I read that now Norton has discontinued the Free version for subscribers of the Norton Utilities Premium. Then why in the h*ll doesn't Norton state this on their "reactivate to repair" page? I went through all the stuff to re-activate to finally find out that this bonus, that originally was labeled to be active until 2050. I may go with the Utilities Ultimate, but am put out because Norton didn't seem to have the decency to at least note that on their support page.
It seems as though there is still some activity with this question. The final results are that Norton has discontinued the old Utilities Premium, period. It is done, no longer available. They now have the Utilities Ultimate to more than take it's place, and yes there is a charge. I was planning on switching to NUU before this happened as the one I had before, another out of country service didn't quite do everything I wanted, and would break the NUP everytime I would run that program. And yes, there was a charge for that one too (about the same as NUU). So in the end, it's either go with the NUU or another paid service. Free ones never seem to work the best. And I did get a special low price for the first year for the NUU since the other was discontinued.
After being dumped from the 'free' NUP about a month ago, I continued to do daily scans using an old Version 14 I still had. But that was with a warning from Norton, that the app was obsolete (my words, not theirs) and would be unusable after 30 days. Apparently that 30-day limit was today - it wouldn't run unless activated. I had the Product Key, but Norton wouldn't recognize it.
So, I went searching for a free version of anything (e.g. CCleaner, PC Cleaner, etc.) that would tide me over until Black Friday or later into the shopping/discount season when NU Ultimate might be cheaper. I found a promo offering NU Ultimate for $29/one year with auto renewal ($10 off the current Amazon retail price). I bit the bullet and signed up and am now the not-necessarily proud owner of the product for 10 devices. As I can only use 5 max, I figure I paid twice as much as it was worth. If it's even cheaper later, maybe I'll pick up a few copies for XMAS gifts for my kids.
If interested, look at this link: Norton Utilities Ultimate Promo
I'm getting the Re-activate now error on my copy of Norton Utilities Premium as well. So, does mean I'm screwed and may as well ditch a product family I've been using since 1985?
Agree. By posting an "Active" date of 2050, Norton made a statement of the app's availability. By cancelling availability, Norton made an ethical faux pas which implies you can believe little of what it says.
Unfortunately, there are few other programs that: 1) can compete with NU (Norton Utilities) ease of use; 2) long-time users of NU are willing to learn how to use; 3) promote as aggressively as Norton does.
There's also the problem of NUP users who believe they're getting shafted, simply capitulating. It would probably help if more of us took the position of “I’m mad as hell and I’m not going to take it anymore” as declared by the longtime news anchor Howard Beale in the 1975 film classic Network. If you don't like their rules, take your business elsewhere.
Toyman
Initially, there was no official notice that they were adding this 'bonus'. So, unfortunately, it is also not surprising that they did not make an official announcement on removing this bonus.
I believe that somewhere deep in the terms and conditions of the Norton product subscriptions, there is a section that covers that Norton may add or subtract features as they feel fit.
Seems unfair since it was promised as an incentive as part of the package when we subscribed
Pourquoi NORTON ne dit pas clairement sur son site que le service NORTON UTILITIES PREMIUM ne fonctionne plus et qu'il faut passer au service ULTIMATES payant ?