Would you pay your antivirus software company $29.95 a year over and above your existing subscription fee for “an extra layer of protection against Web robot attacks”?
Me neither.
Isn’t this what Norton AntiVirus is supposed to do?
I was going to go off on a rant, but Ryan Naraine already said it better than I could have:
It has to be the biggest con job in IT to convince consumers that they should pay a separate subscription for each of the above “protection” products. So you pay for virus protection, then pay a bit more for spyware protection, and if those don’t work, buy an anti-rootkit package and if your PC still falls into a botnet, here’s your $29.95 anti-botnet tool.
Every time I think these guys can’t get any more shameless, they surprise me.
(Updated to add: I wish I could find a transcript of the wonderful “tootsie-frootsie ice cream” sketch from the Marx Bros film, A Day at the Races. This whole racket is reminiscent of the way Chico keeps selling Groucho extra tipsheets and code books when he learns that the ones he already bought aren’t quite complete.)
Ed Bott (@ wordpress.com) 
Like many, once upon a time, many years ago, I thought the world of Peter Norton and his products. Then Symantec bought him out. Good for Peter, bad for us.
I gave up on Symantec several years ago when Norton AV was both a system resource pig and would not uninstall cleanly or easily. Every experience I have had with their products on client machines since then re-confirms my earlier decision not to do business with them. This adds fuel to that fire. They seem to me to be the anti-thesis of consumer/user friendly in application design, pricing, and policy.
http://www.filmsite.org/daya2.html
ony: Here your ice cream..
(Tony tells him Sun-Up is the worst horse on the track and offers him a $1 hint book.)
Tony: One dollar and you’ll remember me all your life.
Hackenbush: That’s the most nauseating proposition I ever had.
(Hackenbush succumbs to his greed and buys the code book.)
Tony: Here your ice cream. Tootsie-frootsie ice cream.
(The code book says that horse Z-V-B-X-R-P-L will win the next race. Tony offers a free code book to decode the letters.)
Tony: …just a one dollar printing charge.
Hackenbush: Well, uh, give me one without printing. I’m sick of printing.
(Tony also attempts to sell him a free master code book, without a printing charge, but with a delivery charge.)
Tony: …just a two dollar delivery charge.
Hackenbush: What do you mean delivery charge? I’m standing right next to you.
Tony: Well, for such a short distance, I make it a dollar.
Hackenbush: Couldn’t I move over here and make it uh – fifty cents?
Tony: Yes, but I’d move over here and make it a dollar just the same.
(Tony continues to offer advice with a $5 set of four Breeder’s Guides to decipher the master code book.)
Hackenbush: All I wanted was a horse, not a public library.
(Hackenbush buys them too. Tony takes his cash to the betting window and bets $6 on Sun-Up, while Hackenbush is distracted balancing all his guide and hint books in his arms and between his legs.)
(Tony then offers him ten jockey’s guides at $1 a piece with the names of the jockeys instead of the horses, because he doesn’t have change for a $10 bill.)
Hackenbush: ….Say, you don’t handle any bookcases there, do you?
for that, and much more (like Richard [Comment1]) it is worth go with AVAST or AVG they are free and good enough for day-to-day surfing (even if you donwloader on KAZZA etc.).