Norton Mobile Security

[velasque]

I have purchased Norton Mobile Security at Staples for my T-Mobile LG Model G2x Android Smart Phone running Android Version 2.3.3. I recently upgraded the Android OS from Version 2.2.2 per instructions at the LG Web Site and have experienced no problems. Per Norton instructions in the box to install from my phone, after the file download, nothing happens. The instruction say to click on the file named "Norton Mobile Security...", but I do not see it on the installation page. I also tried to install from a Norton Web Site while the phone was connected to my computer and a pop-up message appeared after attempting installation indicating that my phone was recognized as an Android, but was not able to install. I was then asked for my phone type and e-mail address, which I submitted. I haven't heard anything for 4 days and have searched the Community Web Site. Since my product is not yet registered, I cannot seem to get access to the help I need. Can you help me.

[Andmike]

Hi velasque,

Sorry to hear about your problems.

Does your phone have a filer application that allows you to look at the files on your phone?  If so have you used it to look for the file you downloaded?

Just to check, did you download the file to your phone or to your PC?  If it was to your PC then you will need to transfer it you your phone before it can be installed.

Once you have an application on your phone (an .apk file) then you will need to set your phone up to install it.  To do this select Settings:Applications and then tick the box "Unknown sources".  Once you have done this go back and find the .apk file, click on it and it should install.  After the install it is best to go back to Settings:Applications and uncheck the "Unknown sources" box for safety reasons.

Was that any help?  Sorry but I don't know just how the Staples package is supposed to work so I am guessing to a large degree.  If the above does not help then let us know exactly what has been downloaded to where etc. and we will see if we can be more helpful.

Good luck.

[erik_carlstrom]

Some phones will launch the download manager when you download a file.  When this happens the install is usually more seemless than what you're experiencing.  When you tap on download, you should see a down arrow in the status stray (near the clock).  You should be able to swipe that down (if it's on the top) and it should list Norton Mobile Security downloading and once done you can tap on it to begin the installation.  It's best to install on the phone as opposed to from the computer.  Another option since it's already downloaded is to go to Settings > Downloads and look for Norton Mobile Security there.  Tap on that and the install will launch.  Let us know if you have any more issues or questions.

[velasque]

Thanks to both Erik and Andmike for your quick response and good questions. Here's the details on how I proceeded:

1. The instructions say to go to the URL "www.norton.com/nms-staples" on my android phone. On that page is a download button and instructions on how to allow the phone to install applications from "Unknown Sources". You can see the full page using internet explorer or other web browser on a computer.

2. After I change my phone settings to allow installation from "Unknown Sources", I started the download.

3. Once the download started, I watched the download progress. I was surprised by the file name. It was named "MobileSecurity.txt". The instructions indicated that the file name would be "Norton Mobile Security...", presumeable an .apk file name.

4. After the download completed, when I tapped on the file name, of course it opened as a text file with the data looking like encrypted data, i.e. all kinds of special characters.

5. Thinking about it, I tried and was sucessful installing and running "Norton Mobile Security Lite" from the Android Market Place. I thought maybe I would be able to upgrade to the full version with the software key in the package, but the only option was to purchase a complete new license.

6. I uninstalled the Lite version and tried the download multiple times. Subsequent download file names were "MobileSecurity-1.txt", "MobileSecurity-2.txt", etc. More recently, the file names have been "MobileSecurity-28.txt", "MobileSecurity-28-1.txt", "MobileSecurity-28-2.txt", etc. I'm not sure if there is any significance to the "28" added to the file name.

Additional facts:

1. About 10 days ago I upgraded the Phone Operating System from Android Version 2.2.2 to Android Version 2.3.3. Everything went smooth.

2. I have a 16 GB Micro SD card installed in the phone.

3. The downloaded files are in a folder called "Download". I could probably e-mail one to you.

4. The phone is an LG Model G2x purchased from T-Mobile last May.

5. I was never prompted to enter the software key to validate the license.

[erik_carlstrom]

That is incredibly strange.  When I go there I see an apk file downloaded when I tap the download button. If you launch the download from your PC does it show the file as a zip file?  If so, you could download and rename the file from a .zip to a .apk file.  Something very strange is going on that is renaming the package file to an incorrect file extension.  Unfortunately you cannot use your Staples key to activate the NMS Lite copy from the Android Market. 

[velasque]

Installation successful. Thanks to Erik for the suggestion to rename the file extension to .apk - that did the trick. Do you think it is worth reporting this incident to the Android community for version 2.3.3? How would I do that?

Thanks again.

[Andmike]

Delighted to hear it has worked velasque.

I am like Erik am puzzled as I get a .apk file when I download from that link.  I don't think you need to report this any further.  Now Erik and his colleagues are aware of this I'm sure they will remember if it happens again.

Hopefully all will run smoothly now.

[erik_carlstrom]

Since I've seen an APK downloaded on other 2.3.3 devices before this is likely not specific to the version of Android.  When a manufacturer or carrier uses a version of Android there are two layers of customization.  The first is done by the manufacturer (where you get the different skins like Sense UI, etc) and then by the carrier.  If you want to report it, I'd start with your carrier. 

[erik_carlstrom]

Quick question.  Was this using the default browser or another browser on your device? 

[velasque]

Erik, good question. It was done using the "Google Search" app from the Android Market Place. I don't know if that is the same as the default browser. For the fun of it, I tried using the default browser. When I tapped on the default browser icon, I was immediately directed to the download page, presumeably the last state that I left the browser in. So I tapped the back button until I got to the home page and tapped the default browser icon again. When I typed in the download URL, I did not get to the download page, I got to a google search page with links to Norton Help Sites. I wasn't able to get past this when I triied several times again. Quite truthfully, my phone is currently charging on a short chord, so I'm not real excited about trying to troubleshoot this new issue at this time. Maybe I'll try tomorrow when I get a chance.

Thanks for all your assistance, and I will let you know what happens.