70% of U.S. Consumers Suffer From Slow PCs Due to Lack of Maintenance

THE ISSUE:

While consumers are fueling the skyrocketing adoption of sophisticated technology in the form of smart phones, home networks, netbooks, tablets, cloud-based services and various smart computing devices, they still need to follow recommended computer maintenance best practices such as PC tune-up, enabling Wi-Fi protection settings and using a complete security solution to give their computer the "new car smell" again and extend the life of their PC.  But computer users may not always have the time to regularly ensure they're taking the appropriate steps to maintain their PC's health.  

THE STUDY:

According to the new "State of PC Health" study by NortonLive, the consumer services arm of Norton, data from more than 1 million PCs running Norton PC Checkup shows that education and easy access to basic computer maintenance tools is still needed.

THE STATS:

    PC Performance

• 1 in 7 users do not optimize (or defragment) their hard drive often enough, which hinders performance and can lead to frustration with their PC
• 7 in 10 users would benefit from a PC Tune-up (a comprehensive optimization of their PC) to improve system start-up time, hard drive performance, clean Windows and Registry file clutter, and remove browsing and temporary files from Internet browsers
  • 68% of users experience slow system start-up and 66% of users have average of below average system performance, likely due to lack of computer maintenance

    Security

• 41% of users use completely "open" wireless routers with zero security protection
• 90% of users have inadequate wireless security
• 45% of users do not have firewall software installed
• 1 in 9 users are infected with a security risk or virus – and probably don't know

    Personal Data Protection

• 80% of users (4 out of 5) do not have any backup software installed and risk losing critical files on their computers

    Energy Efficiency

• 49% of users (half) never enter standby on their PCs
• 19% of users (1 in 5) never turn off their monitor
• 15% of users never enter standby mode on their PC or turn off their monitor, effectively wasting up to $75/year on electricity

SOURCE:

Norton PC Checkup version 2.0

PC Checkup is a free downloadable diagnostic tool that automatically scans personal computers for potential problems. It gives users a personalized in-depth report of the computer's overall health and potential risks in the areas of performance, security, data, web safety and energy consumption. Users can use this information to eliminate problems, improve security and keep their computers running at their best.   PC Checkup is developed by NortonLive, the consumer services group from Norton. For more information on PC Checkup, please visit: www.norton.com/pchealth-freecheckup.  

NortonLive

NortonLive Services was founded with the vision of delivering convenient, affordable and secure computer services to consumers and small businesses that do not have the time or expertise to solve painful computer problems on their own. NortonLive experts help customers save time and money, and avoid frustration and catastrophic data loss, by remotely fixing their computer performance and security problems from the comfort of their own homes and businesses. For more information on NortonLive, please visit: www.nortonlive.com.

CONTACT:

Louis Cheng

(650) 762-2814

[email protected]