topic Re: Is NIS2012 Supposed to Disable All Protection at End of Subscription? in Norton Internet Security / Norton AntiVirus

Is NIS2012 Supposed to Disable All Protection at End of Subscription?

Whisper2 — Thu, 16 Feb 2012 21:40:39 GMT

When I started my computer today, NIS reported I had one day left of my subscription. OK, no surprise. I ran Live Update normally and everything was fine. I realized that I would have to enter a new product code tomorrow and start a new subscription (I already bought a new boxed copy of NIS2012 at a store, so no problem).

Several hours later, however, a NIS message popped up that stated I have 0 days left (I guess the last day is only two hours long). OK fine, I already updated so I was not worried about it. Subsequently, I happen to check the NIS status icon and discovered that NIS had disabled both the firewall and the antivirus protection and would not let me turn them back on.

I understand that updates should no longer be available, but disabling the protection is another matter. If Symantec designs the software to do this, then its behavior is really tacky and demonstrates little regard for its customers.

Re: Is NIS2012 Supposed to Disable All Protection at End of Subscription?

SendOfJive — Thu, 16 Feb 2012 23:40:48 GMT

Whisper2 wrote:
I understand that updates should no longer be available, but disabling the protection is another matter. If Symantec designs the software to do this, then its behavior is really tacky and demonstrates little regard for its customers.

The days when a security suite could protect you with a simple AV engine that needed only an occasional definitions update, and a stupid firewall that blocked everything until you said "OK" are past, I'm afraid. With a modern program like NIS, components interact - the firewall queries the AV regarding programs that want network access, the AV checks with backend servers for the latest data stored in the cloud, etc. With thousands of new malware variants being released everyday, security programs have needed to become increasingly complex. It is no longer enough to simply have running software, if it is unable to access the information it needs in order to be effective.