SUMwarePremium
join:2002-05-21
kudos:2 | Symantec Product Activation Poses Problems From PC World
Paul Roberts, IDG News Service
Friday, October 31, 2003
An antipiracy feature in Symantec's popular Norton AntiVirus software is causing headaches for some users, who are being prompted to re-enter product activation codes for the antivirus, firewall, and antispam products whenever they reboot their machines.
Symantec on Thursday acknowledged the problem in a note posted on its Web site, which says the company is investigating the problem, but does not know what is causing it or how to fix it.
The problem affects Norton AntiVirus 2004, the latest version of Symantec's desktop antivirus program, Symantec said. After installing Norton and successfully activating the product using the product activation code, users are prompted to reenter the code each time their computer restarts. After a number of reboots, the product displays a message saying "The trial period has expired. This product has been disabled because you have not activated it."
In the Web site note, Symantec asks customers who were experiencing the problem to install a utility called the Symantec Automated Support Assistant that gathers information about their system configuration. The company says sending computer system information would "help Symantec product development resolve this issue."
Full story here. |
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| reply to SUMware
Re: Symantec Product Activation Poses Problems I purchased and installed NIS 2004 10/24/03. I haven't experienced any thing like that. Aside from a LU problem when first installed, which was easily solved, and a little glitch in the visual tracking feature, NIS 2004 is running great on my PC.  A great combination AV/firewall IMO. |
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| reply to SUMware
My experience with installation of activated products: "smooth as silk" -- first with downloadable NAV 2004 upgrade; later with NSW Pro 2004 .. have experienced no problems, nothing remotely resembling what this article describes. With the millions of users out there, I suppose any weird glitch is possible. But that hasn't been my experience, again: "smooth as silk". 
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"But now abide faith, hope, love, these three; but the greatest of these is love." (1 Cor. 13:13) |
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Symantec refused to learn from the experience of Intuit and Turbo Tax. They needed to learn it first hand. What is happening so far is almost identical to what happened to Intuit. Symantec announces the activation implementation. Lots of customers complaining about this move fell on deaf ears. Symantec assures the (legitimate) customers they will never notice the difference. Customers start hitting real glitches and complain...
Anecdotal testimonies of how smoothly Symantec's activation is going is just that. Anecdotal. Symantec would never admit to problems unless they did, in fact, exist for a significant number of their customers.
Activation schemes do much less to thwart piracy than it does to piss off legitimate customers. Personally, before this activation move came to light, I was on the fence about upgrading. That pushed me way over. I will not buy a product that has this unless I have no other reasonable choice. There are several decent free AV products out there. While it is debatable whether they are as good as Symantec, McAfee, Trend Micro, etc., they are quite decent. As long as Symantec has this product activation, they will rank toward the bottom of my purchasing considerations.
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What can possibly go wrong? |
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| said by Komputerguy:
As long as Symantec has this product activation, they will rank toward the bottom of my purchasing considerations.
Well, that's your opinion, and you're entitled to feel the way you do; after all, who can argue with opinion and feelings? As for me, I never did, do not now, and probably never will, see the rather benign activation which Symantec uses as that big of a deal. Certainly it's premature to compare Symantec to Intuit, imho .. very premature. But, each to his own, if activation bothers you, you of course can feel free to shop somewhere else, that's what free choice and free market is for .. to give you that freedom {no offense}. Warmly, Ran
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"But now abide faith, hope, love, these three; but the greatest of these is love." (1 Cor. 13:13)
[text was edited by author 2003-11-01 06:04:22] |
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ghost16825Use security metricsPremium
join:2003-08-26 | reply to SUMware
Previous post mentioned here:
»Norton user on WinXp face reactivation problem |
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| reply to Randy Bell
said by Komputerguy:
As long as Symantec has this product activation, they will rank toward the bottom of my purchasing considerations.
I feel the same way, some of these software folks are just plain nuts, first they sell you something that is not yours, then they want to force you to activate/register it. Well one thing is for certain, they can't make you buy it.
said by Randy Bell:
Well, that's your opinion, and you're entitled to feel the way you do
Damn right!!! Thank you for setting us strait on that one.
said by Randy Bell:
if activation bothers you, you of course can feel free to shop somewhere else, that's what free choice and free market is for .. to give you that freedom
Damn right!!! If they give us any crap about it, we will tell them that we have your permission.
said by Randy Bell:
{no offense}.
None taken.
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If Operating Systems Were Women? : »www.sigkill.com/os/ |
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| said by callihn4:
I feel the same way, some of these software folks are just plain nuts, first they sell you something that is not yours, then they want to force you to activate/register it. Well one thing is for certain, they can't make you buy it.
What makes me think they would have never gotten your business in the first place, activation or no activation? Sounds like you dislike the company anyway, so I guess a topic like this gives opportunity to "vent".
said by Randy Bell:
Well, that's your opinion, and you're entitled to feel the way you do
said by callihn4:
Damn right!!! Thank you for setting us strait on that one.
Not "setting you straight", just reminding you that nobody is twisting your arm or forcing you to accept activation, or to buy any products from the company. Anyway, you & others obviously wouldn't purchase from them to begin with .. so it seems.
said by Randy Bell:
if activation bothers you, you of course can feel free to shop somewhere else, that's what free choice and free market is for .. to give you that freedom
said by callihn4:
Damn right!!! If they give us any crap about it, we will tell them that we have your permission.
They won't, "give you any crap about it", that is .. frankly they probably realize someone like yourself just wants to "rant" and would never become a customer of theirs under any circumstances.
said by Randy Bell:
{no offense}.
said by callihn4:
None taken.
Feeling is mutual, y'all go your way, I'll go mine .. and buy Symantec products because in my opinion they are hi-quality and worth my investment.
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"But now abide faith, hope, love, these three; but the greatest of these is love." (1 Cor. 13:13) |
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 StraitShootWho Loves Ya Baby? - Theo KojakPremium
join:2003-02-08
Clinton, MA
kudos:1 | reply to TakeADivot
said by TakeADivot:
I purchased and installed NIS 2004 10/24/03. I haven't experienced any thing like that.
I haven't experienced one single problem after I installed NIS 2004 myself.. NOT ONE Headache... The DRM or whatever never caused me a problem., and is very similar to MS Office scheme.. I suggest cloning your system after you install Symantec, that way if you have a problem, you can restore to your original specs, and the DRM won't be an issue...
PS.. A lot of my problems went away after I installed NIS 2004... Best AntiSpam program I've seen yet, very good AV, excellent firewall...
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Stavros, Why are you eating again? |
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StraitShootWho Loves Ya Baby? - Theo KojakPremium
join:2003-02-08
Clinton, MA
kudos:1 | reply to Komputerguy
said by Komputerguy:
Anecdotal testimonies of how smoothly Symantec's activation is going is just that. Anecdotal. Symantec would never admit to problems unless they did, in fact, exist for a significant number of their customers.
Don't you know me? LOL.. Believe me, if I had any problems with NIS 2004, you'd have heard of them by now... LOL...
said by Komputerguy:
There are several decent free AV products out there. While it is debatable whether they are as good as Symantec, McAfee, Trend Micro, etc., they are quite decent. As long as Symantec has this product activation, they will rank toward the bottom of my purchasing considerations.
Well, there are a lot of advantages for me to own this product, but I really think you are making a big deal out of nothing. I used to be one of the biggest opponents of Symantec's activation because I did not understand it.. After I saw first hand it wasn't a big deal, I have no issue with it now..
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Stavros, Why are you eating again? |
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kpatzMY HEAD A SPLODEPremium
join:2003-06-13
Manchester, NH | reply to SUMware
quote:
After I saw first hand it wasn't a big deal, I have no issue with it now...
You will if it suddenly becomes "de-activated" after 25 reboots... or some new malware, instead of doing the old "disable the AV trick", does the "disable AV's activation" trick, and now not even a reinstall will get you going again without begging and pleading Ma Symantec to let you use the product you paid them for.
Even if you're not a pirate, if it only allows 5 activations per copy, and you are the type to reformat/reload frequently, you'll be SOL after 5 times.
Last but not least, activation just adds more unnecessary bloat code to a product that should be concentrating on keeping malware off your system, not boosting Symantec's profit margin. |
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| reply to SUMware
Hey, folks - This seems to be a case where the Symantec product activation encounters conflicts on some systems - not all or even most systems - but a sufficient number that Symantec has officially responded.
There really is no value in either (a) bashing Symantec with the same intensity as Intuit was bashed, or (b) repeating that the product activation worked fine on this system or that system. Since it is unclear what exactly is causing the reported conflicts, no conclusions can be drawn as to whether it is appropriate for other users to consider or reject Symantec products for future purchase - as with most software, it's a matter of try it and see, and keep what works.
It might be different if this thread was started by a single user reporting a problem that nobody else has encountered, but instead it is describing a problem that has been reported in sufficient numbers to be credible. My guess is that there is some combination of OS, security programs, and/or other software that interferes with the Symantec activation on some systems, and obviously it is up to Symantec to discover the cause and alter their software promptly before they suffer too much bad press.
Perhaps someone who has encountered the specific problem can check in, and the gurus can try to troubleshoot and determine the cause ... |
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Anon00Premium
join:2001-09-25
USA
kudos:1 | Reverend Ike, it is very clear what the problem is. 100% crystal clear. It's their activation scheme. Whats even more stupid is they put it on such a vital piece of software. We're not talking about some Tax software or an Office suite. We're talking about the first, and often, last line of defense for most users. I mean what will average Joe do when the activation bug keeps happening. Will he, A) Re-do activation as many times as it asks, or B) After awhile get pissed and stop running the software and run unprotected.
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"In heaven all the interesting people are missing." - Friedrich Nietzsche |
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StraitShootWho Loves Ya Baby? - Theo KojakPremium
join:2003-02-08
Clinton, MA
kudos:1
| said by Anon00:
Reverend Ike, it is very clear what the problem is. 100% crystal clear. It's their activation scheme.
Then how come I'm having NO Problems? NOT ONE!! Can you answer that please with the same intensity you have for your previous "prognosis.."..LOL...
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Stavros, Why are you eating again?
[text was edited by author 2003-11-01 12:23:51] |
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 keith2468Premium,MVM
join:2001-02-03
Winnipeg, MB | reply to SUMware
1/2 of 1% of the 1,200,000 customers who have used product activation so far have this problem (Symantec numbers).
This means 6000 unhappy customers having to re-activate the product every time they re-boot.
Here's a report on it. (I'm sorry it isn't better written.)
»www.globetechnology.com/servlet/···hnology/
"The issue has puzzled Symantec engineers mainly because it has affected so few customers — the issue has come up in less than one-half of 1 per cent of activations, said Del Smith, senior product manager for Symantec." |
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Anon00Premium
join:2001-09-25
USA
kudos:1 | reply to StraitShoot
So wait, you're not experiencing problems right? So how exactly did you think you were included in my statement?
Lets get a little logic into it. Did anyone, ANYONE, experience activation problems before activation was introduced? I really hope everyones saying no. So when did this happen? After activation was introduced. Ergo, their activation scheme is the problem. I'm sure its some other piece of software interferring but that doesn't negate the fact that activation is the problem. It's their scheme, so its up to them to have it work properly, no matter the environment it runs it. I'm not necessarily suggesting they disable it, just fix it. Although, some of you know how diametrically opposed I am to activation on everything.
Anyways, my main point was the stupidity to put it on this type of software. It's vital in my opinion, and to have such a weak link in a chain this important is such a mistake.
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"In heaven all the interesting people are missing." - Friedrich Nietzsche |
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StraitShootWho Loves Ya Baby? - Theo KojakPremium
join:2003-02-08
Clinton, MA
kudos:1 | Well, now your point makes sense....
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Stavros, Why are you eating again? |
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Anon00Premium
join:2001-09-25
USA
kudos:1 | said by StraitShoot:
Well, now your point makes sense....
LoL, not sure if you're being sarcastic or not. Anyways, sorry if my previous statement seemed a lil snippy, it wasn't meant to be.
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"In heaven all the interesting people are missing." - Friedrich Nietzsche |
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 SteveI know your IP addressConsultant
join:2001-03-10
Yorba Linda, CA
kudos:5
| reply to Anon00
said by Anon00:
We're not talking about some Tax software or an Office suite.
If you have an activation problem while you're rushing to get your taxes done or to finish a term paper due tonight, you'd not dismiss this kind of problem so casually.
If your A/V stops working, you always have the workaround of "just use your head for a while" (which, as it happens, is the antivirus solution I use every day).
But the workarounds for no Turbo Tax or no MS Word are a lot more disruptive.
Edit - and as much as I understand the need to protect software vendors from theft, Product Activation has been very interruptive for me. I'd much rather use a hardware dongle thing that would more easily survive reloading my operating system.
Steve
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Stephen J. Friedl * Security Consultant * Tustin, California USA * my web site
[text was edited by author 2003-11-01 13:44:33] |
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