Symantec Software Update Rendered Many PCs Useless

[exfileme]

A software update to Symantec's Endpoint Protection software has pushed many Windows XP machines into blue screen limbo.

Symantec Software Update Rendered Many PCs Useless : Read more

 

[everlast66]

"The support is a joke, the quality control is a joke, and the software is not much better."

Seems like a pretty accurate description of Symantec to me.

 

[Guest]

"Now might be a good time to ditch the decrepit operating system if the funds are available."

That, or use a FOSS OS which costs, oh, $0, and, yeah, no antivirus needed either.

 

[mayne92]

Symantec and McAfee are both pieces of overpriced junk. I'm not going to go into my many years of stories of how they are junk - I'm sure everyone knows this by now.

 

[coder543]

Yes.. time to ditch the decrepit operating system called Windows. Buy Mac, install Linux, use Chromebooks or Tablets. Whatever it takes... it'll most likely end up lowering your IT costs.

 

[Camikazi]

[citation][nom]coder543[/nom]Yes.. time to ditch the decrepit operating system called Windows. Buy Mac, install Linux, use Chromebooks or Tablets. Whatever it takes... it'll most likely end up lowering your IT costs.[/citation]
Actually I believe those OSes mass used in a company will raise TCO. Reason being that those OSes usually don't come with built in software maker support like MS has which means IT will have to learn how to fix every little problem themselves instead of having specialists a call away to help fix it fast. That is one problem with free, since it is free there is no one but yourself and maybe scrounging through forums to fix problems. That is one of the reasons a lot of companies stay with MS, it is cheaper overall to use Windows.

 

[JackNaylorPE]

When every Windows "Upgrade" inevitably results in a reduction in PC performance, why should users upgrade ? Most of them still offer sacrifices to t e PC gods that they were wise enough to stick w/ XP over Vista. Aren't XP users getting the same experience on "Patch Tuesday" comes along as other Windows OS users ?

When Symantec started spending more development time figuring out who to make PC's go haywire users life miserable the moment when their subscription expired, Symatntec stopped being a company whose products I support.

 

[Bloob]

[citation][nom]Camikazi[/nom]Actually I believe those OSes mass used in a company will raise TCO. Reason being that those OSes usually don't come with built in software maker support like MS has which means IT will have to learn how to fix every little problem themselves instead of having specialists a call away to help fix it fast. That is one problem with free, since it is free there is no one but yourself and maybe scrounging through forums to fix problems. That is one of the reasons a lot of companies stay with MS, it is cheaper overall to use Windows.[/citation]
Also the fact that companies often have software that is "windows only", so moving to other platforms might not be possible.

 

[freggo]

"ditch the decrepit operating system"...

Wrong conclusion. Ditch Symantec !!!

 

[coder543]

@Camikaze: this is only one example: http://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2009/03/french-police-saves-millions-of-euros-by-adopting-ubuntu/

 

[southernshark]

Yes obviously MS is a bad company since its 11 year old operating system was shut down by a third party program which MS had nothing to do with.

More proof that the "i" crowd are "i"diots.

 

[kristoffe]

no. simply ditch XP. FTW. Why keep that dog**** OS? At least it's not vista, but really, it's not even supported anymore, ergo why use av software that is update-able on such a legacy piece of poop? Poop. ANd how many times is symantec going to kill XP over the years before people drop that piece of double scoop poop?

 

[kristoffe]

@coder543... lower IT costs by purchasing macs? Are you full on troll or just a little slow?

 

[nforce4max]

One more reason why I don't use their crap excuses for software. I've seen how peoples printers wouldn't work until the the Symantec and McAfee bloatware was uninstalled. Worse it once kept my mom's comp from even connecting to the net until it was removed.

 

[Shin-san]

[citation][nom]TomsHardware[/nom]What's the story here? Now might be a good time to ditch the decrepit operating system if the funds are available.[/citation]Or time to ditch Symantec

 

[digiex]

Symantec Software Update Rendered Many PCs Useless

It's not useless, you can still boot it in safemode.

 

[leafman420]

Symantec? hahaha well I guess if this was your choice in anti virus then you just found out what most of the IT world know. also on another note "FUCK APPLE!!!!!!" I do think XP is still competing. funny how ppl try to put something down that WORKS. roflmao.

 

[guardianangel42]

[citation][nom]coder543[/nom]@Camikaze: this is only one example: http://arstechnica.com/information [...] ng-ubuntu/[/citation]

Alright, and what's the best 3D modeling, design, and CAD software available on Ubuntu? What's the best video game development software, infrastructure management tools, and medical record keeping software available?

Face it, the police don't NEED more than Ubuntu to do what they do. Other people do.

 

[jojesa]

I want to know which third party software is Symantec blaming on their statement.
"The root cause of the issue was an incompatibility ... between some third party software that implements a file system driver using kernel stack based file objects."

 

[JohnA]

[citation][nom]kristoffe[/nom]no. simply ditch XP. FTW. Why keep that dog**** OS? At least it's not vista, but really, it's not even supported anymore, ergo why use av software that is update-able on such a legacy piece of poop? Poop. ANd how many times is symantec going to kill XP over the years before people drop that piece of double scoop poop?[/citation]

Well, I for one have several PC's where upgrading isn't an option. Simply because they have custom software on them that would be broken under 7, and the cost to rewrite it all would total in the millions. We don't all just play games with our PC's. When you get into control systems, robotics, CAD etc., you'll learn it takes years for developers to get the support they need from the component makers to risk switching operating systems. We bought a new 12 million dollar welder last year with XP. The manufacturer started the 7 switch over on their systems, but thinks they will be about 2 more years before they and the entire supply chain will be ready to complete the transition. Stability is job ONE in manufacturing. BTW, we just got our last NT system upgraded to XP only a year ago. That system only had intranet access anyway.

 

[notsleep]

maybe symantec should drop support for winxp in their products? ms is going to stop supporting winxp soon. if the mother company no longer support its child product, then why should third party companies continue to support the aborted kid?

 

[jimmysmitty]

[citation][nom]JackNaylorPE[/nom]When every Windows "Upgrade" inevitably results in a reduction in PC performance, why should users upgrade ? Most of them still offer sacrifices to t e PC gods that they were wise enough to stick w/ XP over Vista. Aren't XP users getting the same experience on "Patch Tuesday" comes along as other Windows OS users ?When Symantec started spending more development time figuring out who to make PC's go haywire users life miserable the moment when their subscription expired, Symatntec stopped being a company whose products I support.[/citation]

Seriously? Take a current PC and load XP on it. Play with it for a bit. Then load 7. 7 will blow XP out of the water since 7 was designed around current hardware while XP was designed around older hardware.

Symantea, Norton and McAfee are all crap honestly. There are plenty of free ones, one of the best is MSE, that do a much better job, use less resources and don't cost $60 bucks a year to keep updated definitions.

 

[jhansonxi]

[citation][nom]guardianangel42[/nom]Alright, and what's the best 3D modeling, design, and CAD software available on Ubuntu? What's the best video game development software, infrastructure management tools, and medical record keeping software available? Face it, the police don't NEED more than Ubuntu to do what they do. Other people do.[/citation]
Maya
Blender (see the Sintel movie)
BricsCAD
DraftSight/Catia (I use DraftSight for enclosure design of automotive engineering test equipment)
Eagle (schematic, PCB, and simulation)
VistA (medical record keeping originally from the Veterans Administration)

There are many different types of infrastructure management tools available. Most Linux distributions already have software management built-in.

 

[jimmysmitty]

[citation][nom]coder543[/nom]@Camikaze: this is only one example: http://arstechnica.com/information [...] ng-ubuntu/[/citation]

They will still run into many issues. Depending on the hardware they use, 64bit Ubuntu is not fully stable (go to Ubuntus site and they recommend their 32bit distro) and some hardware drivers are not stable. AMD cards have a lot of issues with Ubuntu and I had to do a install of the nVidia drivers to allow for dual monitors. It crashed the system on the first install. It wouldn't load the GUI anymore (X) and I had to reinstall it over the other install.

Then there is software. They will run into software issues or software that does not work on Ubuntu. Add to the fact that OpenOffice, while free, its not nearly as robust as Office itself is and is still more like Office 2003 than anything.

 

[enforcer22]

[citation][nom]coder543[/nom]@Camikaze: this is only one example: http://arstechnica.com/information [...] ng-ubuntu/[/citation]

Yeah i cant wait till the whole world runs on code any hacker can download and watch the fireworks when all this free software blows up and there is no money behind it to stop it.. It would be total irony at that point that MS "saves" the day by being able to combat the issues as it does today with all the money it has backing it and experiance it has fighting all the crap thrown at it.

And that artical on the french police.... i was reading it and i swear it said they would need training to use the new windows OS but not linux.. why would someone need training to use something they already know how to use but not something they have never seen before? makes no sense.

[citation][nom]guardianangel42[/nom]Alright, and what's the best 3D modeling, design, and CAD software available on Ubuntu? What's the best video game development software, infrastructure management tools, and medical record keeping software available? Face it, the police don't NEED more than Ubuntu to do what they do. Other people do.[/citation]

Most people do thats why no one uses it.

[citation][nom]freggo[/nom]"ditch the decrepit operating system"...Wrong conclusion. Ditch Symantec !!![/citation]

I would ditch both.. they are both crap.

[citation][nom]coder543[/nom]Yes.. time to ditch the decrepit operating system called Windows. Buy Mac, install Linux, use Chromebooks or Tablets. Whatever it takes... it'll most likely end up lowering your IT costs.[/citation]

Yeah instead of a unified OS that runs everything.. Move to a bunch of obscure OS's that might not even work vary well together and no one makes software for. not to mention two 3rds of them cant even run real software.