Hi. I'm a long time user of Kaspersky products from Russia. I've been paying for Kaspersky Internet Security for a few years now. I'm not satisfied with the product anymore because it slows my computer down and detects less threats than Norton Internet Security.
Kaspersky offers their IS for 1600 rubles (that equals 50 USD) for 2 PCs if you're a new user and it's even cheaper for existing users (around $28 to renew, as far as I remember).
The problem is that Norton's Internet Security costs 1590 RUB ($49) for a single PC only. So in order to protect my 2 PCs (there are 3 in this apartment) I either have to pay three times more for a 5 PCs license or get Norton 360 for 2500 RUB ($77). It is much more expensive than the amount I pay for Kaspersky Internet Security now. While I think that Norton is much better, the price is still too high for me to switch.
Are there any discounts is you're switching from an antivirus by another company? What would you suggest?
If you are going to switch from Kaspersky to Norton, then you will first need to remove Kaspersky completely from your system before trying to install Norton.
The Kaspersky removal procedure is described here:
In the past Norton has had special price offers for people upgrading and on the mail in upgrade rebate form this often included competitive upgrades like your situation and so I think your best bet would be to try contacting the Norton OnLine Support team via the CHAT route where you use the computer keyboard since in other cases we have had feedback from users that they have been very helpful.
Here's my boilerplate:
To contact customer support Click on this link and work on from there. You may have to scroll down a little to see the CHAT button.
Feedback from users tells us that CHAT is by far the best at resolving problems.
Note that that link is to the USA/CAN website so if you are located elsewhere you may get redirected to a local site or you may need to find the equivalent location on your local Symantec website; some pages have a link at the top right where you can select the country you are located in.
delphinium, it's $70 for 3 PCs, but only for american users. Russians have to pay $50 for one PC.
huwyngr, I just tried the chat and nobody could respond in a while. I'll probably try again later, but I don't know if it's the best idea. There's no online live support for russian users unless they want to call a phone number.
But it does surprise me that the 3 PC version is not on sale in Russia although I would not be surprised if the eStore website was confused. They don't show here versions that are definitely on sale in retail stores and legitimately on the internet.
I've no Russian but knowing where Norton says things I see tht while the top of the page says 1 PC, the footnote on their descriptive page does say, as here:
‡Защита в течение 1 года: эта услуга дает вам право использования настоящего продукта на одном персональном компьютере или на указанном количестве персональных компьютеров в течение срока обслуживания, который начинается в момент первой установки.
‡protectionfor 1 year: this servicegives youthe right to usethis producton one PCoron a specifiednumber of PCsduring the service period, which beginsat the time ofinitial installation.
just as they do here regardless of the number the licence is for so maybe they have the multiple PC ones hidden away?
huwyngr, that note is either outdated or it means the version for 5 PCs that I've already mentioned.
On the other hand, I've followed your advice and found Norton Internet Security 2011 for 3 PCs that costs 1550 RUB ($49 USD) in a popular online store that offers legit program keys (softkey.ru). One of the most popular software distributors in Russia, a company called 1C also offers NIS 2011 for 3 PCs for 1650 RUB.
NIS 2012 is not available there at all. Does switching from 2011 to 2012 cost additional money? You're free to update to the latest versions of Kaspersky suites, but I'm not sure about Norton.
I'm also wondering what will happen if you try to install that single PC version on 3 computers. I've noticed that at least one retailer unknown to me (allsoft.ru) offers NIS 2012 for 3 PCs for a reasonable price, but what if it's actually for one PC and they're not telling the truth? Will I find that out immediately or is there no such validation, meaning that you can virtually get caught, but almost nobody does?
We tell people here to buy retail from trustworthy sources if it is cheaper than renewing or buying new from Norton but I have no idea how well you can judge trustworthiness in your market -- here the colloquialism is "If it seems to good to be true it probably is!"
Here the sale of Keys on their own is definitely disapproved of by Norton and is the source of many complaints from users when they find they don't activate, or are partially used so the time runs out early. The Norton central database can detect invalid keys -- forged or stolen for example -- but sometimes it takes time for Norton to become aware of them and this leads to complaints that the installation suddenly stopped working and they get a message about cancellation ......
Here the $50 -70 mark or a 3 PC version of NIS seems about normal if you rule out the special rebate offers which may bring it down to $20 -$30. NAV is about $10 cheapere and N 360 about $10 more for the Standard.
So it seems to me that if you can match that for a legitimate 2011 3 PC version you should be OK.
You can install a 1 PC version on as many computers as you want to ... but you can only activate one ....
We do have experience of people buying a 1 PC veresion in a store and a sales person blandly telling them they can install it on 3 PCs ....... Norton does have a refund warranty for 60 days after purchase but I've no idea how or if that works in your market. It would only apply if you bought from Norton or an authorized distributor. It even coveres after installation if you just don't like it!
Once installed and activated you can upgrade online to 2012 and later without any further charge during the subscription period. We can help you with that. There are some tricks to know to make sure you don't suddenly find different languages.
I take it your preference is for the Russian language version although you have a remarkable command of English, if I may say so!
Thanks for all your responses huwyngr. They've been helpful.
I'll get back here if I need further assistance. At this time I'm testing Norton 360 6.0 and the Kaspersky license hasn't run out yet. I doubt I'll install Kaspersky Internet Security on this PC ever again, though.
As for your question about the language, russian is never my preference, but there are other people in this apartment who are not good at english. The best thing would be for me to have an english version of the program on this computer and russian ones on the two other PCs. Let me know if it's possible. In fact, can I get an activation key for 3 PCs from the US Norton website, download 2 copies of the russian version of the program and an english one getting them all working and activated?
<< Let me know if it's possible. In fact, can I get an activation key for 3 PCs from the US Norton website, download 2 copies of the russian version of the program and an english one getting them all working and activated? >>
I can never remember the relationship between language version, the software and the KEY but there are some experts on this here I know so hang on.
All I can remeber is that when you do get the combination you want sorted out you should not use the Update Center since the KEY installed governs what comes down from there -- but that only affects the built-in way fo going say from 2011 to 2012 or V5 to V6 in N 360 and we can give you links to download the correct file to use to install the upgrade in the version you want to keep.
As for NIS 2011/12 vs N 360 -- do you really want the utilties that are built into N 360? A lot of them are part of Windows or of NIS anyway and while NIS 2011 and N360 V5 share the same engines NIS 2012 is a generation ahead of N 360 V5 and will be until V6 is released (Don't ask .... ).
Personally I would save the money and go for NIS 2011 now and continue to use it for a while until some of the initial teething problems with 2012 are sorted out.
Get advice in the Public Beta forum on how to clean out N 360 V6 Beta since normally the Norton Removal Tools do not handle batas and if you get a mix of beta and released files left on the PC you may have troubles .....
Or did you do as suggested and make an image of the drive (Paragon offer a free imaging program I believe <g>).
Hi. I'm a long time user of Kaspersky products from Russia. I've been paying for Kaspersky Internet Security for a few years now. I'm not satisfied with the product anymore because it slows my computer down and detects less threats than Norton Internet Security.
Kaspersky offers their IS for 1600 rubles (that equals 50 USD) for 2 PCs if you're a new user and it's even cheaper for existing users (around $28 to renew, as far as I remember).
The problem is that Norton's Internet Security costs 1590 RUB ($49) for a single PC only. So in order to protect my 2 PCs (there are 3 in this apartment) I either have to pay three times more for a 5 PCs license or get Norton 360 for 2500 RUB ($77). It is much more expensive than the amount I pay for Kaspersky Internet Security now. While I think that Norton is much better, the price is still too high for me to switch.
Are there any discounts is you're switching from an antivirus by another company? What would you suggest?