Norton AV 2009 - How can I disable reminder to create a Norton Account?

Thanks to dfm29 for having the guts to step in here and offer his opinion.  Unfortunately, you had no better luck than I did getting the people here to understand what I want.

 

Also, thanks to Tim Lopez for your response.  Other people suggested that the Norton Account was used to determine if the software is legit, or that I wanted to avoid this step to prevent unsolicited notifications.  Personally, I never made any of those claims.  And, I have no problem with the "expiring subscription reminder", since that comes only at the end of the subscription.

 

However,  the point I was trying to make, but no one seemed to understand, is that I CANNOT run Norton Antivirus, by double-clicking on the icon, without being confronted by the REMINDER to setup a Norton Account.  EACH AND EVERY TIME.  And, it takes multiple clicks to reach the "Remind me Later" option.  Only then does the software open up so I can run a scan, or perform some other function.

 

Creating a Norton Account should be an OPTION, not a REQUIREMENT.  Since Symantec has apparently decided to make it a requirement, that prompted me to look for a way to turn the reminder off.  This should in no way be viewed as "hacking the software", or trying to perform some other action that I, as a purchaser of the software, is not entitled to.

 

For those that see a benefit to the Norton Account, I think it's great that it exists for them to take advantage of.  But it's a shame that Symantec decided to make it a requirement to use their software.

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One last thing, and probably the most important.

 

When you use a Norton product, you have the right to use it on a certain number of machines and for a certain amount of time.  Norton is very flexible about the number of machines; and given the number of reinstallations a number of us have gone through, that is very helpful.

 

What protects Symantec, and us indirectly, is that no matter how many times you install the product or the condition of the machine on which you install it, your subscription expires on the same date.

 

What you gain is the confidence of fair play with installs; what you pay for this is the limit imposed by your subscription length.

 

How does Symantec accomplish this?  With the initial registration online.  Your subscription length is stored by user and activation number.  No one else can steal your installations by keygenning your activation number since they also need your user name and password to register it.  Therefore, you get the number of installations you are entitled to.  And you can't screw Norton by using the disk on a new machine and trying to get the subscription to start from that day.

 

Seems fair to me.

Hi all

I don't usually jump into these posts but I can see rroberts point of view,we are getting less choices as a consumer.I just recently had the merry go round with my ISP over downloading a software to help me change a password when all I wanted to do was change the password manually I'm still waiting for their reply.Its the choice factor that's not being presented.I like Norton as for the account factor it doesn't bother me,Sorry rroberts I can't help I'm not techie.

Yes, i really think that having the reminder is troublesome…it make us feel that being a customer of symantec has no privacy. we PAID for the product that we are currently using. I agree with rroberts. Symantec should at least let us have a option to cancel away the reminder, of course, another option to make the reminder back. That should be the way ! you see, even microsoft a bigger company…we use their product…do they require us to give personal info ? NO !


mijcar wrote:

How does Symantec accomplish this?  With the initial registration online.  Your subscription length is stored by user and activation number.  No one else can steal your installations by keygenning your activation number since they also need your user name and password to register it.  Therefore, you get the number of installations you are entitled to.  And you can't screw Norton by using the disk on a new machine and trying to get the subscription to start from that day.

 


 

Are you claiming that Symantec accomplishes this through the use of Norton Account?

 

If yes, I can see why you might think that way, if you have always used the Norton Account.   But, actually, the method that prevents multiple installs / new expiration dates is merely the mechanism of Activation of the software, something which is absolutely required and which I have no quarrel with.  In all the years I have been using Norton AntiVirus, I have never created a Norton Account or registered the software with Symantec.  I install the software, it activates itself, and I proceed with another year of updates.

 

Each of the three users in our family have had numerous occasions to uninstall / reinstall Norton AntiVirus at various times, and afterward, we see the same subscription expiration date on the software, which is to be expected.

 

rroberts

 


rroberts wrote:

 

.... 

Are you claiming that Symantec accomplishes this through the use of Norton Account?

 

If yes, I can see why you might think that way, if you have always used the Norton Account.   But, actually, the method that prevents multiple installs / new expiration dates is merely the mechanism of Activation of the software, something which is absolutely required and which I have no quarrel with.  In all the years I have been using Norton AntiVirus, I have never created a Norton Account or registered the software with Symantec.  I install the software, it activates itself, and I proceed with another year of updates.

 

Each of the three users in our family have had numerous occasions to uninstall / reinstall Norton AntiVirus at various times, and afterward, we see the same subscription expiration date on the software, which is to be expected.

 

rroberts

 


And if someone else using software to randomly generate keys comes up with a viable one which happens to be yours (or mine or one of the any of the hundreds of thousands of people out there) and uses that to launch their own downloaded trialware?  How would Symantec know it wasn't their key to use?  Or that yours was really yours?


mijcar wrote:

rroberts wrote:

 

.... 

Are you claiming that Symantec accomplishes this through the use of Norton Account?

 

If yes, I can see why you might think that way, if you have always used the Norton Account.   But, actually, the method that prevents multiple installs / new expiration dates is merely the mechanism of Activation of the software, something which is absolutely required and which I have no quarrel with.  In all the years I have been using Norton AntiVirus, I have never created a Norton Account or registered the software with Symantec.  I install the software, it activates itself, and I proceed with another year of updates.

 

Each of the three users in our family have had numerous occasions to uninstall / reinstall Norton AntiVirus at various times, and afterward, we see the same subscription expiration date on the software, which is to be expected.

 

rroberts

 


And if someone else using software to randomly generate keys comes up with a viable one which happens to be yours (or mine or one of the any of the hundreds of thousands of people out there) and uses that to launch their own downloaded trialware?  How would Symantec know it wasn't their key to use?  Or that yours was really yours?


 

I asked you to respond about how you believe that Symantec prevents legitimate users from scamming them, and this is what you write?!?

 

As I understand it, the key-genners would get NOTHING by accidently generating my code.  It's already been used the maximum number of times, so I assume that their activation would fail.

 

Once again, I implore the moderators of this forum to lock down this thread, PLEASE.  This has gotten WAY off topic, and is serving no further purpose.

 

rroberts

 

Hello rroberts,

 

I believe that mijcar was simply pointing out another benefit of using the Norton Account. The fact that your activation key would be tied to your account would register it to you. 

 

Registering is also helpful in the event of a major software update or something that is critical. We would have a way of contacting users to let them know of this.

 

The Norton Account registration should only be required for the Subscription based services (Software as a service). I believe for software such as Norton SystemWorks Basic, which is not subscription based, a Norton Account creation is not required.

 

At the request of the original poster, I'm closing this thread. 

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