UPG UPG NORTON ANTIVIRUS 2009 1 USER 3 PC EN

Didnt work properly., 13 Oct 2008
It made my computer really slow and i had to reboot it. I havnt a clue why this happend but i wont risk installing it again. 30 quid thrown in the bin. i'd rather have a virus ridden com than have this antivirus running on it!

hats off, at last!!, 22 Sep 2008
after an unsatisfactory trial with Kaspersky I decided on a simple antivirus, this is good, very good, its quiet, the pc runs quickly and smoothly and it even monitors my wireless network. Happy to buy this. Worth a serious look if you don't need a full suite. Well done it's taken a few years mind you but I think they have cracked it at Symantec! Ill be watching very closely if the virus and spyware is better, 2008 suite installed on my new laptop missed a trojan here and there so well see if this is better, but certainly from a running point of view it's spot on!

Protects your computer with advanced backup and recovery.Main Features:Incremental and differential backup: Backs up only files that have changedOffsite backup: Backs up your files to NAS (Network-Attached Storage) devicesFull system backup (disk image): Backs up everything on a hard drive or partitionGoogle Desktop Integration: Makes data recovery even faster with searchable backup indexesFTP backup mdash: Triggers incremental backups whenever ThreatCon reaches a specified threat level. Great for computer...

Didnt work properly., 13 Oct 2008
It made my computer really slow and i had to reboot it. I havnt a clue why this happend but i wont risk installing it again. 30 quid thrown in the bin. i'd rather have a virus ridden com than have this antivirus running on it!

hats off, at last!!, 22 Sep 2008
after an unsatisfactory trial with Kaspersky I decided on a simple antivirus, this is good, very good, its quiet, the pc runs quickly and smoothly and it even monitors my wireless network. Happy to buy this. Worth a serious look if you don't need a full suite. Well done it's taken a few years mind you but I think they have cracked it at Symantec! Ill be watching very closely if the virus and spyware is better, 2008 suite installed on my new laptop missed a trojan here and there so well see if this is better, but certainly from a running point of view it's spot on!

A backup program that works well, 07 Sep 2008
I purchased Norton Ghost 14.0 about 10 months ago and although it took some time to get used to it, it works fine on my Vista system. As I am paranoid about loosing any data from my computer, I am using many of Ghost's more advanced functions, and I also restored my PC successfully with Ghost after a system crash 4 months ago. The advantage with Ghost as I see it is that you can make backups on all sorts of medium; external hard disk drive, dvds, etc. For each backup you can choose to keep older backups, giving you several versions of the same file in time. You can also duplicate backups which is useful if you keep a set of backup on a separate HDD outside your home. The scheduler makes backup tasks completely automatic - and you're not forgetting it! On the negative side you will have to read the user manual to familiarize yourself with Ghosts many functions, and the program can some times come up with error messages that are completely impossible to understand - and the link that is supposed to take you to Symantec's internet site to explain the gibberish does not help. However Norton has a free 24/7 pc chat line for technical support ( I have used it myself). Bottom line: Ghost does the job when it comes to backing up your data !

Ghost problem is FAT32, 10 Aug 2008
The problems that people are having with this Software is the way that it tries to make the image of your Hard drive, the default settings for this version of Ghost is it tries to do it all in one big chunk. Which is where it fails if peoples External Hard Drives are Fat32 File System, as it will save only 4Gb Clusters at a time, which was ok for earlier versions of Ghost, but as i found to my cost it isn't ok for this version.

I found this out after a lengthy on line chat with Symantec technical Support, i also asked them as to why there isn't information on this in the product packaging, because if it was then people wouldn't be giving it such negative feedback, they said they'd pass the feedback on.

So basically all you need to do to get round the problems with this software is to convert your external HDD to NTFS File System. by using the command prompt. Don't forget to do this in Windows Vista you need to Right Click Command Prompt icon and Select Run As Administrator or it won't work.

Hope this helps.


The Best Yet, 19 Jun 2008
I'm amazed there's so many negative reviews of this product as my own experience is completely different. Having used TrueImage 11 Home and Ghost 10 in the past with mixed results on a Vista machine I thought I might get similar problems making and restoring from backups? Nope, Ghost 14 has worked without a glitch, and does everything Its supposed too. I've used it on two machines, one a laptop, and they have both been restored more than once after I messed around with other software and caused driver problems.
I'm more than happy and would recommend this product.

Dunno what people are moaning about?, 13 Jun 2008
I,ve had ghost 14 installed for a couple of weeks now. And I've had absolutely no problems with it. I've got a fairly complex setup (multiple Raptors in a SATA RAID 0 setup along with a number of EIDE drives) and it has sucessfully created an image of my system drive and restored it no problem. I found the recovery disc simple to create and it had no problem with my drivers (note it may tell you during validation that certain virtual disk drivers are incompatible e.g. those typically used by Anti-virus apps but ignore that). I've also converted a system image to an MS Virtual PC .vhd in a couple of clicks and then used it immediately without any problems. The interface is generally good and provides lots of clear plain english info. Much of the geek-speak from the earlier versions of Ghost has gone (which as a geek I actually understood and miss) and the average user, unless a complete PC beginner, should be fine. One gripe I have got about the interface is that the application was clearly written using .net giving it a slightly slugish feel. Another issue I have is a lack of feedback during some tasks that can take a long time (like the recovery disk creation), leaving you wondering wether or not the app has hung. Overall though, I'm not sure why others are having the problems they are, but its working great for me (and no I don't work for symantec :-)).

If only it did what it said it would do, 09 Jun 2008
Wish I'd read the reviews below before buying, as those comments resonate with me now! Couldn't get it to make a customised Driver Disk, and couldn't get it to back up folders and files. Not a lot of use then, though it promises to be a great bit of software. I heard that it didn't work on Vista (doubtless unfair hearsay)...well it doesn't seem to work on XP either - well not mine. May just be my machine, though it clears the basic requirements easily. Really wanted it to work, but as it doesn't, afraid it became the first thing I've ever had to return to Amazon. Grateful to Amazon for at least accommodating that process with the pre-paid customised return label! Happy Man not so happy today!

NB Bought 'Norton 360 All in One security' at the same time and it works a treat.

NORTON ANTIVIRUS 2009

Didnt work properly., 13 Oct 2008
It made my computer really slow and i had to reboot it. I havnt a clue why this happend but i wont risk installing it again. 30 quid thrown in the bin. i'd rather have a virus ridden com than have this antivirus running on it!

hats off, at last!!, 22 Sep 2008
after an unsatisfactory trial with Kaspersky I decided on a simple antivirus, this is good, very good, its quiet, the pc runs quickly and smoothly and it even monitors my wireless network. Happy to buy this. Worth a serious look if you don't need a full suite. Well done it's taken a few years mind you but I think they have cracked it at Symantec! Ill be watching very closely if the virus and spyware is better, 2008 suite installed on my new laptop missed a trojan here and there so well see if this is better, but certainly from a running point of view it's spot on!

A backup program that works well, 07 Sep 2008
I purchased Norton Ghost 14.0 about 10 months ago and although it took some time to get used to it, it works fine on my Vista system. As I am paranoid about loosing any data from my computer, I am using many of Ghost's more advanced functions, and I also restored my PC successfully with Ghost after a system crash 4 months ago. The advantage with Ghost as I see it is that you can make backups on all sorts of medium; external hard disk drive, dvds, etc. For each backup you can choose to keep older backups, giving you several versions of the same file in time. You can also duplicate backups which is useful if you keep a set of backup on a separate HDD outside your home. The scheduler makes backup tasks completely automatic - and you're not forgetting it! On the negative side you will have to read the user manual to familiarize yourself with Ghosts many functions, and the program can some times come up with error messages that are completely impossible to understand - and the link that is supposed to take you to Symantec's internet site to explain the gibberish does not help. However Norton has a free 24/7 pc chat line for technical support ( I have used it myself). Bottom line: Ghost does the job when it comes to backing up your data !

Ghost problem is FAT32, 10 Aug 2008
The problems that people are having with this Software is the way that it tries to make the image of your Hard drive, the default settings for this version of Ghost is it tries to do it all in one big chunk. Which is where it fails if peoples External Hard Drives are Fat32 File System, as it will save only 4Gb Clusters at a time, which was ok for earlier versions of Ghost, but as i found to my cost it isn't ok for this version.

I found this out after a lengthy on line chat with Symantec technical Support, i also asked them as to why there isn't information on this in the product packaging, because if it was then people wouldn't be giving it such negative feedback, they said they'd pass the feedback on.

So basically all you need to do to get round the problems with this software is to convert your external HDD to NTFS File System. by using the command prompt. Don't forget to do this in Windows Vista you need to Right Click Command Prompt icon and Select Run As Administrator or it won't work.

Hope this helps.


The Best Yet, 19 Jun 2008
I'm amazed there's so many negative reviews of this product as my own experience is completely different. Having used TrueImage 11 Home and Ghost 10 in the past with mixed results on a Vista machine I thought I might get similar problems making and restoring from backups? Nope, Ghost 14 has worked without a glitch, and does everything Its supposed too. I've used it on two machines, one a laptop, and they have both been restored more than once after I messed around with other software and caused driver problems.
I'm more than happy and would recommend this product.

Dunno what people are moaning about?, 13 Jun 2008
I,ve had ghost 14 installed for a couple of weeks now. And I've had absolutely no problems with it. I've got a fairly complex setup (multiple Raptors in a SATA RAID 0 setup along with a number of EIDE drives) and it has sucessfully created an image of my system drive and restored it no problem. I found the recovery disc simple to create and it had no problem with my drivers (note it may tell you during validation that certain virtual disk drivers are incompatible e.g. those typically used by Anti-virus apps but ignore that). I've also converted a system image to an MS Virtual PC .vhd in a couple of clicks and then used it immediately without any problems. The interface is generally good and provides lots of clear plain english info. Much of the geek-speak from the earlier versions of Ghost has gone (which as a geek I actually understood and miss) and the average user, unless a complete PC beginner, should be fine. One gripe I have got about the interface is that the application was clearly written using .net giving it a slightly slugish feel. Another issue I have is a lack of feedback during some tasks that can take a long time (like the recovery disk creation), leaving you wondering wether or not the app has hung. Overall though, I'm not sure why others are having the problems they are, but its working great for me (and no I don't work for symantec :-)).

If only it did what it said it would do, 09 Jun 2008
Wish I'd read the reviews below before buying, as those comments resonate with me now! Couldn't get it to make a customised Driver Disk, and couldn't get it to back up folders and files. Not a lot of use then, though it promises to be a great bit of software. I heard that it didn't work on Vista (doubtless unfair hearsay)...well it doesn't seem to work on XP either - well not mine. May just be my machine, though it clears the basic requirements easily. Really wanted it to work, but as it doesn't, afraid it became the first thing I've ever had to return to Amazon. Grateful to Amazon for at least accommodating that process with the pre-paid customised return label! Happy Man not so happy today!

NB Bought 'Norton 360 All in One security' at the same time and it works a treat.

Reliable, durable and dependable., 19 Nov 2008
Norton... hard to review as it is so slick, and performs brilliantly. Latest tweaks to the programme are resource friendly updates, a new method of deep cleaning an infected PC or laptop if you are unlucky enough to have to install this on an infected machine, and of course the new licence feature, meaning you can install this programme on 3 machines running Windows (XP or Vista) in the same household. So, in summary this is the bare bones anti virus programme; If you need more of a complete suite of automated PC or laptop care Norton sells that in the form of Internet Security, or 360.
Well worth the money, simple to use, and of course extremely well tested and trusted.
Oh... it does rather need broadband for updates though, and gets rather cranky if you have a dial up connection, you can adapt the settings in it to compensate, but this is reasonably simple. Essential bit of kit though.

Works Ok, 19 Nov 2008
I've been pleasantly surprised by Norton AV 2009 mainly because I'd heard some not too good things about previous versions. This, so far, seems to do the job it was designed for quite well. Without professionaly benchmarking it however, I couldn't be completely sure it hasn't missed anything (but then that could be said for all AV software) and it doesn't flag up all the tracking cookies etc found by AVG.

After an initial, lengthy deep scan subsequent scans are rapid and the automatic updates are unintrusive though sometimes background tasks are a bit slowing on my PC. The interface is simple and usable.

On a fairly serious negative note I did have problems installing. At the point of loading drivers the install seemed to hang. A re-start and re-install brought the same problems and I left it loading for half an hour to see if it sorted itself out. Nope. I very nearly didn't try the third install, if I hadn't then I would have seen it install itself this time with no problems at all and I wouldn't have been able to write the positive things I have.



Pass, 18 Nov 2008
For my sins I do have an older PC at the moment (I'm sure I'll upgrade again eventually!) and after installing this product there were a couple of conflict issues as well as a noticeable difference in the speed of my computer, so much so that after a little tinkering (admittedly I'm no great expert, not be a long stretch) that I gave up and uninstalled it. Because of this I can't really comment about the software's prowess, although I expect it does the job, just not on my aged PC!

Much better than it used to be, 16 Nov 2008
The 2009 version of Norton is not as intrusive as the older editions, however it is still a large application which will slow down you PC activities by a noticable amount. In return for this you get A-class security, however there may be problems such as incompatibility with certain software on your PC which may require some complex work-arounds.

If you know you way around a PC and the OS then this won't be a problem, but casual users should look elsewhere.




does the job, 14 Nov 2008

As a long time user of Norton I guess i'm like many others who simply buy a product for its familiarity and ease of use.

The spec is lower than Norton's 360, but 2009 is more than capable of satisfying most needs.

Easy to load, works without intrusion, and thats what most people require.

Didnt work properly., 13 Oct 2008
It made my computer really slow and i had to reboot it. I havnt a clue why this happend but i wont risk installing it again. 30 quid thrown in the bin. i'd rather have a virus ridden com than have this antivirus running on it!

hats off, at last!!, 22 Sep 2008
after an unsatisfactory trial with Kaspersky I decided on a simple antivirus, this is good, very good, its quiet, the pc runs quickly and smoothly and it even monitors my wireless network. Happy to buy this. Worth a serious look if you don't need a full suite. Well done it's taken a few years mind you but I think they have cracked it at Symantec! Ill be watching very closely if the virus and spyware is better, 2008 suite installed on my new laptop missed a trojan here and there so well see if this is better, but certainly from a running point of view it's spot on!

A backup program that works well, 07 Sep 2008
I purchased Norton Ghost 14.0 about 10 months ago and although it took some time to get used to it, it works fine on my Vista system. As I am paranoid about loosing any data from my computer, I am using many of Ghost's more advanced functions, and I also restored my PC successfully with Ghost after a system crash 4 months ago. The advantage with Ghost as I see it is that you can make backups on all sorts of medium; external hard disk drive, dvds, etc. For each backup you can choose to keep older backups, giving you several versions of the same file in time. You can also duplicate backups which is useful if you keep a set of backup on a separate HDD outside your home. The scheduler makes backup tasks completely automatic - and you're not forgetting it! On the negative side you will have to read the user manual to familiarize yourself with Ghosts many functions, and the program can some times come up with error messages that are completely impossible to understand - and the link that is supposed to take you to Symantec's internet site to explain the gibberish does not help. However Norton has a free 24/7 pc chat line for technical support ( I have used it myself). Bottom line: Ghost does the job when it comes to backing up your data !

Ghost problem is FAT32, 10 Aug 2008
The problems that people are having with this Software is the way that it tries to make the image of your Hard drive, the default settings for this version of Ghost is it tries to do it all in one big chunk. Which is where it fails if peoples External Hard Drives are Fat32 File System, as it will save only 4Gb Clusters at a time, which was ok for earlier versions of Ghost, but as i found to my cost it isn't ok for this version.

I found this out after a lengthy on line chat with Symantec technical Support, i also asked them as to why there isn't information on this in the product packaging, because if it was then people wouldn't be giving it such negative feedback, they said they'd pass the feedback on.

So basically all you need to do to get round the problems with this software is to convert your external HDD to NTFS File System. by using the command prompt. Don't forget to do this in Windows Vista you need to Right Click Command Prompt icon and Select Run As Administrator or it won't work.

Hope this helps.


The Best Yet, 19 Jun 2008
I'm amazed there's so many negative reviews of this product as my own experience is completely different. Having used TrueImage 11 Home and Ghost 10 in the past with mixed results on a Vista machine I thought I might get similar problems making and restoring from backups? Nope, Ghost 14 has worked without a glitch, and does everything Its supposed too. I've used it on two machines, one a laptop, and they have both been restored more than once after I messed around with other software and caused driver problems.
I'm more than happy and would recommend this product.

Dunno what people are moaning about?, 13 Jun 2008
I,ve had ghost 14 installed for a couple of weeks now. And I've had absolutely no problems with it. I've got a fairly complex setup (multiple Raptors in a SATA RAID 0 setup along with a number of EIDE drives) and it has sucessfully created an image of my system drive and restored it no problem. I found the recovery disc simple to create and it had no problem with my drivers (note it may tell you during validation that certain virtual disk drivers are incompatible e.g. those typically used by Anti-virus apps but ignore that). I've also converted a system image to an MS Virtual PC .vhd in a couple of clicks and then used it immediately without any problems. The interface is generally good and provides lots of clear plain english info. Much of the geek-speak from the earlier versions of Ghost has gone (which as a geek I actually understood and miss) and the average user, unless a complete PC beginner, should be fine. One gripe I have got about the interface is that the application was clearly written using .net giving it a slightly slugish feel. Another issue I have is a lack of feedback during some tasks that can take a long time (like the recovery disk creation), leaving you wondering wether or not the app has hung. Overall though, I'm not sure why others are having the problems they are, but its working great for me (and no I don't work for symantec :-)).

If only it did what it said it would do, 09 Jun 2008
Wish I'd read the reviews below before buying, as those comments resonate with me now! Couldn't get it to make a customised Driver Disk, and couldn't get it to back up folders and files. Not a lot of use then, though it promises to be a great bit of software. I heard that it didn't work on Vista (doubtless unfair hearsay)...well it doesn't seem to work on XP either - well not mine. May just be my machine, though it clears the basic requirements easily. Really wanted it to work, but as it doesn't, afraid it became the first thing I've ever had to return to Amazon. Grateful to Amazon for at least accommodating that process with the pre-paid customised return label! Happy Man not so happy today!

NB Bought 'Norton 360 All in One security' at the same time and it works a treat.

Reliable, durable and dependable., 19 Nov 2008
Norton... hard to review as it is so slick, and performs brilliantly. Latest tweaks to the programme are resource friendly updates, a new method of deep cleaning an infected PC or laptop if you are unlucky enough to have to install this on an infected machine, and of course the new licence feature, meaning you can install this programme on 3 machines running Windows (XP or Vista) in the same household. So, in summary this is the bare bones anti virus programme; If you need more of a complete suite of automated PC or laptop care Norton sells that in the form of Internet Security, or 360.
Well worth the money, simple to use, and of course extremely well tested and trusted.
Oh... it does rather need broadband for updates though, and gets rather cranky if you have a dial up connection, you can adapt the settings in it to compensate, but this is reasonably simple. Essential bit of kit though.

Works Ok, 19 Nov 2008
I've been pleasantly surprised by Norton AV 2009 mainly because I'd heard some not too good things about previous versions. This, so far, seems to do the job it was designed for quite well. Without professionaly benchmarking it however, I couldn't be completely sure it hasn't missed anything (but then that could be said for all AV software) and it doesn't flag up all the tracking cookies etc found by AVG.

After an initial, lengthy deep scan subsequent scans are rapid and the automatic updates are unintrusive though sometimes background tasks are a bit slowing on my PC. The interface is simple and usable.

On a fairly serious negative note I did have problems installing. At the point of loading drivers the install seemed to hang. A re-start and re-install brought the same problems and I left it loading for half an hour to see if it sorted itself out. Nope. I very nearly didn't try the third install, if I hadn't then I would have seen it install itself this time with no problems at all and I wouldn't have been able to write the positive things I have.



Pass, 18 Nov 2008
For my sins I do have an older PC at the moment (I'm sure I'll upgrade again eventually!) and after installing this product there were a couple of conflict issues as well as a noticeable difference in the speed of my computer, so much so that after a little tinkering (admittedly I'm no great expert, not be a long stretch) that I gave up and uninstalled it. Because of this I can't really comment about the software's prowess, although I expect it does the job, just not on my aged PC!

Much better than it used to be, 16 Nov 2008
The 2009 version of Norton is not as intrusive as the older editions, however it is still a large application which will slow down you PC activities by a noticable amount. In return for this you get A-class security, however there may be problems such as incompatibility with certain software on your PC which may require some complex work-arounds.

If you know you way around a PC and the OS then this won't be a problem, but casual users should look elsewhere.




does the job, 14 Nov 2008

As a long time user of Norton I guess i'm like many others who simply buy a product for its familiarity and ease of use.

The spec is lower than Norton's 360, but 2009 is more than capable of satisfying most needs.

Easy to load, works without intrusion, and thats what most people require.

One hell of a mistake, 28 May 2008
Okay, i'm up to date with modern technology and a bit behind when it comes with virus protection, lets say not as experienced as some and probably one of the youngest to comment on a product. I currently am using Norton nternet Security and thought about buying this product. But one word of advice you should consider. At the start the sign up to "Norton" is free. For a whole year it will do its job successfully, it does benefit from a simple user interface and isn't doesn't regularly demand attention. Its good for that i sing its praise. But after one year of the product, exactly 365 days. The product basically turns off. Its still monitors the basics but no longer recieves updates, so the risk is the same as before. Then comes the constant pop-up asking for a re-subscription to them. This might sound simple and it is, but a waste of money, it asks in the region of £60 for another year, for that you can simply upgrade and buy another anti virus software. But look at the alternatives, some are free like the avg online anti-spyware and anti-virus software. Although, this is a lot simpler to use, with a rather basic user interface, its still successful. I'm not discrediting this product, but consider the fact that it turns into a little virus itself, praying on the user for more money to re-subscribe. So i leave it to you, i personally think the product is effective but annoying after the 365 days of use. I for one will steer clear of this brand of software!! Will you?

Simple no fuss anti-virus protection, 28 Dec 2007
One thing about Symantec products is they work, if you just want a good anti-virus scanner that is simple to use and that is simple to keep up to date then this is the answer. The user interface if minimal, allowing you to scan your drives individually or all at once as well as manually running the update program. Other than installing it and letting it run a full system scan every now and then there is nothing to do, the software runs in the background; along with the auto updater.

Multiple system crashes..., 27 Nov 2007
I have used Norton Antivirus for years without complaint. I recently purchased the full 2008 version as a replacement for the 2005 version I was using, and it has completely buggered up the PC. Repeated system crashes and super slow performance despite a full re-format and re-installation of all software is now the norm. I would no longer recommend this product.

Awful., 24 Nov 2007
You'd think a company this successful could make anti-virus software that works. But no, it just removes necessary files from your computer, making it unusable. Go for AVG.

Better than previous versions, 18 Oct 2007
Just bought mine today.I have been with Norton for 2 years.It scans faster then previous versions of norton antivirus.It also has SONAR technology which picks up suspicious viruses lurking around. Main advantage is that you can use the licence for up to 3 PC'S.Well done Norton!

5 User/ englisch/ Vollversion/ Box/ Datenträger: CD

Brand New - Full UK Retail Boxed - Exactly the same as amazons - Price includes VAT and invoice supplied.

NORTON ANTIVIRUS 2008 1 USER EN

Protects your computer with advanced backup and recovery.Main Features:Incremental and differential backup: Backs up only files that have changedOffsite backup: Backs up your files to NAS (Network-Attached Storage) devicesFull system backup (disk image): Backs up everything on a hard drive or partitionGoogle Desktop Integration: Makes data recovery even faster with searchable backup indexesFTP backup mdash: Triggers incremental backups whenever ThreatCon reaches a specified threat level. Great for computer...

Protects your computer with advanced backup and recovery.

• Full system backup (disk image) ? Backs up everything on a hard drive or partition
• File and folder back up ? Choose only the specific files and folders you want to back up rather than sav

Didnt work properly., 13 Oct 2008
It made my computer really slow and i had to reboot it. I havnt a clue why this happend but i wont risk installing it again. 30 quid thrown in the bin. i'd rather have a virus ridden com than have this antivirus running on it!

hats off, at last!!, 22 Sep 2008
after an unsatisfactory trial with Kaspersky I decided on a simple antivirus, this is good, very good, its quiet, the pc runs quickly and smoothly and it even monitors my wireless network. Happy to buy this. Worth a serious look if you don't need a full suite. Well done it's taken a few years mind you but I think they have cracked it at Symantec! Ill be watching very closely if the virus and spyware is better, 2008 suite installed on my new laptop missed a trojan here and there so well see if this is better, but certainly from a running point of view it's spot on!

A backup program that works well, 07 Sep 2008
I purchased Norton Ghost 14.0 about 10 months ago and although it took some time to get used to it, it works fine on my Vista system. As I am paranoid about loosing any data from my computer, I am using many of Ghost's more advanced functions, and I also restored my PC successfully with Ghost after a system crash 4 months ago. The advantage with Ghost as I see it is that you can make backups on all sorts of medium; external hard disk drive, dvds, etc. For each backup you can choose to keep older backups, giving you several versions of the same file in time. You can also duplicate backups which is useful if you keep a set of backup on a separate HDD outside your home. The scheduler makes backup tasks completely automatic - and you're not forgetting it! On the negative side you will have to read the user manual to familiarize yourself with Ghosts many functions, and the program can some times come up with error messages that are completely impossible to understand - and the link that is supposed to take you to Symantec's internet site to explain the gibberish does not help. However Norton has a free 24/7 pc chat line for technical support ( I have used it myself). Bottom line: Ghost does the job when it comes to backing up your data !

Ghost problem is FAT32, 10 Aug 2008
The problems that people are having with this Software is the way that it tries to make the image of your Hard drive, the default settings for this version of Ghost is it tries to do it all in one big chunk. Which is where it fails if peoples External Hard Drives are Fat32 File System, as it will save only 4Gb Clusters at a time, which was ok for earlier versions of Ghost, but as i found to my cost it isn't ok for this version.

I found this out after a lengthy on line chat with Symantec technical Support, i also asked them as to why there isn't information on this in the product packaging, because if it was then people wouldn't be giving it such negative feedback, they said they'd pass the feedback on.

So basically all you need to do to get round the problems with this software is to convert your external HDD to NTFS File System. by using the command prompt. Don't forget to do this in Windows Vista you need to Right Click Command Prompt icon and Select Run As Administrator or it won't work.

Hope this helps.


The Best Yet, 19 Jun 2008
I'm amazed there's so many negative reviews of this product as my own experience is completely different. Having used TrueImage 11 Home and Ghost 10 in the past with mixed results on a Vista machine I thought I might get similar problems making and restoring from backups? Nope, Ghost 14 has worked without a glitch, and does everything Its supposed too. I've used it on two machines, one a laptop, and they have both been restored more than once after I messed around with other software and caused driver problems.
I'm more than happy and would recommend this product.

Dunno what people are moaning about?, 13 Jun 2008
I,ve had ghost 14 installed for a couple of weeks now. And I've had absolutely no problems with it. I've got a fairly complex setup (multiple Raptors in a SATA RAID 0 setup along with a number of EIDE drives) and it has sucessfully created an image of my system drive and restored it no problem. I found the recovery disc simple to create and it had no problem with my drivers (note it may tell you during validation that certain virtual disk drivers are incompatible e.g. those typically used by Anti-virus apps but ignore that). I've also converted a system image to an MS Virtual PC .vhd in a couple of clicks and then used it immediately without any problems. The interface is generally good and provides lots of clear plain english info. Much of the geek-speak from the earlier versions of Ghost has gone (which as a geek I actually understood and miss) and the average user, unless a complete PC beginner, should be fine. One gripe I have got about the interface is that the application was clearly written using .net giving it a slightly slugish feel. Another issue I have is a lack of feedback during some tasks that can take a long time (like the recovery disk creation), leaving you wondering wether or not the app has hung. Overall though, I'm not sure why others are having the problems they are, but its working great for me (and no I don't work for symantec :-)).

If only it did what it said it would do, 09 Jun 2008
Wish I'd read the reviews below before buying, as those comments resonate with me now! Couldn't get it to make a customised Driver Disk, and couldn't get it to back up folders and files. Not a lot of use then, though it promises to be a great bit of software. I heard that it didn't work on Vista (doubtless unfair hearsay)...well it doesn't seem to work on XP either - well not mine. May just be my machine, though it clears the basic requirements easily. Really wanted it to work, but as it doesn't, afraid it became the first thing I've ever had to return to Amazon. Grateful to Amazon for at least accommodating that process with the pre-paid customised return label! Happy Man not so happy today!

NB Bought 'Norton 360 All in One security' at the same time and it works a treat.

Reliable, durable and dependable., 19 Nov 2008
Norton... hard to review as it is so slick, and performs brilliantly. Latest tweaks to the programme are resource friendly updates, a new method of deep cleaning an infected PC or laptop if you are unlucky enough to have to install this on an infected machine, and of course the new licence feature, meaning you can install this programme on 3 machines running Windows (XP or Vista) in the same household. So, in summary this is the bare bones anti virus programme; If you need more of a complete suite of automated PC or laptop care Norton sells that in the form of Internet Security, or 360.
Well worth the money, simple to use, and of course extremely well tested and trusted.
Oh... it does rather need broadband for updates though, and gets rather cranky if you have a dial up connection, you can adapt the settings in it to compensate, but this is reasonably simple. Essential bit of kit though.

Works Ok, 19 Nov 2008
I've been pleasantly surprised by Norton AV 2009 mainly because I'd heard some not too good things about previous versions. This, so far, seems to do the job it was designed for quite well. Without professionaly benchmarking it however, I couldn't be completely sure it hasn't missed anything (but then that could be said for all AV software) and it doesn't flag up all the tracking cookies etc found by AVG.

After an initial, lengthy deep scan subsequent scans are rapid and the automatic updates are unintrusive though sometimes background tasks are a bit slowing on my PC. The interface is simple and usable.

On a fairly serious negative note I did have problems installing. At the point of loading drivers the install seemed to hang. A re-start and re-install brought the same problems and I left it loading for half an hour to see if it sorted itself out. Nope. I very nearly didn't try the third install, if I hadn't then I would have seen it install itself this time with no problems at all and I wouldn't have been able to write the positive things I have.



Pass, 18 Nov 2008
For my sins I do have an older PC at the moment (I'm sure I'll upgrade again eventually!) and after installing this product there were a couple of conflict issues as well as a noticeable difference in the speed of my computer, so much so that after a little tinkering (admittedly I'm no great expert, not be a long stretch) that I gave up and uninstalled it. Because of this I can't really comment about the software's prowess, although I expect it does the job, just not on my aged PC!

Much better than it used to be, 16 Nov 2008
The 2009 version of Norton is not as intrusive as the older editions, however it is still a large application which will slow down you PC activities by a noticable amount. In return for this you get A-class security, however there may be problems such as incompatibility with certain software on your PC which may require some complex work-arounds.

If you know you way around a PC and the OS then this won't be a problem, but casual users should look elsewhere.




does the job, 14 Nov 2008

As a long time user of Norton I guess i'm like many others who simply buy a product for its familiarity and ease of use.

The spec is lower than Norton's 360, but 2009 is more than capable of satisfying most needs.

Easy to load, works without intrusion, and thats what most people require.

One hell of a mistake, 28 May 2008
Okay, i'm up to date with modern technology and a bit behind when it comes with virus protection, lets say not as experienced as some and probably one of the youngest to comment on a product. I currently am using Norton nternet Security and thought about buying this product. But one word of advice you should consider. At the start the sign up to "Norton" is free. For a whole year it will do its job successfully, it does benefit from a simple user interface and isn't doesn't regularly demand attention. Its good for that i sing its praise. But after one year of the product, exactly 365 days. The product basically turns off. Its still monitors the basics but no longer recieves updates, so the risk is the same as before. Then comes the constant pop-up asking for a re-subscription to them. This might sound simple and it is, but a waste of money, it asks in the region of £60 for another year, for that you can simply upgrade and buy another anti virus software. But look at the alternatives, some are free like the avg online anti-spyware and anti-virus software. Although, this is a lot simpler to use, with a rather basic user interface, its still successful. I'm not discrediting this product, but consider the fact that it turns into a little virus itself, praying on the user for more money to re-subscribe. So i leave it to you, i personally think the product is effective but annoying after the 365 days of use. I for one will steer clear of this brand of software!! Will you?

Simple no fuss anti-virus protection, 28 Dec 2007
One thing about Symantec products is they work, if you just want a good anti-virus scanner that is simple to use and that is simple to keep up to date then this is the answer. The user interface if minimal, allowing you to scan your drives individually or all at once as well as manually running the update program. Other than installing it and letting it run a full system scan every now and then there is nothing to do, the software runs in the background; along with the auto updater.

Multiple system crashes..., 27 Nov 2007
I have used Norton Antivirus for years without complaint. I recently purchased the full 2008 version as a replacement for the 2005 version I was using, and it has completely buggered up the PC. Repeated system crashes and super slow performance despite a full re-format and re-installation of all software is now the norm. I would no longer recommend this product.

Awful., 24 Nov 2007
You'd think a company this successful could make anti-virus software that works. But no, it just removes necessary files from your computer, making it unusable. Go for AVG.

Better than previous versions, 18 Oct 2007
Just bought mine today.I have been with Norton for 2 years.It scans faster then previous versions of norton antivirus.It also has SONAR technology which picks up suspicious viruses lurking around. Main advantage is that you can use the licence for up to 3 PC'S.Well done Norton!

Does what it says if you can work out how to do it, 05 Mar 2008
I have been using Ghost 10 for quite a while. Ghost 10 didn't have the most intuitive of intuitive of interfaces but I quickly got used to its quirks. I had read that the new program had made this all a lot clearer and on first sight it is. It is much larger with nice pie charts and graphics showing you information about what backups you have. After struggling with it for hours, I decided it was far less intuitive or just the same but involving more operations. If you want to delete recovery points, what do you want - tasks or tools? What these people never seem to do when designing these things is to ask their secretaries or girl friends to sit down and try and work it out. They might get some useful suggestions.

The additional feature not found in Ghost 10 is the file or folder backup. This is backed up separately on your external hard drive and is not incorporated in the main backup. You can select file types which will backup all files of that type. Then there is My Documents which will back up this (minus the files in My Pictures and My Music as the 'folders' for these are, in fact, short cuts not real folders). Then you can define file(s) or folder(s) which change rapidly and you need to back up frequently.

The main problem with this section of the program is viewing the folders or files you have backed up. You have to enter a file name in a search box to view the backed up files. I never know the names of the files I'm working with, especially ones with names like xcve6755.jpg. There is an 'advanced' search but this depends on date, file size, etc. I have eventually brought up what I want to I am new sure how I did it! Then you can check if it is backed up properly. The same applies to restore. What is needed is a facility to view all the files and folders of each defined backup so you can explore and then choose.

I do not often have to resort to the Help menu with most programs but you will with this. The printed manual you get with the box is a pale shadow of its predecessor, on economic grounds no doubt. The manual tells you about installation, creating a Recovery Disc etc but virtually nothing about day to day operations. This is all found on the comprehensive help that comes with the program. If your computer dies on you, however, these will not be available to you. If you have access to another computer, look in the Ghost 12 folder in C:/Programs and copy the help file and store it on a memory stick. Alternatively, print out the help pages (or copy and paste to a Word document (over 100 sides). It is essential to know how to boot the computer with the Recovery Disk to rescue it and you will need step by step guidance unless you are very computer literate, so at least print this out as it is not in the manual.

The Help pages are generally good but are too cursory at times and, it seems, when you most need them. The index and search facilities are often unhelpful, bringing up long lists of topics leaving you unsure as to which to look up. I have found my Word document version better as I can search by single words or phrases and bring the text up.

A word about the Recovery Disc. You use this to boot the computer into basic Windows to enable you to overwrite and restore the whole of your hard disk. When you install, you can run a scan from the product CD to validate drivers. It will tell you if any drivers are missing from the CD (not the computer)to enable recovery to run. After installation, you make your own disk by burning a recovery CD which Ghost ensures includes copies of these drivers. Be sure to test the disk to make sure it works. This procedure is NOT described in the manual.

This is a good program but let down by the time needed to learn where things are. Better sub-menus would solve a lot of this. These are mainly problems for the new user and time will resolve them. There may be other products which do a similar job which are easier to use but Ghost 10 has restored my computer on a couple of occasions. The alternative would have been to reinstall Windows and every application, one by one, and then the data - a good day's work if you are lucky and a year off your life. Don't underestimate the value of Ghost 12 - it will restore your operating system, the registry, your applications and your data in an hour or two while you have a cup of tea.

Symantec buys company and ruins product, 01 Feb 2008
Absolute rubbish. There should be a minus stars rating.
Drive Image was a fine product, Symantec indulged in their usual practice of eliminating competition, and ruined a good product. If you have Vista you are better off using the tools that already exist in it, or upgrading from the Home Edition to get them. Do not even think of using Ghost if you have RAID.

Absolute rubbish, 30 Nov 2007
Pretty interface and all looks very professional but simply cannot be relied on, and doesnt work anyway! Wanted to clone (copy disk) my boot hard disk (XP) to another clean drive with lots of space, formatted and error free. C:\ drive was around 10gb and I was sending it to D:\ drive which was 20gb. It got to the end of the copy routine, about 30 minutes, having copied around 8gb of 10gb and said it *failed* with the error "too few clusters". I checked the website and it suggested running chkdsk /f which I did, and even tried chkdsk /r with no errors. I tried three times and failed every one. Rubbish software. Rubbish support. Rubbish company. Now dumping it and looking elsewhere.

Solid and reliable, but may not be worth upgrading from Ghost 10, 15 Oct 2007
There a lot you can say about Symantec - much of it bad and some of it unrepeatable - but you can't argue with a piece of software that consistently does exactly what it claims to do. Unlike the utter disaster that was Acronis True Image 10 - whose popularity among magazine reviewers can only be based on none of them ever having actually used it - Ghost 10 competently got on with the job of backing up my system, and, once, just as competently restoring it after a disaster.

And now there's Ghost 12 - but although it has a number of new features over Ghost 10, some of them are going to be of pretty limited value to a home user with one or two personal machines. The remote management and LightsOut Restore features might be useful to network sysadmins but they're of no use to me. Similarly the integrated google desktop feature is probably useful to some people, somewhere, but I'm not one of them. It's a lot prettier than Ghost 10, though, with a new interface design and much nicer and more detailed menus. The ability to back up specific files, file-types and folders is a nice new feature, although individual items can already be selected and restored from within a complete disk image so it's not an essential one.

One thing that has been much improved in Ghost 12 is a feature that hopefully you'll never see. Ghost 10 took an incredibly (and nail-bitingly) long time to boot into the recovery environment from the CD. Ghost 12 is much faster and the recovery environment has undergone the same facelift as the user interface. Beware, though, of the broken new "feature" that claims to let you create a customised bootable recovery CD that includes system-specific drivers not included in the standard recovery CD. I ran this feature to test it out, and it identified about a half-dozen things it thought should be included in a customised CD. Some of them (the JMicron RAID driver my motherboard uses) seemed logical to include, while others (part of the Kaspersky antivirus engine) seemed a bit eccentric. Ghost repeatedly failed to burn this customised CD for no explicable reason, though it did let me create an iso image that I burned to a blank CD with Nero. This customised CD booted alright, but refused to identify any of the dozen or so backups I'd made on my external USB drives, and when I selected them manually it refused to open them for a restore. When I used the plain old uncustomised bootable CD that came with the box, it worked just fine, identified all my backups and opened them without a hitch.

Apart from the useless customisable recovery CD feature - which loses it points as I have this old-fashioned idea that advertised software features should work work out of the box - Ghost 12 is a good solid product that I use every day to create incremental images of my system and data partitions. If you don't already have a disk imager, Ghost 12 will be the one to get - ignore the noise about Acronis True Image. Ghost may cost more but in my experience it doesn't generate fatal errors or inexplicably corrupt its own backup archives. If you already have Ghost 10, though, then you probably won't gain much by upgrading unless you desperately need to be able to restore a system remotely.

Symantec Mail Security 5.0 for SMTP provides high-performance, integrated mail protection against virus threats, spam, and other unwanted content at the earliest point of network entry. Key Features: - Day Zero virus prevention reduces vulnerabil -

Protects your computer with advanced backup and recovery.Main Features:Full system backup (disk image) ? Backs up everything on a hard drive or partitionFile and folder back up ? Choose only the specific files and folders you want to back up rather than s

Didnt work properly., 13 Oct 2008
It made my computer really slow and i had to reboot it. I havnt a clue why this happend but i wont risk installing it again. 30 quid thrown in the bin. i'd rather have a virus ridden com than have this antivirus running on it!

hats off, at last!!, 22 Sep 2008
after an unsatisfactory trial with Kaspersky I decided on a simple antivirus, this is good, very good, its quiet, the pc runs quickly and smoothly and it even monitors my wireless network. Happy to buy this. Worth a serious look if you don't need a full suite. Well done it's taken a few years mind you but I think they have cracked it at Symantec! Ill be watching very closely if the virus and spyware is better, 2008 suite installed on my new laptop missed a trojan here and there so well see if this is better, but certainly from a running point of view it's spot on!

A backup program that works well, 07 Sep 2008
I purchased Norton Ghost 14.0 about 10 months ago and although it took some time to get used to it, it works fine on my Vista system. As I am paranoid about loosing any data from my computer, I am using many of Ghost's more advanced functions, and I also restored my PC successfully with Ghost after a system crash 4 months ago. The advantage with Ghost as I see it is that you can make backups on all sorts of medium; external hard disk drive, dvds, etc. For each backup you can choose to keep older backups, giving you several versions of the same file in time. You can also duplicate backups which is useful if you keep a set of backup on a separate HDD outside your home. The scheduler makes backup tasks completely automatic - and you're not forgetting it! On the negative side you will have to read the user manual to familiarize yourself with Ghosts many functions, and the program can some times come up with error messages that are completely impossible to understand - and the link that is supposed to take you to Symantec's internet site to explain the gibberish does not help. However Norton has a free 24/7 pc chat line for technical support ( I have used it myself). Bottom line: Ghost does the job when it comes to backing up your data !

Ghost problem is FAT32, 10 Aug 2008
The problems that people are having with this Software is the way that it tries to make the image of your Hard drive, the default settings for this version of Ghost is it tries to do it all in one big chunk. Which is where it fails if peoples External Hard Drives are Fat32 File System, as it will save only 4Gb Clusters at a time, which was ok for earlier versions of Ghost, but as i found to my cost it isn't ok for this version.

I found this out after a lengthy on line chat with Symantec technical Support, i also asked them as to why there isn't information on this in the product packaging, because if it was then people wouldn't be giving it such negative feedback, they said they'd pass the feedback on.

So basically all you need to do to get round the problems with this software is to convert your external HDD to NTFS File System. by using the command prompt. Don't forget to do this in Windows Vista you need to Right Click Command Prompt icon and Select Run As Administrator or it won't work.

Hope this helps.


The Best Yet, 19 Jun 2008
I'm amazed there's so many negative reviews of this product as my own experience is completely different. Having used TrueImage 11 Home and Ghost 10 in the past with mixed results on a Vista machine I thought I might get similar problems making and restoring from backups? Nope, Ghost 14 has worked without a glitch, and does everything Its supposed too. I've used it on two machines, one a laptop, and they have both been restored more than once after I messed around with other software and caused driver problems.
I'm more than happy and would recommend this product.

Dunno what people are moaning about?, 13 Jun 2008
I,ve had ghost 14 installed for a couple of weeks now. And I've had absolutely no problems with it. I've got a fairly complex setup (multiple Raptors in a SATA RAID 0 setup along with a number of EIDE drives) and it has sucessfully created an image of my system drive and restored it no problem. I found the recovery disc simple to create and it had no problem with my drivers (note it may tell you during validation that certain virtual disk drivers are incompatible e.g. those typically used by Anti-virus apps but ignore that). I've also converted a system image to an MS Virtual PC .vhd in a couple of clicks and then used it immediately without any problems. The interface is generally good and provides lots of clear plain english info. Much of the geek-speak from the earlier versions of Ghost has gone (which as a geek I actually understood and miss) and the average user, unless a complete PC beginner, should be fine. One gripe I have got about the interface is that the application was clearly written using .net giving it a slightly slugish feel. Another issue I have is a lack of feedback during some tasks that can take a long time (like the recovery disk creation), leaving you wondering wether or not the app has hung. Overall though, I'm not sure why others are having the problems they are, but its working great for me (and no I don't work for symantec :-)).

If only it did what it said it would do, 09 Jun 2008
Wish I'd read the reviews below before buying, as those comments resonate with me now! Couldn't get it to make a customised Driver Disk, and couldn't get it to back up folders and files. Not a lot of use then, though it promises to be a great bit of software. I heard that it didn't work on Vista (doubtless unfair hearsay)...well it doesn't seem to work on XP either - well not mine. May just be my machine, though it clears the basic requirements easily. Really wanted it to work, but as it doesn't, afraid it became the first thing I've ever had to return to Amazon. Grateful to Amazon for at least accommodating that process with the pre-paid customised return label! Happy Man not so happy today!

NB Bought 'Norton 360 All in One security' at the same time and it works a treat.

Reliable, durable and dependable., 19 Nov 2008
Norton... hard to review as it is so slick, and performs brilliantly. Latest tweaks to the programme are resource friendly updates, a new method of deep cleaning an infected PC or laptop if you are unlucky enough to have to install this on an infected machine, and of course the new licence feature, meaning you can install this programme on 3 machines running Windows (XP or Vista) in the same household. So, in summary this is the bare bones anti virus programme; If you need more of a complete suite of automated PC or laptop care Norton sells that in the form of Internet Security, or 360.
Well worth the money, simple to use, and of course extremely well tested and trusted.
Oh... it does rather need broadband for updates though, and gets rather cranky if you have a dial up connection, you can adapt the settings in it to compensate, but this is reasonably simple. Essential bit of kit though.

Works Ok, 19 Nov 2008
I've been pleasantly surprised by Norton AV 2009 mainly because I'd heard some not too good things about previous versions. This, so far, seems to do the job it was designed for quite well. Without professionaly benchmarking it however, I couldn't be completely sure it hasn't missed anything (but then that could be said for all AV software) and it doesn't flag up all the tracking cookies etc found by AVG.

After an initial, lengthy deep scan subsequent scans are rapid and the automatic updates are unintrusive though sometimes background tasks are a bit slowing on my PC. The interface is simple and usable.

On a fairly serious negative note I did have problems installing. At the point of loading drivers the install seemed to hang. A re-start and re-install brought the same problems and I left it loading for half an hour to see if it sorted itself out. Nope. I very nearly didn't try the third install, if I hadn't then I would have seen it install itself this time with no problems at all and I wouldn't have been able to write the positive things I have.



Pass, 18 Nov 2008
For my sins I do have an older PC at the moment (I'm sure I'll upgrade again eventually!) and after installing this product there were a couple of conflict issues as well as a noticeable difference in the speed of my computer, so much so that after a little tinkering (admittedly I'm no great expert, not be a long stretch) that I gave up and uninstalled it. Because of this I can't really comment about the software's prowess, although I expect it does the job, just not on my aged PC!

Much better than it used to be, 16 Nov 2008
The 2009 version of Norton is not as intrusive as the older editions, however it is still a large application which will slow down you PC activities by a noticable amount. In return for this you get A-class security, however there may be problems such as incompatibility with certain software on your PC which may require some complex work-arounds.

If you know you way around a PC and the OS then this won't be a problem, but casual users should look elsewhere.




does the job, 14 Nov 2008

As a long time user of Norton I guess i'm like many others who simply buy a product for its familiarity and ease of use.

The spec is lower than Norton's 360, but 2009 is more than capable of satisfying most needs.

Easy to load, works without intrusion, and thats what most people require.

One hell of a mistake, 28 May 2008
Okay, i'm up to date with modern technology and a bit behind when it comes with virus protection, lets say not as experienced as some and probably one of the youngest to comment on a product. I currently am using Norton nternet Security and thought about buying this product. But one word of advice you should consider. At the start the sign up to "Norton" is free. For a whole year it will do its job successfully, it does benefit from a simple user interface and isn't doesn't regularly demand attention. Its good for that i sing its praise. But after one year of the product, exactly 365 days. The product basically turns off. Its still monitors the basics but no longer recieves updates, so the risk is the same as before. Then comes the constant pop-up asking for a re-subscription to them. This might sound simple and it is, but a waste of money, it asks in the region of £60 for another year, for that you can simply upgrade and buy another anti virus software. But look at the alternatives, some are free like the avg online anti-spyware and anti-virus software. Although, this is a lot simpler to use, with a rather basic user interface, its still successful. I'm not discrediting this product, but consider the fact that it turns into a little virus itself, praying on the user for more money to re-subscribe. So i leave it to you, i personally think the product is effective but annoying after the 365 days of use. I for one will steer clear of this brand of software!! Will you?

Simple no fuss anti-virus protection, 28 Dec 2007
One thing about Symantec products is they work, if you just want a good anti-virus scanner that is simple to use and that is simple to keep up to date then this is the answer. The user interface if minimal, allowing you to scan your drives individually or all at once as well as manually running the update program. Other than installing it and letting it run a full system scan every now and then there is nothing to do, the software runs in the background; along with the auto updater.

Multiple system crashes..., 27 Nov 2007
I have used Norton Antivirus for years without complaint. I recently purchased the full 2008 version as a replacement for the 2005 version I was using, and it has completely buggered up the PC. Repeated system crashes and super slow performance despite a full re-format and re-installation of all software is now the norm. I would no longer recommend this product.

Awful., 24 Nov 2007
You'd think a company this successful could make anti-virus software that works. But no, it just removes necessary files from your computer, making it unusable. Go for AVG.

Better than previous versions, 18 Oct 2007
Just bought mine today.I have been with Norton for 2 years.It scans faster then previous versions of norton antivirus.It also has SONAR technology which picks up suspicious viruses lurking around. Main advantage is that you can use the licence for up to 3 PC'S.Well done Norton!

Does what it says if you can work out how to do it, 05 Mar 2008
I have been using Ghost 10 for quite a while. Ghost 10 didn't have the most intuitive of intuitive of interfaces but I quickly got used to its quirks. I had read that the new program had made this all a lot clearer and on first sight it is. It is much larger with nice pie charts and graphics showing you information about what backups you have. After struggling with it for hours, I decided it was far less intuitive or just the same but involving more operations. If you want to delete recovery points, what do you want - tasks or tools? What these people never seem to do when designing these things is to ask their secretaries or girl friends to sit down and try and work it out. They might get some useful suggestions.

The additional feature not found in Ghost 10 is the file or folder backup. This is backed up separately on your external hard drive and is not incorporated in the main backup. You can select file types which will backup all files of that type. Then there is My Documents which will back up this (minus the files in My Pictures and My Music as the 'folders' for these are, in fact, short cuts not real folders). Then you can define file(s) or folder(s) which change rapidly and you need to back up frequently.

The main problem with this section of the program is viewing the folders or files you have backed up. You have to enter a file name in a search box to view the backed up files. I never know the names of the files I'm working with, especially ones with names like xcve6755.jpg. There is an 'advanced' search but this depends on date, file size, etc. I have eventually brought up what I want to I am new sure how I did it! Then you can check if it is backed up properly. The same applies to restore. What is needed is a facility to view all the files and folders of each defined backup so you can explore and then choose.

I do not often have to resort to the Help menu with most programs but you will with this. The printed manual you get with the box is a pale shadow of its predecessor, on economic grounds no doubt. The manual tells you about installation, creating a Recovery Disc etc but virtually nothing about day to day operations. This is all found on the comprehensive help that comes with the program. If your computer dies on you, however, these will not be available to you. If you have access to another computer, look in the Ghost 12 folder in C:/Programs and copy the help file and store it on a memory stick. Alternatively, print out the help pages (or copy and paste to a Word document (over 100 sides). It is essential to know how to boot the computer with the Recovery Disk to rescue it and you will need step by step guidance unless you are very computer literate, so at least print this out as it is not in the manual.

The Help pages are generally good but are too cursory at times and, it seems, when you most need them. The index and search facilities are often unhelpful, bringing up long lists of topics leaving you unsure as to which to look up. I have found my Word document version better as I can search by single words or phrases and bring the text up.

A word about the Recovery Disc. You use this to boot the computer into basic Windows to enable you to overwrite and restore the whole of your hard disk. When you install, you can run a scan from the product CD to validate drivers. It will tell you if any drivers are missing from the CD (not the computer)to enable recovery to run. After installation, you make your own disk by burning a recovery CD which Ghost ensures includes copies of these drivers. Be sure to test the disk to make sure it works. This procedure is NOT described in the manual.

This is a good program but let down by the time needed to learn where things are. Better sub-menus would solve a lot of this. These are mainly problems for the new user and time will resolve them. There may be other products which do a similar job which are easier to use but Ghost 10 has restored my computer on a couple of occasions. The alternative would have been to reinstall Windows and every application, one by one, and then the data - a good day's work if you are lucky and a year off your life. Don't underestimate the value of Ghost 12 - it will restore your operating system, the registry, your applications and your data in an hour or two while you have a cup of tea.

Symantec buys company and ruins product, 01 Feb 2008
Absolute rubbish. There should be a minus stars rating.
Drive Image was a fine product, Symantec indulged in their usual practice of eliminating competition, and ruined a good product. If you have Vista you are better off using the tools that already exist in it, or upgrading from the Home Edition to get them. Do not even think of using Ghost if you have RAID.

Absolute rubbish, 30 Nov 2007
Pretty interface and all looks very professional but simply cannot be relied on, and doesnt work anyway! Wanted to clone (copy disk) my boot hard disk (XP) to another clean drive with lots of space, formatted and error free. C:\ drive was around 10gb and I was sending it to D:\ drive which was 20gb. It got to the end of the copy routine, about 30 minutes, having copied around 8gb of 10gb and said it *failed* with the error "too few clusters". I checked the website and it suggested running chkdsk /f which I did, and even tried chkdsk /r with no errors. I tried three times and failed every one. Rubbish software. Rubbish support. Rubbish company. Now dumping it and looking elsewhere.

Solid and reliable, but may not be worth upgrading from Ghost 10, 15 Oct 2007
There a lot you can say about Symantec - much of it bad and some of it unrepeatable - but you can't argue with a piece of software that consistently does exactly what it claims to do. Unlike the utter disaster that was Acronis True Image 10 - whose popularity among magazine reviewers can only be based on none of them ever having actually used it - Ghost 10 competently got on with the job of backing up my system, and, once, just as competently restoring it after a disaster.

And now there's Ghost 12 - but although it has a number of new features over Ghost 10, some of them are going to be of pretty limited value to a home user with one or two personal machines. The remote management and LightsOut Restore features might be useful to network sysadmins but they're of no use to me. Similarly the integrated google desktop feature is probably useful to some people, somewhere, but I'm not one of them. It's a lot prettier than Ghost 10, though, with a new interface design and much nicer and more detailed menus. The ability to back up specific files, file-types and folders is a nice new feature, although individual items can already be selected and restored from within a complete disk image so it's not an essential one.

One thing that has been much improved in Ghost 12 is a feature that hopefully you'll never see. Ghost 10 took an incredibly (and nail-bitingly) long time to boot into the recovery environment from the CD. Ghost 12 is much faster and the recovery environment has undergone the same facelift as the user interface. Beware, though, of the broken new "feature" that claims to let you create a customised bootable recovery CD that includes system-specific drivers not included in the standard recovery CD. I ran this feature to test it out, and it identified about a half-dozen things it thought should be included in a customised CD. Some of them (the JMicron RAID driver my motherboard uses) seemed logical to include, while others (part of the Kaspersky antivirus engine) seemed a bit eccentric. Ghost repeatedly failed to burn this customised CD for no explicable reason, though it did let me create an iso image that I burned to a blank CD with Nero. This customised CD booted alright, but refused to identify any of the dozen or so backups I'd made on my external USB drives, and when I selected them manually it refused to open them for a restore. When I used the plain old uncustomised bootable CD that came with the box, it worked just fine, identified all my backups and opened them without a hitch.

Apart from the useless customisable recovery CD feature - which loses it points as I have this old-fashioned idea that advertised software features should work work out of the box - Ghost 12 is a good solid product that I use every day to create incremental images of my system and data partitions. If you don't already have a disk imager, Ghost 12 will be the one to get - ignore the noise about Acronis True Image. Ghost may cost more but in my experience it doesn't generate fatal errors or inexplicably corrupt its own backup archives. If you already have Ghost 10, though, then you probably won't gain much by upgrading unless you desperately need to be able to restore a system remotely.


Poor quality product - key features don't work, 29 Oct 2007
I upgraded from Ghost 9 to Ghost 12 specifically to use the Recovery Point feature as I am upgrading from XP to Vista and wanted a restore point. Sadly, this much hyped feature doesn't work. The problem is that unless the source disk is completely clean (no bad sectors, no CRC failures) the Recovery Point simply fails. When it does fail there is a link to follow to download somthing called Autofix. This doesn't work either - in fact, it won't install at all (it appears to download ok, but the install doesn't run). When Autofix failed I followed the link to the Symantec tech support pages only to find this takes you to Ghost 10 info and not Ghost 12. Booting from the ISO image CD that Ghost 12 creates (which does work) allows you to run various diagnostics on the hard disk, which took just over 4 hours on my 60Gb disk and reported no errors. However, attemtping to create the Recovery Point still failed, reporting a CRC failure.

This is a very poor piece of software. The backup may work, but given the other key function (Recovery Point) doesn't I wouldn't trust it - I certainly wouldn't wait until I needed to restore before finding out. I would very strongly suggest buying a different product - Ghost 12 is, in my view, a very poor quality and Symantec must be able to do better than this.

Symantec Mail Security 5.0 for SMTP provides high-performance, integrated mail protection against virus threats, spam, and other unwanted content at the earliest point of network entry. Key Features: - Day Zero virus prevention reduces vulnerabil -