I Just Gave Up With Norton

antspants · Nov 12, 2023

johnlgalt said:
I don't block them - I just avoid them. I won't install anything by them. Personal choice - because of what they did back in the day with with their antimalware program and stealing from Malwarebytes.

Ahh ok. I don’t have any of their stuff, unless CCleaner is theirs? I think it is? But to be safe…

johnlgalt · Nov 12, 2023

No, CCLeaner is most definitely not IOBit.

It's by Piriform.

antspants · Nov 12, 2023

For some reason I had it in my head that they were behind Piriform. All cleared up now, cheers

johnlgalt · Nov 12, 2023

Piriform was bought by Avast, which is now a part of NortonLifeLock (aka Gen Digital).

Piriform Software - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

antspants · Nov 12, 2023

johnlgalt said:
Piriform was bought by Avast, which is now a part of NortonLifeLock (aka Gen Digital).

Piriform Software - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

Avast…

johnlgalt · Nov 12, 2023

Yeah. I suspect you hold Avast in about as high esteem as I do IOBit :smirk:

antspants · Nov 12, 2023

I am but a mere mortal. I know not what I do.

antspants · Nov 12, 2023

*Why I do.

Almighty1 · Nov 13, 2023

johnlgalt said:
Nah, man, I won't use everything.

IOBit is on my SH.craplist. A few others are as well. Like iTunes.

I didn't mean actually use everything but I will put it into consideration and atleast give it a evaluation assuming they arne't already recommended to be avoided at all costs...

Stigg · Nov 13, 2023

A long, long time ago, I can still remember how Norton Utilities and Norton SystemWorks used to make me smile.

TraderGary · Nov 13, 2023

I was a charter subscriber to PC Magazine and in the first couple of issues there was a small advertisement in the back by a guy by the name of Peter Norton advertising some file utilities. I thought it sounded interesting. There was an address and phone number, so I called him and talked with him about his utilities. He told me he worked as a mainframe programmer and had purchased the original IBM PC just like I had done. He said he had examined the floppy drive of a file he had erased and figured out how to write an un-erase utility. He said he had also written some sorting and renaming utilities and was selling them as a set. He was calling them the Norton Utilities. That sounded really interesting, so I gave him my credit card number and purchased one of the original sets of Norton Utilities. Little did I know then how famous that guy would become in the PC world.

antspants · Nov 13, 2023

But not as famous as John McAfee

johnlgalt · Nov 13, 2023

Almighty1 said:
I didn't mean actually use everything but I will put it into consideration and atleast give it a evaluation assuming they arne't already recommended to be avoided at all costs...

Consider using anything, sure, I'll go with that.

Almighty1 · Nov 13, 2023

johnlgalt said:
Consider using anything, sure, I'll go with that.

I mean even when I ran a BBS, I still don't use everthing that was available for download but only things that I randomly found was good like list.com/fv.com for example which was fast as for somethings, I prefer text versus GUI as it's faster.

johnlgalt · Nov 13, 2023

Right - I consider anything on its own, but over the years, I've built up a list of things I'll never try (or never use again). I won't evaluate something based upon what others say so much so as what it can do for me and what I like versus don't like about it or the devs behind it. So, yes, I'll consider anything, but I won't use anything.

Almighty1 · Nov 13, 2023

Yes, good points. I might or might not use something again in the future depending if it was the only option available for that specific task or not. And personal experience in something is really what matters since there are preferences for a reason. So I agree with what you said too and just like Windows, I'm no big fan of Windows either but the software library available for it and the software I have only works on Windows so I have no other choice and ofcourse it helps me make my daily low to middle 6 digit income so that's enough reason to use it.

Scannerman · Nov 13, 2023

Well, herein is a marvelous thing: It seems we have come full-circle on this thread, solving the original "mystery" and continuing onward — at some point I think this thread was marked "solved"? So we keep it alive with chatter until we reach a point where we return back to software we've "given up" on.

Here's another great category: SOFTWARE ABANDONED & REJECTED. Excellent!

Well, being the lazy old codger that I am, I use iOBit. (True confessions here.) I have manifest love/hate relationships with software and Windows certainly isn't my 'one and only'. I am indeed by nature a polygamist. I have had some rather unfavorable encounters with iOBit recently and have demanded a refund although I do not think I'll be getting one. So I'll be chalking this one up to experience. After all, it's only money.

The reason I use iOBit is because in the past it saved me a lot of time. Driver Booster was handy for locating hard to find drivers — especially for older systems and hardware. ASC provided a fairly good VS on older units and as I am in that sort of business I found it particularly handy. Their anti-Malware program leaves a bit to be desired (no pun intended) and sadly, I have learned that IOBit doesn't work well with Windows 11. I have since cancelled my subscriptions because of this and other reasons.

I suspect from time-to-time I may even download some of their freeware to obtain certain drivers and simply uninstall it afterward. Malwarebytes is too rich for my blood. I'm on a budget here. The thing about these apps is that I detest the pop ups. I can concur with the resort to such advertising in the case of so-called "freeware", but when one has already shilled out for the software there is no good reason they should have to put up with the ads running on their PC. I have explained this to iOBit numerous times. They have done precious little to change their ways and neither are they the only ones who do this sort of thing. IOLO does it too. So far, REVO seems to be behaving themselves but if they start pulling the same stunts as the rest have I will be cancelling that subscription as well.

The only thing a corporation understands is the price of lunch so I am left with little choice but to go on a starvation diet. I feel that when I register a product they have my email so they can advertise to me via email if they wish. That's already more than enough when I'm already paying for the product. Anyway, that's my take on it.

hdmi · Nov 13, 2023

Scannerman said:
The only thing a corporation understands is the price of lunch so I am left with little choice but to go on a starvation diet.

Nah, you don't need to go on a starvation diet. Just don't eat so many overpriced dog biscuits IMO.

Scannerman · Nov 14, 2023

hdmi said:
Nah, you don't need to go on a starvation diet. Just don't eat so many overpriced dog biscuits IMO.

But that's all they ever give me

Stigg · Nov 14, 2023

TraderGary said:
I was a charter subscriber to PC Magazine and in the first couple of issues there was a small advertisement in the back by a guy by the name of Peter Norton advertising some file utilities. I thought it sounded interesting. There was an address and phone number, so I called him and talked with him about his utilities. He told me he worked as a mainframe programmer and had purchased the original IBM PC just like I had done. He said he had examined the floppy drive of a file he had erased and figured out how to write an un-erase utility. He said he had also written some sorting and renaming utilities and was selling them as a set. He was calling them the Norton Utilities. That sounded really interesting, so I gave him my credit card number and purchased one of the original sets of Norton Utilities. Little did I know then how famous that guy would become in the PC world.

I remember the days when you could buy some PC magazines and they came with a CD with all sorts of applications.