Product Suggestions

[AllenM Norton Fighter]

Hello Symantec, et all,

I think there should be circumstances in which NIS or N360 will either do an automatic ID Safe backup or prompt the user to do one manually. There are times when something goes wrong and without this backup the user could lose the information contained in the ID safe vault. ID Safe holds such critically important information that I believe this is a necessary precaution to protect the user.

The following are circumstances which I feel warrant this.

1. Any time a new product version (e.g.., 2011 to 2012) is about to be installed. The ID safe backup should be done before allowing the old version to be uninstalled. A perfect case in point is going from 2011 to 2012 in which the format of the ID safe has completely changed to the point where if something went wrong and the user decided to go back to 2011 for any reason, the ID safe from 2012 cannot be used to restore in 2011. It also simply protects against the possibility of something going wrong during the upgrade itself.

2. A major update is downloaded and installed on the current product year version. Major update of course being defined as a change to the version number within the current product year. This one is probably not crucial but I think it would be nice if the program just created a backup of the ID safe data file just prior to apply the major update.

3. Starting with NIS 2012 and the corresponding version of N360 v6 - when a user chooses the Move Data Online option to move the ID safe information to the online Norton Account I think it is very important to prompt the user to perform a backup of ID Safe. This is because the local ID Safe data file is deleted at the end. An explicit backup should be in place just on the off chance something goes wrong.

4. This one would be a bonus but not really necessary. A reminder to backup ID Safe at some point after say 10 or so logins have either been added or changed.

I see number 1 & 3 as being the most important and highly necessary. I've been volunteering on the forums for quite some time and have seen quite a few instances where having # 1 & 3 in place would have saved the day. Things go wrong a very small percentage of the time but when it does happen the affect on the end user is not good.....

Anyone else have thoughts on this?

Best wishes.

Allen

[Gretar Regular Contributor]

This is a great idea, that hopefully will be implemented into next version of NIS and N360. It is so often something do go wrong and no backup is available, that can save lot of frustration.

[mp3jo Super Virus Trouncer]

Great suggestion, thanks to Allen.

[LinYu2]

A great, great idea indeed! One wonders why this never crossed the minds of the people at Symantec laboratories...

Thanks, Allen. You covered it all, nothing to add, just one little question, if I may: For a number of years now, I have not been required to uninstall the previous version before installing a new one, and still, if I understood you correctly, you implicitly leave it as almost a requirement or, at the very least, as a quite good idea.

Could you please explain further? Thanks again.

Lin Yu

[AllenM Norton Fighter]

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LinYu2 wrote:

A great, great idea indeed! One wonders why this never crossed the minds of the people at Symantec laboratories...

Thanks, Allen. You covered it all, nothing to add, just one little question, if I may: For a number of years now, I have not been required to uninstall the previous version before installing a new one, and still, if I understood you correctly, you implicitly leave it as almost a requirement or, at the very least, as a quite good idea.

Could you please explain further? Thanks again.

Lin Yu

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Hi LinYu2,

No you don't need to explicitly uninstall the old version first as long as the current version is no more than 1-2 years old and is working properly.

When you install the new version (overinstall as we call it) it automatically handles what is necessary in terms of uninstalling the old version and installing the new version.

The ID safe backup is needed in case something goes wrong in this process, which doesn't happen often but on rare occasions it does and therefore the ID safe backup gives you a way to recover your most critical information with ease.

Hope this clarifies.

Best wishes.

Allen

[noghere Keylogger Crusher]

I agree. Great idea.  Thanks AllenM.

[mp3jo Super Virus Trouncer]

Will Norton 2013 products support Automatic ID Safe Backups?

[mp3jo Super Virus Trouncer]

After nine months without getting an answer, the new question @Symantec NIS / N360 product team is:

Will the NIS 2014 upcoming Beta include this feature [Automatic ID Safe Backups] or will Symantec ignore us user one more time?

[dickevans Super RootKit Eradicator]

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mp3jo wrote:

After nine months without getting an answer, the new question @Symantec NIS / N360 product team is:

Will the NIS 2014 upcoming Beta include this feature [Automatic ID Safe Backups] or will Symantec ignore us user one more time?

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We can only wait and see

And we can hope that something will be done

[yank Trojan Terminator]

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mp3jo wrote:

Will the NIS 2014 upcoming Beta include this feature [Automatic ID Safe Backups] or will Symantec ignore us user one more time?

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Hi mp3jo,

Some food for thought - since there will not be a NIS 2014 (remember Norton has gone yearless with the versions) and thus there is no pressure to release a totally new product every year, but only to make improvements or modifications in one area or another to the exsisting product. 

Perhaps there will be no need for Beta testing as such - which is pretty much what has been happening over the last few years with the "phased releases" of version updates.  Norton releases to some of the folks and then waits for their feedback prior to releasing it everyone.

Getting back on subject so to speak (which brought me here in the first place), I also agree that there needs to be a reminder somewhere along the line to Export your ID Safe Data (Vault Data or whatever it is called).