Cheap Norton SystemWorks 2004 Professional (Software) (Windows NT, Windows Me, Windows XP, Windows 2000, Windows 98) Price

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Customer Reviews of Norton SystemWorks 2004 Professional

Save your time and money. Buy something else!
This is the single worst software purchase I have ever made. I bought Norton 2004 Professional because of Norton's reputation and a good mail-in-rebate offer. After following all pre-installation instructions, the software crashed during installation. After following all uninstall/reinstall instructions, same problem. After following all Symantec online tech support instructions, same problem. After emailing Symantec for support (and changing so many settings on my computer that I'm pretty sure its even more vulnerable than before I started), same problem. BTW, Symantec says it will respond w/in 48 hours, more like 4 to 8 days per correspondence. I have now spent way more time than any rebate is worth, still don't have protection and Symantec wants to charge me about $40 to actually talk to a support person by phone. Lastly, after giving up on the disc software I purchased, I downloaded the trial version. It worked great. Only problem, the product code I paid for can't be used to activate the trial software. (Why? Because that's Symantec's policy, that's why.) So, I'm stuck with a trial version that expires in 15 days, but I can't activate it without paying for the software twice. HORRIBLE! AVOID AT ALL COSTS!

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Slowed the system too much.
I used Norton Systemworks 2001 on my old laptop with Windows 1998. Considering the laptop was second-hand when I bought it in March 2000, had 2GB hard-drive, 40mb RAM and a Pentium 133MHz processor - I gave the credit to Norton for making it last until February of this year. And even then, it was the screen that went on it. I bought a new laptop shortly afterwards, and as I had so much sucess with Norton Systemworks 2001, I thought I would treat myself to the latest version, and bought Norton Systemworks Pro 2004. I had no problem installing the software, and enjoyed seeing familar features like the one-button check-up. However, I noticed a considerable decrease in performance on my laptop (Inspiron 8600) after the installation. It seemed to take twice as long to start-up and shut-down, and programs took longer to load. DVDs etc. did not seem to run as smoothly, and the computer seemed to revert to a lower spec in terms of it's overall performance - which was not my intention at all. I made a mistake by not reading reviews prior to purchasing the product, and being blinded by my experiences of previous Norton products. I have since uninstalled the software (I encountered no problems here either) and asked for a refund from Symantec. I am pleased to say that the computer's performance has returned to normal. Perhaps Norton should go back to the drawing-board here - and rather than try and adapt their software to Windows XP and higher spec systems, completely start from scratch. I think that after reading most of these reviews, a change of name for this product might be the best thing for Norton's reputation!

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Use only GoBack and Ghost, disregard the rest.
I have not used Systemworks Pro since version 2002 (and I will never again, it bogs down any PC and the system utilities have messed up my PC way too many times), however I am a very happy user of GoBack 3 De-Luxe and Ghost 2002.
I purchased Goback before Roxio sold it to Symantec, so mine still has the Roxio/Adaptec user interface, but hopefully has not been able to mess it up in just a couple of months.

I would say: if you like to have a tuned-up working PC (and that should be the reason that pushes one to shop for Systemworks, your best bet is probably to became proficient with Goback and Ghost included in Systemworks and forget about any system cleaning/tuning utilities.

Ghost will allow you to create a copy of your system (hopefully at a time when it is working fine) that can be reinstalled in a matter of minutes (or hours, depending on size).
Goback allows to goback to the past to undo the bad effects of an installation or anything wrong.
It is similar to the system restore that is part of Windows XP or Me, but a lot more powerful (after going back you can still recover specific files from the "future" that you might want to keep, or if Windows ain't booting, no problem: Goback Deluxe kicks in before the Bios looks for an OS, so just press the space bar when prompted by GoBack and pick the time to go back to.

This is a Duo that keep your system running forever, but you need to learn how to use them properly (Disclaimers, Inc.).

Important: my suggestion is to use only Ghost and Goback out of Systemworks, so it takes some tinkering with the installation, and a lot of disabling services and options after the installation, to try to limit the PC paralysis induced by a default Norton installation and to avoid being harassed by the stupid Norton Protected Recycled bin, clean sweeper, windoctor, big brother or whatever else they are called, another option is to get standalone versions of Ghost and Goback, or even better to download free 15 day trials from Symantec, test them out, license them if you like them.