Norton Utilities 14 Review

Response to Norton Utilities negative reviews

Feb 4, 2009
Symantec introduces a new version of Norton Utilities in a response to negative reviews submitted by various computer magazines.

Q: What is Symantec’s reaction to the negative PC Magazine review for Norton Utilities?

A: We’re working with PC Magazine on a few key issues we found in the review which could have affected the conclusion. The most prominent issue being that the reviewer notes he did not use the Startup Manager feature, a tool where many users may see significant performance improvements related to boot time and general running performance. We’re looking into other details of the review as well. While we were disappointed to see PC Magazine’s review of Norton Utilities and are taking the feedback into consideration for future, we’re also encouraged to see numerous other positive articles who have welcomed the return of a robust utilities suite like Norton Utilities.

"I’m glad Symantec have decided to reintroduce this pack as I think it is important consumers have a clear choice between protection and performance software. As many of us know, you can get all those tools from around the web from other companies or for free if you know where to look. But for the general consumer this is a nice set of utilities to have on your machine to keep it running well. We all know how Windows slows down over time and hopefully Norton Utilties can stop that from happening." – Matt Humphries, Geek.com

"We’re particularly glad to see a new third party Start-Up Manager and Registry Cleaner which, together, one hopes will allow users to easily obliterate the crapware from their factory-configured PCs in a more-straightforward manner than Windows’ own tools do, and accelerate their Windows XP and Vista performance considerably." – Maggie James, TechLife Post.com

Q: Reviewers say it’s not worth the extra $10 for Norton Utilities when they can just purchase the product it was built upon, the PC Tools Desktop Maestro product for cheaper. How does Symantec respond to this?

A: While Desktop Maestro is a leading utilities offering, there are clear differences between Norton Utilities and the PC Tools product. Symantec added several key usability enhancements as well as features to the new Norton Utilities product. The features include the Performance Test which benchmarks a PC using a variety of different speed tests and compares the results before and after changes; and the Process Viewer feature which lets users see which programs are taking up more memory so users can make adjustment and maximize performance. Additionally, Norton Utilities offers a perpetual license, meaning that once a user has purchased the product, they own it forever and can access the tools anytime. Many of products in the utilities space are annually licensed offerings, and this includes PC Tools Desktop Maestro.

Q: Reviews of Norton Utilities show that there was no performance gain from using the product. How does Symantec respond to this?

A: We’re working with PC Magazine on a few key issues we found in the review which could have affected the conclusion. The reviewer notes he ran Norton Utilities on his “workhorse computer" which could potentially be a newer and higher powered system than the average user and thus, could result in a less dramatic performance improvement overall. Norton Utilities is a utility suite focused on cleaning up, maintaining and optimizing cluttered, sluggish and underpowered Windows-based PCs, and will show the greatest performance improvements on such PCs.