I just upgraded from NIS 2010 to 2011 and lost all the customized settings I had configured in NIS 2010 (e.g., scan exclusions lost, Automated LiveUpdate re-enabled, Norton toolbar re-activated in IE 8, etc.).
Is this normal behavior for the NIS 2011 upgrade, or is there some way to recover my old settings without having to go through a complete manual reconfiguration of NIS 2011? I upgraded over my old NIS 2010 installation (i.e., via Support | New Version Check without uninstalling NIS 2010 first) and noticed a message that the NIS 2011 installer was saving my personal settings before uninstalling the old version, so I assumed that those settings would be automatically carried over into NIS 2011.
The same thing happened to me. Some customizations, such as scan exclusions and user-created firewall rules will not carry over, but the preferences selected in Norton Settings are supposed to be retained. But sometimes they are not. The most likely cause is that the primary installation process may not have been able to successfully complete. When this happens the installer attempts to use other methods to install the program. This is usually successful in getting the software installed, but unfortunately, your settings may be lost in the process.
This window is not seen during a routine installation, but is visible only when you start a manual uninstallation or attempt to install NIS 2011 overtop of itself.
Based upon the information here, it appears that the saved settings and preferences are limited to Identity Safe, AntiSpam, Parental Controls and Quarantine items.
However, you could submit a suggestion for future versions here, noting what you would like to see retained.
I had to laugh when I saw your post. I don't install Parental Controls, there were no items in my Quarantine and I usually don't touch the default settings for Identity Safe and AntiSpam, so this explains why reconfiguring NIS after every upgrade is such a tedious task.
I double-checked my settings and have confirmed that I lost ALL my old configuration tweaks when I upgraded to NIS 2011 (although the installer managed to recognize my product key and subscription renewal date this time).
This is incredibly frustrating. I have a slow Internet connection at home and I spent over an hour today reconfiguring all sorts of "extraneous" features in NIS 2011 (e.g., Automatic Download of New Version, Special Offer Notification, Norton Community Watch, etc.) that I hope will free up some bandwidth without compromising my computer's security. The Help files weren't very helpful in explaining some new features (e.g., I'm still not sure what I'd sacrifice if I enabled the "Smart Definitions" feature and downloaded only the "most important virus definitions") so now I'll have to waste even more time scouring the forum for additional information.
The smart definitions are for people who have a slow internet connection. They contain only the definitions for current infections and leave out the very old definitions.
I installed NIS 2011 yesterday, I found all my rules for blocking the access to internet to programs totally erased. Also the general rules that I introduced are erased.
Now I am trying to rewrite all these rules.
I write all these rules after a discovery of virus and attack , so I am very disappointed about this behavior that put more risk on my system after an action,such as the upgrade, to increase the security of my system.
I hope that in the future there will be a VERY CLEAR ASK option to erase or not the old settings.
I have to agree this is ridiculous. I just upgraded to NIS 2011 from 2010 and have spent the last 45 minutes recreating firewall rules, the network map, and editing settings.
I think you people should start a thread in the New Ideas section of the Forum and mention that they should have an option to save firewall rules also when you update or develop a method where you can save the fire wall rules that have been made and then import them into the new program like people do with the Identity Safe items. I know that file can be saved and put into either NIS or N360 if people switch to that product. Thanks.
