I use NIS 2012 on Windows 7. My license for NIS 2012 will expire in a few days. I have purchased a new license key for NIS, not a renewal, and I am asking what is the correct way to enter my license key.
Apparently, Symantec does not want existing users to purchase new license keys - it only wants us to renew. To this end, if I go to my Norton Account the only option offered is to renew. If I go to the NIS program interface, the only option offered is to renew.
It seems that if I want to enter a new license key, I have two choices:
Wait until my current subscription expires and then enter the new license key as a 'renewal' - this method exposes my computer to security threats between the time my current license expires and the time I enter the new license key.
Uninstall my existing copy of NIS, then download a new copy and enter my new license key - this method likewise exposes my computer to security threats between the time my current license expires and the time I uninstall/reinstall with the new license key. Or I can uninstall/reinstall with the new key prior to the expiration of my existing subscription, thereby losing the last few days of my subscription.
In my experience with many other software applications, entering a new license key prior to the end of an existing subscription is effortless. Unless I am mistaken, this is not so with Symantec. Do I have any other options for entering my new license key other than the two described above?
I don't mind losing the last few days of my subscription,if that's the way it has to be.
However, I followed the method you are suggesting last time I 'renewed' my subscription, and for weeks afterward I got email from Symantec pestering me to renew my subscription. Any way to avoid the email?
You could activate the Norton any time, if you lose the subscription days, you could contact the support, as they would transfer the days to the new key.
I use NIS 2012 on Windows 7. My license for NIS 2012 will expire in a few days. I have purchased a new license key for NIS, not a renewal, and I am asking what is the correct way to enter my license key.
Apparently, Symantec does not want existing users to purchase new license keys - it only wants us to renew. To this end, if I go to my Norton Account the only option offered is to renew. If I go to the NIS program interface, the only option offered is to renew.
It seems that if I want to enter a new license key, I have two choices:
Wait until my current subscription expires and then enter the new license key as a 'renewal' - this method exposes my computer to security threats between the time my current license expires and the time I enter the new license key.
Uninstall my existing copy of NIS, then download a new copy and enter my new license key - this method likewise exposes my computer to security threats between the time my current license expires and the time I uninstall/reinstall with the new license key. Or I can uninstall/reinstall with the new key prior to the expiration of my existing subscription, thereby losing the last few days of my subscription.
In my experience with many other software applications, entering a new license key prior to the end of an existing subscription is effortless. Unless I am mistaken, this is not so with Symantec. Do I have any other options for entering my new license key other than the two described above?
Email notification has been unchecked since I first created my Norton account. Nevertheless, last year I still got nagging emails warning/begging me to renew my subscription after I entered a new license key. I had to eventually filter the email last year, and I'll likely have to do the same this year.
Said it before: Symantec has the best technology combined with the worst marketing.
<< Apparently, Symantec does not want existing users to purchase new license keys - it only wants us to renew. To this end, if I go to my Norton Account the only option offered is to renew. If I go to the NIS program interface, the only option offered is to renew. >>
With My Norton Internet Security 2012 I click on that Renew and after a moment the screen that comes up has a line in blue saying that I have a KEY
and when I click on that I get:abox to enter the key in.
Check other posts on this topic: That screen is anticipating a renewal license key, not a brand new license key.
Entering a brand new license key will lose the balance of your current subscription - which I can accept since I have just a few days to go - and will produce a stream of increasingly desperate email from Symantec warning/begging you to renew your previous license.
Check other posts on this topic: That screen is anticipating a renewal license key, not a brand new license key.
Entering a brand new license key will lose the balance of your current subscription - which I can accept since I have just a few days to go - and will produce a stream of increasingly desperate email from Symantec warning/begging you to renew your previous license.
Sorry but that box is for any key.
If you use a new key then you get what the system regards as a new installation without having to reinstall so you lose the days which is why we recommend waiting until a couple of days before expiry. Losing those can be your choice for the saving you make by buying a new copy with a new key.
If you accidentally use a new key and lose a lot of days then contact the Norton OnLIne Support Team via the CHAT route as below and all the feedback we get is that they are quick and friendly and will add the days back in although they are not required to.
The emails are a different situation altogether andis not something you mentioned in your first message so I dealt with what I quoted from that message.
Believe me I don't post suggestions without reading the messages.
LOL...Just as I predicted, here's the first of what will be many emails from Symantec:
"You need to be aware that your subscription to Norton™ Internet Security expired TODAY.
This means your PC is no longer receiving important security updates that protect you from online threats—including viruses, Trojans, spyware, hackers and identity thieves.
If you're going online at all, we urge you to renew your subscription now and get Norton™ Internet Security."
I contacted Symantec technical support via chat. They cannot make their system accept my new license number. They offered to remove my email address from their marketing list, which they say will stop the reminders:
"You don't have to worry, you can rest assured that you can disregard the messages that you are receiving stating to renew. However, if you really don't want to receive any message stating to renew, I can disable the Marketing Materials here on my end, however, it will also disable all the messages including the updates that we have."
Unfortunately, removing me from their email list takes only effect AFTER 30 DAYS - not immediately:
" I understand, however, disabling Marketing Materials will took it's effect after 30 days."
So I'm (hopefully) off their email list, and I'll ignore or filter their mail for the next 30 days.
<< They cannot make their system accept my new license number >>
I don't understand that bit ... did they say it was not a valid key ?
<< I have purchased a new license key for NIS, not a renewal >>
How did you do that? You can't licitly just buy a key without a product so if you bought a key online from someone it could be invalid or used. Can you give us any more background to help you get your system protected?
Are you sure that the key you have and want to renew with comes from the same exact version as your installed NIS? Ther used to be Netbook versions and in some countries there are versions tied to renewal by the store you bought the product from.
Can you give us some more background?
Do you want to try downloading a new copy of NIS 2012 and installing it and then seeing about using the new key. If so you can do the download without waiting for your present subscription to expire and the risk of being infected during the few minutes you uninstall and install again is non-existent provided you don't go browsing somewhere while the installation is going on ....
Did you happen to purchase your previous original NIS2012 product online from Symantec directly?
I ask this because all that you've related in your postings sounds to me like the doings of "Digital River", which is the company Symantec contracts with to operate their "online direct sales".
To purchase a new license key you buy a new retail copy of Norton Internet Security (e.g., from Newegg). Is that so unintuitive that you need to accuse me of buying an invalid license? It sure is tough to be a Symantec apologist.
To purchase a new license key you buy a new retail copy of Norton Internet Security (e.g., from Newegg). Is that so unintuitive that you need to accuse me of buying an invalid license? It sure is tough to be a Symantec apologist.
Please read what I wrote:
<< You can't licitly just buy a key without a product ... >>
and kindly do not insult anyone here, let alone those trying to help you.
Nobody accused you of anything but many do unwittingly purchase invalid keys by falling for online scams whether with or without a product.
"Did you happen to purchase your previous original NIS2012 product online from Symantec directly?"
I have never purchased NIS from Symantec or through Digital River. I wait until an online retailer - a legitimate online retailer like Newegg - offers NIS for little or nothing after rebate. I toss everything in the box except the card with the license - the license is what you're really paying for. I hold on to that card until a few days before my existing subscription ends, and then I enter the license key to keep my subscription going for another 366 days. I've been doing this for years.
However, Symantec won't recognize this as a renewal, hence the series of increasingly dire emails. It considers this as a new purchase by someone they've never met before. The only way to have your license appear in your Norton Account is to renew/buy the software from Symantec...and pay the price they want you to pay.
The Norton Account is just about marketing, anyway. If you legally purchase a legal license key, Symantec will honor it. You're just not doing it 'their way'.
"Did you happen to purchase your previous original NIS2012 product online from Symantec directly?"
I have never purchased NIS from Symantec or through Digital River. I wait until an online retailer - a legitimate online retailer like Newegg - offers NIS for little or nothing after rebate. I toss everything in the box except the card with the license - the license is what you're really paying for. I hold on to that card until a few days before my existing subscription ends, and then I enter the license key to keep my subscription going for another 366 days. I've been doing this for years.
However, Symantec won't recognize this as a renewal, hence the series of increasingly dire emails. It considers this as a new purchase by someone they've never met before. The only way to have your license appear in your Norton Account is to renew/buy the software from Symantec...and pay the price they want you to pay.
The Norton Account is just about marketing, anyway. If you legally purchase a legal license key, Symantec will honor it. You're just not doing it 'their way'.
Hi Bulldoggy,
The process you describe is exactly the same as the one I do (and have been doing for many, many years now) myself. I suppose that I've simply been fortunate in that (so far at least) I've not had to endure the experience you've just been through. Hopefully the 30-day waiting period will put an end to these solicitation emails you're currently having to endure.
I'm sure you will not accept this correction but others who are less bullheaded deserve to know the facts:
<< However, Symantec won't recognize this as a renewal, hence the series of increasingly dire emails. It considers this as a new purchase by someone they've never met before. >>
Corrrect -- They don't recognize it as a renewalbecause it is not; it is the activation of your installation with a new key. It is just the same as a new installation except that you do not have to install the software. The system is a system and so it continues to remind you that the previous subscription has not been renewed .... because it has not been.
<< The only way to have your license appear in your Norton Account is to renew/buy the software from Symantec...and pay the price they want you to pay. >>
This is completely and absolutely incorrect.
I and a myriad of others here and elsewhere extend our licenced period by using a new key and the new licence always appears in the MyNortonAccount separately from any previous entry from a different key.
<< The Norton Account is just about marketing, anyway. >>
The MyNortonAccount one creates to activate a licence should not be confused with the "Product Registration" that used to be often done by mailing in a postcard which was a marketing exercise. It is a useful tool for the user since in it's current version you can do things that we used to get asked about and had to refer users to OnLIne Support for, like cancelling an activation on a computer that has been disposed of or has crashed so that it can be used again. Nor with any Norton Account that is created when the user buys from Norton which I know you do not.
<< If you legally purchase a legal license key, Symantec will honor it. >>
Correct. Symantec will honor any legal licence licitly obtained.
<< You're just not doing it 'their way'. >>
Funny you should say that but having been here since 2009 you must have seen the messages from Men in Red suggesting as we all do: if it suits you to renew then renew; if you want the best price for another year's licence then just buy a copy from a legitimate source at the best price you can and use the key just before the old subscription expires.
Four weeks after I installed my new copy of NIS...and the emails are still coming! Here's the latest one...the seventh, pathetic plea I have received from a company that refuses to accept that I have installed a new copy of NIS.
"You need to be aware that your subscription to Norton™ Internet Security has expired.
This means your PC is no longer receiving important security updates that protect you from online threats—including viruses, Trojans, spyware, hackers and identity thieves.
If you're going online at all, we urge you to renew your subscription now and get Norton™ Internet Security."
Therefore, email from @nortonfromsymantec.com is now filtered for the next three months...just like last year and the year before. This is just ridiculous.
