from your computer so that they can not be recovered such as financial files you may want to ensure can not be recovered when you sell or give away an older PC.

My Opinion

The utilities portion of NSW 2005 has been the most widely criticized component for several iterations of the software. The main complaints seem to be that most, if not all, of the sub-components of Norton Utilities are either already covered by Windows built-in utilities or are available for free as shareware and freeware from sites such as CNET’s download.com. The fact that these utilities haven’t seen a significant update for several years doesn’t help matters. Although I would agree that the functionality of some items such as System Information, Norton System Doctor, and WinDoctor duplicates functions that Windows already has built-in, it is very useful for novice users to have all these functions under one user interface. If I want Windows to tell me specific, detailed system information I need to go to the Start Menu/All Programs/Accessories/System Tools/System Information. To view system performance I need to right-click the task bar and click Task Manager, if in fact I know it is there to begin with. For many users it is far simpler to have all these functions in one interface. Beyond this some of the utilities provide a higher level of functionality than the native Windows utilities. Speed Disk may not be a ‘best in category’ program by itself but is far better at optimization than Disk Defragmenter. I have noticed a huge improvement in system performance using Speed Disk vs. Disk Defragmenter and when frequently used programs are placed at the beginning of the disk the results are even greater. Bottom line is that I believe this component is overly criticized by people who are oblivious to the average user’s need for simplicity and ease of use. Not everyone wants to search the freeware sites for the ultimate DoD file shredding utility or disk scanner.

Having said that, the only utility I regularly use is Speed Disk. The other utilities I might use once in a great while and some like System Information I don’t use at all as I’ve found it to be only marginally accurate. As an example it currently says I have 2GB of RAM when in fact I have 3GB installed, which is correctly reported by Windows native system information utility.

Note: Leaving Norton System Doctor running in the system tray will cause a performance decrease on older machines due to the overhead associated with this utility.


- Norton Antivirus

Most computer users are familiar with Norton Antivirus given that it is the number one selling consumer antivirus software program. Giving a full review on NAV 2005 is beyond the scope of this review so I will confine my comments to an overview and my personal opinion on the product.

Norton Antivirus 2005 is really a stand alone product that is integrated into NSW 2005 and has its own system status screen built into NSW 2005’s user interface. The system status panel shows the status of Auto-Protect, Internet Worm Protection, Email Scanning, Full System Scan, Virus Definitions, Renewal Date, and Automatic LiveUpdate. Along with letting the user know whether the various protection functions of NAV 2005 are turned on this panel allows a user to turn on those functions that are off. The overall system status at the top of the panel alerts users to problems which are then listed below. Items that are OK will have a green circle with a check mark. Those with a problem will have a yellow warning triangle with an exclamation mark. Along with the status panel the user interface has options for virus scanning and reports. Clicking on virus scanning allows the user to scan anything from the entire computer to individual files. Under reports you will find the Quarantined Items list, an Online Virus Encyclopedia, and an Activity Log.

As an antivirus program Norton has been consistently rated as one of the top programs for years. Recently within the past two versions these ratings have fallen slightly as the product has become much more cumbersome and prone to compatibility issues and instability. Part of the problem is that NAV has tried to become an all-in-one security program with the addition of spyware and worm protection. Yes, it is great that NAV 2005 can help stop worms from spreading and prevent some spyware from being installed on your computer but the cost of this is much higher overhead in terms of background CPU and memory usage.

My Opinion

I’ve been a somewhat reluctant fan of Norton Antivirus ever since I first started using it almost 15 years ago. I’ve tried other programs such as AVG, Trend Micro’s PC-Cillin, and McAfee products and have always felt most comfortable with Norton. Given that I’ve never had a virus infection on one of my own machines in all that time something must be working. Granted I’m not an average consumer user, but I’ve got to give Norton a big piece of the credit. I have had issues with NAV 2005, most notably the need to reinstall the program twice due to malfunctions after a liveupdate had caused a corruption. But then again I had a huge number of problems back in the late 90’s running McAfee products on a few systems so I’ll take the occasional issue with Norton.

With the 2005 version I find that the spyware protection is a nice feature but not anywhere near as thorough as Adaware or even Zone Alarm Pro’s integrated spyware protection. I had run this version on an old 800MHz laptop a couple of years ago and did notice a performance decrease over the previous version. Running it on my 3GHz PC or even my 1.5GHz laptop causes no problems at all, unlike the 2006 version which does slow down the laptop. NAV 2006 is extremely easy to use and even inserts itself into useful areas like the context menu for files. I like having the ability to right-click on a file and perform a quick virus scan. Scanning single files with the version of PC-Cillin I’m currently using with my Vista test machine is more involved and less convenient. Norton gives you a lot of feedback as to what is happening with your system and what the program is doing to protect you, and to me that is comforting. The only problem I have with the product beyond the two reinstalls I had to do was the length of time it takes to perform a complete system scan. Symantec would have you believe that Norton is doing a more thorough job by deep scanning all files and folders. With either AVG or PC-Cillin scans take a noticeably shorter time and seem to be just as thorough.

Overall I would say that Norton Antivirus 2005 is a good, if far from perfect, program for people with newer computers capable of handling the overhead. I am getting tempted to make the switch completely over to Zone Labs as I love their firewall program and their antivirus has been receiving high grades. We’ll see.

Note: No antivirus program is capable of protecting your system if it is not regularly kept up to date. New viruses emerge every single day and in order to protect you reliably your antivirus program needs to update frequently. It is also imperative that you update Windows as well so that any vulnerabilities can be patched. NSW is designed to alert you when either Norton’s Automatic Live Update or Windows Update are not turned on. With both of these items turned on you greatly reduce your risk of virus infestation.


- Norton CleanSweep

Norton CleanSweep is a utility that helps to completely remove installed programs safely. Often when programs are uninstalled using either the program’s own uninstall executable or Windows Add/Remove Programs utility one of two things can occur. Either bits and pieces of the program remain on the hard drive or DLLs used by other programs are removed accidentally, causing the other program to stop functioning or become unstable. Cleansweep attempts to avoid this by removing all pieces of an installed program including files, folders, and shortcuts and tries to avoid removal of any shared DLLs. (DLLs - Dynamic Link Library – is a library of executable functions or data required by one or more programs in order to run.)

My Opinion

CleanSweep is a decent program that does a better job of safely removing installed programs. I’ve found that even CleanSweep will occasionally remove something it shouldn’t, but not very often. Yes, there are better programs out there offered as stand alone solutions but given CleanSweep is included with NSW 2005 it makes for a decent addition to the suite. I would certainly recommend installing it as an option when installing NSW.


- Norton Cleanup

Norton Cleanup allows users to purge their systems of tracking information from web browsing such as cookies, temporary internet files, browsing history, cached files, and even most recently viewed files. This information is often the target of spyware and potentially identity thieves as it can contain information regarding the websites you have visited and what you were doing. It is a particularly good idea to delete these files any time you are using any form of online financial transaction or on any site where you use personal information.

My Opinion

As internet cleanup programs go Norton Cleanup is not bad. Many people like to point out that most of the functions can be performed using the native utilities in Internet Explorer or that several freeware programs perform better. I agree with each statement but again the integration into one user interface makes Norton Cleanup a worthwhile addition.

Note:A major downside for non Internet Explorer users is that the utility only works with IE.


- Extra Features

Extra features contains three additional utilities that Symantec wants you to believe were added for free. In reality they are pretty much Norton versions of freeware anyway but two of the three are somewhat useful. The three utilities are System Optimizer, Connection Keep Alive, and CheckIt Diagnostics. Of the three Connection Keep Alive will only be useful to dial-up internet users. It’s purpose is to simulate activity so that an ISP does not disconnect a user’s internet session for inactivity. System Optimizer gives users one interface through which to control a number of settings for various Windows components such as Internet Explorer, the desk top, control panel, and the registry among others. Normally a user would have to access the settings on each individual component but with this utility it can be done in relative safety from one interface. CheckIt Diagnostics allows users to run some basic hardware troubleshooting diagnostic utilities to look for potential problems.

My Opinion

I really view these three as being useful only to novice to intermediate users who want ease of use for control over areas that can be fine tuned or tweaked using better programs. I virtually never use any of the three outside of playing with System Optimizer and CheckIt Diagnostics just to see how they function. Most novice users probably won’t be bothered to use any of these and advanced users will opt for better freeware products.


- Norton Go Back

Norton Go Back works in very much the same way that the Windows System Restore functions. The purpose of both utilities it to be able to restore the computer to a previous point in time when a software malfunction occurs. Whether the problem is a corrupted program, registry entry, or driver, as long as the system can be booted these programs give you a hope of rewinding the clock to before the problem occurred. The difference between the two is the level of control that Norton Go back gives you over System Restore. One major difference is that Go Back allows you to roll back to previous versions of individual files rather than rolling the entire system back. Again Norton Go Back is not automatically installed with NSW 2005, but I would highly recommend doing so.

Norton Go Back features four sets of options File Recovery, Disk Drive Recovery, Disk Drive Protection, and Statistics, The statistics shows the general status of Go Back as regards file sizes, number of days protected, etc. File recovery lets recover individual files and even recover files that were lost during a disk drive restore. The disk drive recovery lets you restore your entire drive to either one set point, a series of dates, or compare your current drive state to previous states. Disk drive protection gives you two options for protecting your drives from dangerous changes, Safe Try and AutoBack. Safe Try allows you to try out new applications without making permanent changes to your operating system. Autoback resets the system to a previous state automatically each time it is restarted which would be good for people with multiple users, like children, who might accidentally make changes to the system.

My Opinion

I like Go Back very much. It doesn’t seem to add any appreciable overhead to my systems and the level of control it gives is far greater than simple system restore. The disk drive protection modes are also very handy if you have kids. I have used the file recovery utility on a few occasions and it worked without a glitch.


Installation

Installation of Norton System Works 2005 is a fairly straight forward thing. The only items that are not installed by default are Norton Go Back and CheckIt Diagnostics. Of the two I would absolutely recommend installing Norton Go Back.

As with most of today’s retail software, Norton System Works requires the use of an installation key, which in this case is unfortunately located on a paper CD sleeve. Along with the installation key NSW 2006 is one of many programs requiring online activation which will link your copy of the software with a specific PC or Laptop configuration. If you do not have an internet connection at the time you install the product it will still function for a set period of time during which you will be reminded, hounded is more like it, to activate the product before it stops functioning.


Subscription

The purchase of Norton System Works 2005 includes a one year subscription to product and virus definition updates. After the subscription expires you will need to renew to continue receiving updates. Currently a subscription renewal is $29.95.


Support

Symantec’s consumer tech support has been notoriously awful. I specify consumer as their enterprise level support is actually very good. They have slightly improved the consumer with the addition of free live chat and an online Autofix tool. The support options are Self support with diagnostics walkthroughs, free live chat support, free email support, paid live phone support at $29.95 per incident, or the Autofix tool which attempts to diagnose and solve your issue.

My Opinion

I’ve tried the walkthroughs which are typically only helpful with very basic issues, email support which has a fairly long turn around time for a response, and the live chat. Unbelievably to me it was apparent that my live chat was occurring with an outsourced agent as the grammar was a little odd and the thought process extremely linear just as with many of my other outsourced tech support phone calls. Overall I would say that Symantec’s tech support still ranks at the bottom end of the industry for consumer level support.


Overall Opinion

Symantec, like Microsoft, is a company people love to hate, and not without reason. As a company they are very hard to do business with as a consumer. The attitude seems to be once you buy the product you are on your own for all but the most basic issue. More complex issues will cost your $29.95 to have their support agent help you diagnose, even if the issue is Symantec generated. On the downside Symantec eliminated what had been one of the most useful support tools with the closing of their user discussion groups. I’m guessing they couldn’t take the negative posts about Symantec products that dotted the forum like red dots on a smallpox victim. Thankfully there are still several third party newsgroups with people of various skill level sharing experiences and solutions, two of which I’ll list below.

Third Party Support Groups:

Norton Antivirus: http://www.tek-tips.com/threadminder.cfm?pid=742

Norton Antivirus: http://www.castlecops.com/f80-Norton_Anti_Virus.html

Beyond the tech support issue I would have to say that Norton System Works offers a very decent overall suite of protection and system maintenance for novice to intermediate users. The caveat being that even though the minimum system requirements specify only a measly 300MHz CPU for Windows XP, I would recommend at least a 1GHz processor with 512MB of RAM or more if you want this product to run at anything close to well. More advanced users who don’t have the time or inclination to source out better freeware replacements will also find many of the components in NSW 2006 pretty useful. Obviously anyone who loathes Norton Antivirus or Symantec in general should look for other solutions.


DETAILS

price

Norton System Works 2006 has an MSRP of $69.95, but I ended up paying $39.95 after in-store and mail in rebates. The bottom line is that with Norton products the old axiom about never paying retail couldn’t be more true.

Minimum system requirements

Windows 98/Me

150-MHz processor
64 MB of RAM
180 MB of available disk space (additional 200 MB plus 10% of total disk space for Norton GoBack)
CD-ROM or DVD drive
Internet Explorer 5.5 or later (6.0 recommended)

Windows 2000 Professional Edition

150-MHz or higher processor
64 MB of RAM
180 MB of available disk space (additional 200 MB plus 10% of total disk space for Norton GoBack)
CD-ROM or DVD drive
Internet Explorer 5.5 or later (6.0 recommended)

Windows XP Home Edition/ Professional/ Tablet PC/ Media Center Editions

300-MHz or higher processor
128 MB of RAM
180 MB of available disk space (additional 200 MB plus 10% of total disk space for Norton GoBack)
CD-ROM or DVD drive
Internet Explorer 6.0


Free Alternatives to Norton System Works Programs

I’m including a list of some programs that can be used in lieu of Norton System Works programs and are available for free. Be aware that these programs are in no way integrated into one user interface and some may require a higher level of computer expertise to use effectively. All programs are Windows XP compatible and can be downloaded from CNET’s download.com website.

Antivirus:

AVG Anti-Virus Free Edition 7.5.4 – publisher: Grisoft

Internet File Cleaner:

Free Internet Eraser 2.2 – publisher: PrivacyEraser Computing

System Monitoring Tool:

A Really Small App 2 – publisher: AnswersThatWork

Registry Maintenance:

TweakNow RegCleaner 2.9.2 – publisher: Tweak Now

Windows Optimizer:

TuneXP 1.5 – publisher: DriverHeaven

Hard Drive Analysis:

JDiskReport 1.2.4 – publisher: JGoodies


Recommended:
Yes

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