"Independent reviews"? Hope you don't mean PC World. I'd love to see what reviews you're talking about. Especially since Norton is slightly less crappy than McAfee, so I have no idea why it would be "king".
One of the MANY reasons Norton and McAfee are such utter crap is because people code things specifically to get around them, since they are so popular. Do a poll and see how many people have them on their computers...heck, it comes bundled with some prebuilts.
Not to mention what Mak said about the kernel access...as he said, it would completely circumvent UAC and make it useless.
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Originally Posted by Mak  The problem is not with Microsoft. The problem is with Norton and McAfee. They want Kernel access. this is what their software is built around. This is exactly what the UAC is designed to stop. Stop giving programs access to the Kernel and causing havoc. Yet Norton and McAfee want it cause their software is built that way and they dont want to change it. |
I have seen countless problems while fixing computers that are most of the time easily solved (at least to the point where you can DO anything on it) by uninstalling Norton or McAfee because it has stopped working at all, and has wreaked havoc on the OS. That's what happens when you give them kernel access.
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UAC doesnt come into it when the virus is designed to get around something in the program that is setup to protect you which has kernel access. This is why the other anti-viruses on the market are far more useful than both Norton and McAfee. As they dont require this kernel access and leave your system wide open should a virus hit without the proper definitions.
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Because Norton and McAfee circumvent UAC, it causes loads of problems. For example, it can cause fake UAC prompts that look legit, further causing harm to your computer. The average user isn't going to dissect those prompts.
Honestly, Norton and McAfee not being good isn't really an opinion. It's just something you notice after having fixed loads of computers with borked AVs, or completely running AVs that catch nothing. It's one of those few times that you really don't get what you paid for.
With so many good free solutions out there, you should never have to touch the bane of existence that Norton and McAfee are.