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Symantec Support Gone Rogue?

Posted by Soulskill on from the less-than-helpful dept.

DigitalDame2 writes "PCMag Security Analyst Neil Rubenking has always praised Symantec's tech support. Lately, though, a number of readers have reported problems with chat support, so he investigated. Rubenking was trying to install Norton 360 version 3.0 on a malware-infested system when the computer crashed with a blue screen error. He connected with Symantec tech support and was told that they could fix the problem, but for a fee of $100! (Here is the transcript and screen-captures of the chat.) Even more, Symantec support suggested that he use a malware-removal tool that wasn't even made by Symantec."

5 of 268 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Maybe it wasn't Symantec Support??? by Urd.Yggdrasil · · Score: 3, Interesting

    It appears that he did from the screenshots. You can see in the background his desktop has that sort of "OMG YOUR INFECTED, BUY OUR PRODUCT" type text that rouge AV products use to scare people.

  2. I suppose they're helping.. Kinda? by jmello · · Score: 3, Interesting

    As a general rule when working with badly infected systems, the only guaranteed way to get it working again is to nuke and reinstall. Symantec is, I suppose, doing them a service by trying to help, but if a system is too far gone to allow Norton to be installed, it's most likely too far gone to save. Every client of mine that insists on going through the motions about not wanting to pay for a data backup or to get all of their programs reinstalled signs a waiver that states that I offer no warranty on the system or any of the work done on it. Surprisingly enough, most of the systems I get that are so bad that they require a nuke and reinstall were running Norton to begin with.

  3. this still happens? by Gothmolly · · Score: 4, Interesting

    People still get malware, and still use Symantec products?

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  4. MS by Joebert · · Score: 3, Interesting
    That's not as bad as the experience I had with Microsoft Tech support recently, I would have been happy if they tried to sell me something that works. My question was

    I want to know if Windows XP Home will run on my AMD64 system before I open the box my neighbor bought and can not return it to the store

    No matter how I tried to explain that, the only answer I received was that "Windows can only be installed on one computer per license".

    I ended up getting soo frustrated that I swore at the guy on the phone and hung up on him before returning the copy of Windows and just going with Ubuntu instead.

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    Wanna fight ? Bend over, stick your head up your ass, and fight for air.
  5. Re:It could be worse by canUbeleiveIT · · Score: 3, Interesting

    The real problem with any security software is the old EYE DEE TEN TEE error. Consider the following scenario:

    User (thinking to himself): I sure would like to whack off to some girl-on-elephant porn!
    User finds and clicks the link for girl-on-elephant porn.
    Security software: "H4xor696969Bestiality.exe is requesting permission to infect your computer, anal rape you and reduce your home to rubble. Allow or Deny."

    So, what's Joe Computer User going to do? You *know* what he's going to do. And when he brings his computer to you to be fixed, he won't tell you what happened either. In ten years of fixing computers, I have only had two customers admit what they did.