Norton Internet Security / Norton AntiVirus

[reese_anschultz]

The threat landscape continues to grow and change every day. Accordingly, the virus definitions continue to evolve to accommodate this girth and diversity. The recent definitions update incorporated some of these changes. Unfortunately these changes couldn't work within the constraints of the 2002 product environment causing a variety of unexpected and undesirable effects. As LanaK indicated in her post, we are continuing to research ways to handle this situation more elegantly. We are also aware that some 2003 product customers with current subscriptions have been affected by this update and are researching ways to address their concerns as well.

[NORTOFF]

Reese--I am one of those 2003 product users with an active subscription.  It has been 9 days since my virus definitions stopped (which I paid for) and 9 days since my auto-protect and virus scanner stopped  (which I paid for).  I received NO useable help from tech support as to how I could fix this.  I was left alone and vulnerable in the dark and dangerous "threat landscape" with NO HELP from Uncle Norton.  It was here in the forums with my fellow sufferers that I learned how to revert to the previous "good" virus definitions update and reactivate my auto-protect.  Could you please answer some questions for me?  1.  Why didnt tech support tell us how to revert to previous "good" update and remove "bad 5/11" one so we could have some virus scan/protection capabilities?  2.  Why did it take 8 days for you to even acknowledge a problem with the 5/11 update via LanaK when this is SO critical to so many?  Really...eight days??  and then tell us to upgrade as the fix?   and 3.  How can ANY of the customers who know of this and have been affected by it trust Norton and buy another subscription ever?  I have already purchased a McAfee  product to replace my 2003 Norton because I couldnt wait any longer in limbo, but my Norton subscription started 1/20/10 and I feel cheated.  Please explain to me why I shouldn't.   

[CMEPCMEP]

There are contractual obligations being broken here.  Do we need some help?! 

If anyone is interested, here's the link to the Better Business Bureau:

https://odr.bbb.org/odrweb/public/getstarted.aspx.

We are qualified since we have already made an attempt to resolve the issue directly with the company.

[huwyngr Norton Fighter]

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RedMachine1972 wrote:

Running NAV 2003 on a XP SP3 set up that could benifit from an upgrade to at least Vista, but saving money for a complete rebuild up to a new 64 bit system with 7 on it. Autoprotect was shut off and today when it was supposed to scan said critical error cannot scan. tried uninstal and reinstall, updates to current definitions and same thing. Hope they get this fixed soon, cannot really afford to get new AV software right now and I don't trust the free ones out there.

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Just as an aside -- don't bother to go to VISTA -- XP will run much better on your machine until you can upgrade to WIN 7.

If you do go to WIN 7 64 bit (or any 64 bit system) be aware that if you have older hardware, like printers, scanners etc,  you must have the appropriate signed 64 bit drivers for them to work with 64 bit systems and many manufacturers of older hardware are not supplying these drivers.

This is a gotcha for many buying new computers since so many are being delivered with 64 bit WIndows 7 and 32 bit is hard to find unless you get a Business orientated model.

I doubt you will notice much difference between 32 bit and 64 bit Windows unless you have to have more than 3+GB RAM or do very complicated work like photo image adjustment with modern software.

FWIW

[ziimster]

I think if Symantec broke it, they should fix it.  Asking any user of Norton to upgrade their system Operating System then purchasing another product from Symantec is just a hoot.  I will not be upgrading my OS, but I may be purchasing another Virus scanner and you better believe it will not be a Symantec product.   If this coding issue is on purpose, I would beleive there would be a liability issue at hand.  Symantec should offer a workaround for this.  I am sure they know what the problem....I am hoping it is just an error on their side.  As an IT administrator this saddens me greatly.  I am one of those people, that when a good product is out there, I freely recommend it to others.  This may have to change.  I will bite my tongue for now and see how Symantec deals with it.  I hope they do the right thing.

[mavwolf]

I was sent the below e-mail.

I replied with "This is scrupulous business practices; I wont be upgrading. I will be purchasing Trend!!!"

Older Versions of NAV/NIS Suddenly Inoperable

From: Dave_Coleman

To: mavwolf

on 05-20-2010 03:23 PM

Add Dave_Coleman to Friends Ignore Dave_Coleman

Lana asked me to send you the following message: 

Thank you for being a valued Norton customer.

I see that you have been impacted by the recent product issue affecting older products that received the latest LiveUpdate definition set.

Continued efforts remain underway in attempting to address the problem, but in the meantime, we are pleased to offer you a $50 Norton product coupon for use in the online store. I understand that your current operating system may not support the 2010 products, but do know that when you are ready to upgrade that Norton will be there for you. 

In order to provide you with that coupon, please reply with a confirmation of your email address, country of origin, operating system, and your installed Norton product version.   Note: We need the country in order to specify which online store coupon to provide you.

Thanks again for being a valued Norton customer.  I look forward to keeping you as part of our Norton community.  

Regards

Norton Product Management

Hello:

Thank you for being a valued Norton customer.

I see that you have been impacted by the recent product issue affecting older products that received the latest LiveUpdate definition set.

Continued efforts remain underway in attempting to address the problem, but in the meantime, we are pleased to offer you a $50 Norton product coupon for use in the online store. I understand that your current operating system may not support the 2010 products, but do know that when you are ready to upgrade that Norton will be there for you. 

In order to provide you with that coupon, please reply with a confirmation of your email address, country of origin, operating system, and your installed Norton product version.   Note: We need the country in order to specify which online store coupon to provide you.

Thanks again for being a valued Norton customer.  I look forward to keeping you as part of our Norton community.

Regards,

Norton Product Management

[TylerDurden Regular Contributor]

mavwolf: You're a fool. Look-up what the word scrupulous means.

They didn't know they were breaking old products. I think what Norton is doing in this situation is honorable. Of course, no one affected can use the 2010 product because it isn't compatible with Windows98. But still, a $50 COUPON is nothing to shy away from.

[databank]

Hello Reese:

I thank you for your honest reply. And again everyone still waiting patiently for a solution regarding the 'defunct LiveUpdate' (May 11).  Today is May 20, 2010 so Symantec cannot say after 8 years finally realized their LiveUpdate 'program code) cannot accomodate 2002/2003 product when users are using WIN/XPP SP3 o/s, and using Memory Management issue as an excuse.  Even the giant like Microsoft Mr. Gates had admitted making mistakes whenever facing court challenges, so SYmantec who is only a fraction of MS please graciously provide 'fix' to our problem.  THank you in advance.

[databank]

Wow! Norton is actually trying to 'BUY' votes here with $50, anyone agreeing to that would mean accepting defeat and letting the Corporation to walk over the I.T. community.  SO here's the deal, you own the product, but developer comes along realizing your have not been upgrading (they make no money from you), so they purposely (unintentionally so they say) download the 'defunct' LiveUpdate to mess up NAV/NIS 2002-2003 product... anyone affected will be forced to upgrade - yeah - Norton won... more profit!  So if you can be bought for $50 then you are being silenced for doing the wrong thing. Stand up for your right to refuse the $50 and tell Norton to DO THE RIGHT THING please!!

[gan]

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TylerDurden wrote:

They didn't know they were breaking old products. I think what Norton is doing in this situation is honorable. Of course, no one affected can use the 2010 product because it isn't compatible with Windows98. But still, a $50 COUPON is nothing to shy away from.

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I agree and i also have to say that to post a private email or pm in public like this is bad manners. No matter what you think about the $50 coupon offer you simply don't post private emails in public like this. That's normal behavior.