Hi there
About 6 months ago I purchased a download copy of NIS2011.
I installed and used NIS2011 for around 3 months on my Laptop, then lost the use of the Laptop upon which it was installed.
The Laptop was rebuilt and NIS2011 was reinstalled from the downloaded copy I had saved on another PC.
At the same time I decided to install NIS2011 on the other PC itself as this was going to be used as an Internet Gateway machine - Great!
Last month the Laptop broke down again and I finally got this fixed, at expense, and decided to reinstall NIS2011 the Laptop - All was well.
About a week ago I was required to reinstall NIS2011 on the other PC (now the Internet Gateway) but I was effectively told that no further installs were available and I had to Buy a key.
Concerned, I logged in to my Norton Account with the expectation that I had one licence left (I was under the impression that I could protect up to 3 machines) since I had only installed on 1 PC and 1 Laptop (2 machines), I should have 1 install left; not so, 0 available installs. How come....?
After speaking with Norton support, I was horrified to discover that "Protection for upto 3 PCs" actually means that one can only install a product 3 times, and this is not related to machine.
So, becuase I had Installed on the Laptop, reinstalled on the Laptop and then installed on the PC, all 3 installs has been used even though only 2 machines had been used. Even now, though I run NIS2012 on the Laptop, these Install "Licences" did not reset (despite NIS2011 having been expired and a new version installed) and still showed as NONE on my Norton account. I have since spoken with Support further on this and I have been suitably recompensed for the problem and I can now install a further few times, NIS2012; it's still an install counter though and not a license per machine, but at least I now know what this is all about! So, "Install Licences" appear not to really be "licences" but are actually a COUNT of how many times a product has been installed irrespective of the machine upon which the product was installed.
Thus, 3 installs on a single PC uses 3 "licences" and that the "licence" is not related to a specific PC, person or organisation, this makes it a counter. I do believe that the term "Licenses" (where used) is misleading and should be rephrased as an "Install Count" (or simillar) with an explanation of the difference between "License" and "Install".
Licenses usually apply to a product installed on a PC and are usually related to an individual (or organisation) and not to the number of times the software is installed on a single machine.
If I have to rebuild a PC 3 times in a year because of issues then I would use up all 3 installs, this does not seem fair since I have purchased a 3 "Licence" product, so should be allowed to install this product on a single PC as many times as required.
By way of an example, I can install my "licensed" copy of MSOffice as many times as I like on the same PC without violating the MS agreement (in fact I can actually install it on one PC and a Laptop - if the agreement is read) so why can this not be the case with the Norton product (NIS2012)?
One should be able to intall as many times as one needs to on a single machine. Don't offer "licenses" in preference to a count, if it's a count that you are promoting, make it a proper licence for 3 machines. Regards