Norton AntiVirus 2006 Public Beta Begins

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The beta version of Norton AntiVirus 2006 for Windows 2000/XP is now available for download. Symantec's Norton AntiVirus 2006 is the world's most trusted antivirus solution. It removes viruses and security risks automatically, blocks certain Internet worm attacks, and protects email and instant messages.
Norton AntiVirus 2006 includes new improvements and features. Download the product now! Surf the Internet. Play your favorite games. Symantec is interested in your feedback and will give a FREE copy of Norton AntiVirus 2006 to the first 50 beta users who submit undocumented bugs. Winners will be notified via email.

Symantec does not provide technical support on beta version software products. However, product feedback should be sent to http://symantecbeta.atgnow.com/demo/default.asp To qualify for a free copy of Norton AntiVirus 2006, include your complete mailing information in your email message.

Some of the new features include the Norton Protection Center, Real-time Spyware/Adware protection, Redesigned Interface, and better reliability.

View: Symantec Public Beta

This is BETA software!, please use caution when installing it on your system!

Cont...

The top 10 software titles for the first six months of the year were dominated by PlayStation 2 games. Sony's console had six games in the top 10, including Sony Computer Entertainment's Gran Turismo 4 in the top slot.

Nintendo had the second most games in the top 10. Game Boy Advance games held two positions with Pokemon Emerald at second place and Legend of Zelda: The Minish Cap at seventh. The lone GameCube representative was Capcom's Resident Evil 4 in the eighth slot. But that tied Microsoft's entire Xbox contingent, with the tenth-place Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith lingering at the bottom of the list.

The only 2004 game to crack the top 10 was Take-Two Interactive's controversy-laden Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, which was released in October. The complete Top 10 consoles games of 2005 can be seen below.

Rank/Title/Platform/Publisher/Release Date/SRP

1. Gran Turismo 4 (PS2, Sony Computer Entertainment, Feb 05 $49)
2. Pokemon Emerald (GBA, Nintendo, Apr 05, $34)
3. MVP Baseball 2005 (PS2, Electronic Arts, Feb 05, $49)
4. Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith (PS2, LucasArts, May 05, $49)
5. Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas (PS2, Take-Two Interactive, Oct 04, $47)
6. God of War (PS2, SCE, Mar 05, $50)
7. Zelda: The Minish Cap (GBA, Nintendo, Jan 05, $50)
8. Resident Evil 4 (GC, Capcom, Jan 05, $50)
9. Midnight Club 3: DUB Edition (PS2, Take-Two, Apr 05, $49)
10. Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith (Xbox, LucasArts, May 05, $49)

(1 reply) #1 husam on 31 Jul 2005 - 11:10

hi,
I used norton av 2006, it is good, but still makes slower when using it. i hope the final will be better, u know , I have 512 MB-rdram, with 2.4 GHz

#1.1 Rekoil on 04 Aug 2005 - 05:44

No NAV will never use under 70mb or so of RAM because of all the annoying graphics it uses. I used to use NAV but when tried SAV Corp I saw how much better my computer ran. I'm never going back.

#2 thenay on 31 Jul 2005 - 11:14

Any screenshots?

(1 reply) #3 greg098 on 31 Jul 2005 - 11:32

#3.1 Jugalator on 31 Jul 2005 - 13:34

Wow, that looked ugly, and bloated.

No way I'd be replacing NOD32 or Avast with that one.

#4 ACTIONpack on 31 Jul 2005 - 12:08

you only get 15 days of using the product. It's pointless and it's in your face with the new features.

#5 ACTIONpack on 31 Jul 2005 - 12:14

My version looks a bit different.

#6 norseman on 31 Jul 2005 - 13:03

newer GUI but the same SLOW POS! Get with the times symantec! People want a working antivirus that isnt BLOAT!

#7 devyant on 31 Jul 2005 - 13:07

Graphical is the way Norton products are streamlined to.

#8 ACTIONpack on 31 Jul 2005 - 14:02

zzzz, takes forever to scan all my files. At 370,000 files and still not finish scanning my system.

#9 PoTaToX on 31 Jul 2005 - 14:29

I wil never use Norton Antivirus again. Sinds 2001 all the new version have like 3 new interface icons and that's it. Every year it's uses more RAM, is slower and is slowing down almost every pc by half. No... no more norton for me. AVG Free or NOD32 are much and much better.

(2 replies) #10 Raa on 31 Jul 2005 - 14:32

I dont even run an A/V on my pc anymore, not after i ditched nav '03 and my pc sped up heaps.... 'sides, I know what to look for

I give everyone Nav'03 though, stuff 04/05, its just too bloated!

#10.1 Alpha Binary on 01 Aug 2005 - 15:31

same here :p been surfing w/o an a/v since 2004, never got a single virus...

#10.2 Nexx295 on 12 Aug 2005 - 10:00

Same here. I stopped using an antivirus since 2003. I got a few viruses, but I knew how to remove them manually before they caused any damage.

I'll give it a shot. Hopefully it works better.

(2 replies) #11 Alpha2004 on 31 Jul 2005 - 14:54

I use symantec antivirus corporate.

Its lovely, and does the damn job right! Why? Because corporate doesnt tolerate bloated slow crap!

#11.1 mcb on 31 Jul 2005 - 15:57

it really is day and night between the two product lines.
wouldn't it be beneficial for them to release norton as a more limited, subscription based version of symantec?
cheaper than creating 2 seperate products and they could start branding Norton as "5x faster, a fraction the memory and HD demand!"

it's not like there isnt a market for the symantec product among average users. they need antivirus protection, might as well give them the best and beat your competition to it.

Yesterday I was reformatting a fairly low-end Dell comp and it was running okay after the reformat purged the heinous quantities of spyware, etc.
I had to install AOL and Norton Antivirus 2004 on it, and the computer instantly took a humungous performance hit.

#11.2 DomFel on 03 Aug 2005 - 03:41

Shhh... you're talking about probably the best A/V EVER created. Hope Symantec won't merge SAV and NAV, because the product would be crap like all the NAV versions.

#12 Scorbing on 31 Jul 2005 - 15:12

Norton AV sucks. It used to be good back in the days, but it has now become a super bloated application that slows down the PC like hell. It is useless.

#13 tom5 on 31 Jul 2005 - 16:24

I fully agree it is bloated. And this is also the reason why more and more people are interested in alternatives such as NOD32.

#14 Powerless on 31 Jul 2005 - 16:25

80 Images of NAV2006!

http://s57.yousendit.com/d.php?id=1NY6KNGS...WS3DGF8QOL31K48

Last edited by 52201 on 31 Jul 2005 - 18:58

#15 Alien Spy on 31 Jul 2005 - 17:32

Yuck, I ditched norton a few weeks ago for NOD32 and my comp is waayyy faster!

#16 sullysnet on 31 Jul 2005 - 17:49

Kaspersky here 2006 and very very effective. To me any A/V that doesn't come with registry protection is JUNK. This has helped me out MANY MANY times (toolbars,etc)

Only downfall to Kasp is it pain always scanning zip files and seems to lock the machine up for a few minutes. I turned down the size of ondemand protection and that seemed to help

#17 Z3r0 on 31 Jul 2005 - 18:53

I use antivir and even though antivir has a crap interface I don't mind as it's free

#18 Mr. Dee on 31 Jul 2005 - 20:05

Does it work on Vista?

#19 dannymp3 on 31 Jul 2005 - 20:22

I used to really like Norton, until I noticed how much it was slowing down my PCs.

Then I switched to NOD32. NAV will never see my computers again.

#20 joeydoo on 31 Jul 2005 - 20:50

I hope Norton read this page. NAV might be made for (take advantage of) the computer users limited experience. But that doesn't meant they need to be as crippling and over bloated as it is.
More importantly I hope NOD32 goes for the NAV customers a bit more with a one touch setup thing, or a more standard default setup, since NOD32 runs itself really well after you get it setup. They did this alot better with the 2.5 release but a bit more and they should try some advertising. The only way I heard about it is internet word of mouth. I have never seen an advert for it.

#21 bikeman25 on 31 Jul 2005 - 21:00

I stopped using NAV 2005 a few days ago on this PC, and went and bought Mcafee, barely even notice the program is here at all, except the update alerts, and occasional email scans, otherwise hardly even notice it, and much faster full system scans than when I had Norton Antivirus 2005 in. Sure I lost the internet Worm Protection feature, but machine is working really good, so I'm happy.

NAV 2006 I don't think will be going on any other PC's in the house, unless rest of family won't listen and use a different one, then it will, since I'll have no choice but to put it on there's then.

#22 Cyranthus on 31 Jul 2005 - 21:54

it just keeps getting more and more bloated every release they make.

#23 Dane2003 on 31 Jul 2005 - 21:54

I personally enjoy Norton products, I dont get what everyone is saying about it being a slowdown, My computer works perfectly with Norton AntiVirus, and i'm on an 868MhZ PIII with 512MB of RAM (and yes, I have used it on 128MB of RAM). My computer still operates at peak efficiency and I think its a much better product than NOD32 or McAfee.

(1 reply) #24 Sushubh on 31 Jul 2005 - 22:07

it sure is slow than it used to be in its earlier versions. its getting a bit like MS Office products. since you cannot add more to a software, u change the GUI and add some extra bloaty stuff and release a new version. a company got to keep running and developing new products. but they should worry about providing and charging for updates rather than come out with applications which work the same but are slower than previous versions.

#24.1 seta-san on 01 Aug 2005 - 14:01

MS office stuff isn't really bloat... There's really no features added that a normal user would notice because all the new features benefit Corporate networksa and some of it is integration between the different componets within office and within windows.

#25 j0j081 on 01 Aug 2005 - 00:56

All Avs slow down your system considerably. NAV is by far the worst. I use NOD32 and disable a lot of the needless auto-protect features. If you know what you are doing on the Internet, it's pretty hard to get a virus imo.

#26 - diego - on 01 Aug 2005 - 02:42

nod32 guys...

(2 replies) #27 imcrazydammit on 01 Aug 2005 - 03:05

I used Norton up until 2002 and then when I tried 2003 it was like night and day as far as the performance hit that my computer took. So I moved on to Avast and then AVG and Nod32. Now I use Symantec Corporate and it is the best by far. I won't say how I got it though.

#27.1 j0j081 on 01 Aug 2005 - 08:55

What do you guys like aboout Sym Corp over NOD32? The good thing about NOD32 is you can pay the upgrade price even if you havne't owned it before and get a fully working license. That saves about ten bucks.

#27.2 MrCobra on 01 Aug 2005 - 10:38

^ Corporate doesn't require monthly/yearly subscription fees.

(2 replies) #28 PharosBR on 01 Aug 2005 - 03:39

I use Norton Antivirus 2002. Minimal performance hit, still as powerful as Norton 2004 or later, except for the stuff that I don't use like mail scan or IM real time scan

#28.1 Dane2003 on 01 Aug 2005 - 06:54

Norton AntiVirus 2002 lacks a lot of protection features....Sure, IM Scan and mail scanning you might not use, but Norton AntiVirus 2004/2005 include Spyware/Adware protection (Manual Scan), Norton AntiVirus 2006 includes realtime spyware/adware protection.

And Norton AntiVirus 2002 will be non-renewable as of August 2005, when Symantec cuts support for that product.

#28.2 Spitfire_x86 on 01 Aug 2005 - 12:21

How? It's still possible to update NAV2000. Is Norton going to stop making updates for NAV2000/2001/2002? I mean manual defination updates, not live update.

#29 DawnUnder2002 on 01 Aug 2005 - 08:33

Symantec Antivirus Coporate Edition all the way!! NAV has made my machine slow down ever since the 2004 edition came out, if any of my friends still wants me to install NAV I install version 2003 as it was slightly faster than later products, however I swear with the Corporate Antivirus, only 26mb file to install and it includes all the advanced features of NAV2005 without slowing my machine down.

(1 reply) #30 [DGS] on 01 Aug 2005 - 13:39

Why is it called Norton Antivirus 2006 Online?

#30.1 Dane2003 on 01 Aug 2005 - 18:38

This was originally an External Test Beta (only to select External Testers), and as far as I know they removed the online, but it was rumored to have so-called "Online" functionalities.

#31 eilegz on 01 Aug 2005 - 15:49

norton its a expert in gui the design looks good but again they should ofcus more in detection rate, and performance thats the main problem of norton antivirus anyways using trendmicro and nod32 and its perform better than norton anyways symantec dont sell well in retail i guess but in OEM area they are still the king every single pc come with this thing (that i have to uninstall)

(1 reply) #32 Cybermarine on 01 Aug 2005 - 17:31

OMG, Symantec still exists?

Avast all the way!

#32.1 DomFel on 03 Aug 2005 - 03:45

Please don't be an idiot. Symantec is the largest and best security corporation in the world. They own Norton, but Norton products are crap. Try to get your hands on Symantec Corporate (Client Security or Antivirus), you won't regret it.

#33 Youngy on 01 Aug 2005 - 18:41

During install Im getting the following error "Unable to load function: FT_Thunk (KERNEL32.dll)" - and setup will not proceed.

Anyone else getting this? I've submitted a bug report to Symantec but not heard anything back yet. Running XP Pro w/SP2 and IE7

Last edited by 107168 on 01 Aug 2005 - 18:51

#34 protoss_chaos on 01 Aug 2005 - 19:02

Sorry to say it symantec, but norton has died... he was king, but then u killed him by making him fat, and not upgrading him enough.

Rest in peace Norton... I will miss you...

#35 naap51stang on 02 Aug 2005 - 01:15

I thought Norton (not the symantec CORPORATE version) antivirus WAS virus....or
at least a pop up/spyware program?
It's always "in your face" with just about anything.
I'll stick with Nod32

(2 replies) #36 Hellgod on 02 Aug 2005 - 06:46

nav has became a bloated pos the virus scanner does more harm than the damn virus!

#36.1 Dane2003 on 02 Aug 2005 - 22:39

1. Learn English
2. Norton AntiVirus isnt more harmful than a virus ever could be. You're just an idiot that doesnt know how to configure software...or for that matter, you probably have billions of startup applications and choose Symantec to blame.

#36.2 DomFel on 03 Aug 2005 - 03:47

That guy probably speaks at least one more language than you do, idiot, since you probably speak only English. By the way, Norton products are crap, IMO, 99% of the web users know that, unless you're a kid and Norton is the first antivirus you have ever tried.

#37 DomZ on 02 Aug 2005 - 11:41

I'm another one who don't run AV software. I've had like one virus in 2 years. I noticed sometihng was up with my system, run over to trendmicro housecall and sorted it out. IT wasn't a destructive virus, no ida how I got it.

But yeh +1 for no AV here

#38 andru on 02 Aug 2005 - 21:43

just tried nod 32 and it ound 3 virus that symatec 205 missed it made me think what am i missing out on by running symatec products

#39 DeMo_BR on 03 Aug 2005 - 02:08

Oh yeah.. a new Norton.
Probably more bloated than ever..

I'll stick to my NOD32.

#40 hrbenny on 03 Aug 2005 - 10:22

I hate all Norton software -
Dear friends try BULGUARD --- just love it...

#41 hrbenny on 03 Aug 2005 - 10:25

look at the interface

ugly icons - same interface as two years ago

#42 Daza on 03 Aug 2005 - 11:19

Symantec are really milking Norton AV i think they're heading in the direction where Real Networks have gone.

Management Team 1: "Ok we need a new AV we'll just add a few icons, change the interface slightly and add a few more useless features and we'll get another new version for the year out ASAP."

Management Team 2: "Why can't we just update it through live update and add those slight modifications through that?"

Management: Team 1: "No, because it's far more lucrative to release a new version in a box, i mean whenever customers see 200x they'll think it's a big update"

Management Team 2: "What about all those technical gurus surely they'll notice that nothing has changed?"

Management Team 1: "Ok then, we'll add a little bit more memory overhead so they think something is taking up resources"

(1 reply) #43 protoss_chaos on 03 Aug 2005 - 13:15

there just is no good AV program anymore. They all suck in their own repsects... poor norton, i used to like it...

#43.1 mr_demilord on 03 Aug 2005 - 21:49

avast is pretty good and lightweight AV.

#44 kangxi on 04 Aug 2005 - 07:42

i used to use norton,but, it has many strange problems on my pc and my laptop..so, i kick norton out of my pcs,and download antivir,,,and it works very well, and it is free for personal users.

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