Seriously, not just because the viruses were weaker then. I
remember I got the Blaster virus in 2003. Not only it quarantined
this virus, I never experienced any restarts like other victims
were facing. I managed to get help from someone to remove it.
In 2004, I can't surf any sites related to MOE because a virus was
in the wild, but no antivirus had detected yet. Not even Symantec.
Norton firewall was prompting endless, so I get off the Net and
look out for news the next few days. True enough, new virus
surfaced.
Nowadays, only their removal tools and protection are magic, at the
expense of performance and inability to surf.
I wouldn't say Norton is overhyped, but definitely a resource
eater. My 2 cents. 
