Sunday, January 21, 2007

Norton - Off My Christmas Card List

My copy of Norton System Works (anti-virus, optimization, etc.) is about to expire, so today I went to renew. For $10 more, I Could get the entire 2007 version which had more features.

Such a deal, I thought. So I bought it, downloaded it and it refused to install. I fought with it for four hours. One suggestion on their support website was an auto-fix tool. Great, I thought, I had to use that to get the 2006 version to install. However, even the auto-fix tool failed to install.

I also used their lightning-bolt-of-death application which will eradicate every trace of Norton programs off your computer. Even that failed to do the trick. Even after running it at least five times.

They can bill your credit card over the internet and allow you download software, but if it doesn't work, you have to print out a form and send it in the postal mail and wait 6-8 weeks.

Here's a thought, since this program has to dial in daily for new anti-virus updates, if someone were to ask for a refund, process it immediately over the internet. Then if they do install it, as soon as it calls in for updates, disable the program.

This is probably just a lame tactic to try to avoid paying refunds.

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