I've installed NIS 2009 on two machines in the past two days.
I followed my general practice of using the standard installation procedure: copy over my installation program and double-click and let it install. I do not pre-uninstall.
On the first machine, the behavior was strange. I got the usual display screen that says something like "preparing", but not "preparing"; and then it did what other people had reported: It disappeared.
I was very patient and I waited and finished a chapter of a book and decided enough was enough. I rebooted (to force a shut down of anything happening in the background) and tried again. Same thing. I tried a third time. Same thing.
Okay, maybe my installation package was corrupted. I renamed my installation package, then I went online and downloaded a trial version of NIS 2009 to the desktop. It had the same size as my package, but ... when I launched this package it behaved perfectly.
It unwrapped itself and created an installation folder, just as my package was supposed to do, went ahead and removed the previous program which took awhile and a reboot, then installed itself and worked perfectly. No problems with IE or Firefox. It picked up the correct activation key from the NIS 2008 onboard, migrated the settings. Smooth as silk.
I then crossed my fingers and downloaded the trial version of NSW 2009 PE (my client uses this for the Save & Restore package) and it was a wee bit more difficult. It insisted I uninstall the Save & Restore program that went with NSW 2008 PE, which I did, choosing the "save all settings, etc" option. After that the installation went well for the first part, installing Systemworks over the previous Systemworks. Then I installed Save & Restore. Now this S&R is the same version as the one I had just installed (only the Systemworks components were changed from version 11 to version 12). Nonetheless, after installation it said that it needed to be activated. What was this!?
All was explained in a moment. I had installed S&R too soon. NSW was not yet activated. When I clicked on NSW, I got the activate now screen. It asked for the key, which I had already collected online, and it accepted it with no problem (I had been worried because I was afraid that Symantec would perceive this as a second installation on another machine, but it took the key with no problems).
However, even thought NSW was now activated, S&R wasn't. I was afraid I would have to uninstall it and start over. Fortunately, I remained calm, let Live Update run, rebooted, ran Live Update again, was asked for the Activation Key by S&R, gave it the NSW key, and all was well.
More than anything, it took patience and not hurrying things along.
On the second machine, the NIS 2007 was out of subscription time. I wasn't sure whether to extend the subscrition, then install NIS 2009 or simply buy NIS 2009 and install it.
The second route was cheaper and that's what we did.
The uninstall, reboot, install all went without a hitch until I got hasty.
After the launch, I mindlessly clicked on Live Update. I should have known better; Norton always runs Live Update after installation. But this time, it was listed on the options and I wasn't thinking, so I clicked. My launch must have virtually collided with the program's auto-launch because I got some weird behavior. Instead of getting the usual "another instance of Live Update is running; please wait" message, for the first time ever that I have seen, both Live Updates were in action.
Here is what happened:
The first one began it's usual activity.
The second one couldn't do anything, so on its own it launched one-click support (either that or I inadvertantly clicked on that myself trying to close the second Live Update).
So there I was trying to close one-click, the first Live Update finished and requested a re-start. This I was happy to do hoping it would resolve the mess. After reboot, I opened the console, clicked on Live Update and again one-click launched itself. This time I decided not to fight it. First, I let the Live Update session finish. Then I waited for one-click to get to the help site. It did and then sat there humming a cheerful tune to itself. No messages. No offers of help. No problems listed. Just a choice of two options: my problem was now solved or my problem had not been solved. I chose the first option, not having any other problem other than being confronted with these two choices. The screen closed and every worked fine.
I think there are some important things for Symantec and its users to note here:
First, this product is more succeptible to user misuse and abuse. I would say it is too vulnerable. I was lucky I did the right things, things that did not make the situation worse.
Second, it is possible to make the situation worse.
It seems possible for an impatient user to launch a second installation while the first one is still in progress and thereby prevent either from working correctly, and maybe even keeping future installations from going right because of the debris from the collision.
One-click Support auto-launches too readily (assuming it wasn't myself who had first-clicked on it) and is too persistant once it is launched.
Third, I think people who install the product need to know what scenario to expect so they don't start clicking keys and cursing and interfering with the installation. Patience needs to be emphasized, of course, but the user needs to know at what points to expect really slow behavior.
I'm sure there's more, but it's late and I am running out of energy.