New Product Key vs. Renew Existing Product Key

When my subscription to NIS ends, as it will in about 30 days, do not renew it. Instead, enter brand new 100% kosher product key that purchased from a 100% kosher retailer. And I get another 365 days of NIS.

 

Nevertheless, as far as Symantec is concerned I did not renew my old copy of NIS and now I am unprotected, and I get email from Symantec for weeks pleading with me to renew my copy of NIS.

 

When I asked this same question last year, there was no solution to stop the email from coming. I'll try again this year: Is there any way to stop Symantec from sending me email to renew my 'old' NIS and get to them to understand that I bought a new copy of NIS instead?

When my subscription to NIS ends, as it will in about 30 days, do not renew it. Instead, enter brand new 100% kosher product key that purchased from a 100% kosher retailer. And I get another 365 days of NIS.

 

Nevertheless, as far as Symantec is concerned I did not renew my old copy of NIS and now I am unprotected, and I get email from Symantec for weeks pleading with me to renew my copy of NIS.

 

When I asked this same question last year, there was no solution to stop the email from coming. I'll try again this year: Is there any way to stop Symantec from sending me email to renew my 'old' NIS and get to them to understand that I bought a new copy of NIS instead?

Here are excerpts from two chats I had with Symantec technical support::

 

8/30/2013  Michael Ephraim: Definitely yes, Bulldoggy! I will assure you that you'll not be receiving any renewal messages from Symantec anymore.

 

9/2/3013  Jesty: Alright, the product key you provided is Norton Internet Security with 366 days.

 

And here is the first renewal email from Symantec:

 

9/7/2013 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!

 

*

 

Therefore, all email from Symantec is now filtered and will go straight to my Junk folder for the next three months, just as I have had to do in previous years.

 

It's sad that such outstanding software is hobbled by such a pathetic marketing effort.

The problem you are running into is that you are paying for a 1 year subscription to the update service to keep AV definitions up to date. This subscription is tied to the product key used to activate the subscription. If you renew with Norton, time is added to the original product key, and the subscription remains active.

 

When you use a new product key to activate, the subscription servers have no way to know it is replacing an existing key. The old key expires and the system kicks in to warn you about the loss of protection. 

 

Could things be done differently so the system recognises that this is a replacement key? I'm sure it could...although I have no idea what the complexity of the solution would be.

 

For now, you should add your thoughts to the thread intesec linked to for a product suggestion on this topic.