Symantec's AntiVirus 10 Deployment Woes?

loraksus asks: "We recently deployed Symantec AV Corporate version 10 across on our network and have been having nothing but problems. The new client breaks the MS Office install and causes machines to slow down significantly - some almost to the point of being completely unusable. The client (doscan.exe) also crashes very frequently (daily), and tends to take other things down with it. Symantec's 'workaround' is to drop by every workstation and insert the Office (or Wordperfect, it screws up both applications) CD, remove some office shortcuts and disable some virus scans. Since we manage clients over WAN links hundreds of miles away, this really isn't an option, nor is it an acceptable option given the number of workstations we manage. Are there any other admins dealing with this? Any advice? Solutions?" "It seems that more and more closed source companies are now rushing software out the door that not only has a couple bugs, but glaring errors that would have easily been caught in even the most basic testing. Of course, we in IT usually have no recourse against these companies other than never buying their products, again.

Do you folks have any advice when it comes to dealing vendors who release software that is unusuable and can't provide an acceptable resolution?"

Comments

Symantec = bad

[mabu]

Symantec's products are the only software I've ever seen that can take a 2Gz P5 and make it perform like a P-133. It is really nothing short of amazing how bloated and resource-intensive their products are. I'm beginning to think this is part of their anti-virus strategy: they make the system so ill-performing and unstable, no virus or worm could properly operate.

The name should have been your first clue

[MarkusQ]

The client (doscan.exe) also crashes very frequently (daily), and tends to take other things down with it.

That would probably be the reason they named it that.

You can't even say they didn't warn you.

--MarkusQ

P.S. If the next update contains a program called something like "fuscan.exe," "bsodscan.exe," or "solscan.exe" I'd advise against running it.

Re:Sure

[dtfinch]

There's a simple solution to that. You just change all the server admin passwords, unplug their workstation from the ethernet switch, and when they ask what's going on, tell them to clean their desk.