Blog for hpHosts, and whatever else I feel like writing about ....

Monday 11 May 2009

Symantec charges $99 to remove WinPatrol "virus" (aka Symantec rips off customer)

Just when you thought Symantec couldn't get any worse - we see this. A Symantec rep by the name of "Rahul", decided that WinPatrol's helping to remove malware from the users system, was enough to consider WinPatrol itself, as a virus, and duly removed it for the customer - charging $99 for the privilege.

Recent behaviour by Symantec, such as partnering with a known malware vendor (ask.com), and yet another one of Symantec's "reps" claiming they could not provide additional security without incorporating the Ask crapware, has shown not only that their reps are in dire need of either firing or re-training, but that Symantec themselves are now so focused on the all mighty dollar, that they really don't care about ethics or indeed, their customers security anymore.

This latest issue with WinPatrol is absolutely beyond belief, and as Bill himself says, is completely unacceptable behaviour for an alledged security company (not even McAfee are this bad - and they've got one of the worst AV's available).

Read more on this over at Bills blog;

http://billpstudios.blogspot.com/2009/05/symantec-support-says-winpatrol-is.html

And if you're a Symantec customer, I'd strongly urge you to ditch them as soon as possible, and switch to a more ethical vendor.



References

Symantec's "KhanhT" talking bollocks
http://hphosts.blogspot.com/2009/02/symantecs-khanht-talking-bollocks.html

Symantec - we knew they weren't trustworthy, but this is a new low
http://hphosts.blogspot.com/2009/03/symantec-we-knew-they-werent.html

Symantec Support Gone Rogue?
http://tech.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=09/03/07/0137226&from=rss

Symantec, what are you doing?
http://securitygarden.blogspot.com/2009/02/symantec-what-are-you-doing.html

1 comment:

Corrine said...

According to a comment left on my blog by Noah Edwardsen, Public Relations Specialist at Symantec, they have contacted Bill and reached out to the customer.

See the comment at
Symantec Support Screws Up Again!