Norton Internet Security 2005

[smerko]

Hi,

I am wondering if anyone can help me out with a few questions.

My girlfriends parents own a Dell desktop machine with Windows XP that was purchased through some Educational system a year or so ago and on it from new has been installed a copy of Norton Internet Security 2005. Im not a big fan of anything Norton especially if it is out of date software and since they use the machine for the odd bit of work I thought having such an out of date Antivirus, etc was asking for trouble! Being the friendly guy that I am I took it upon myself to remove the Norton 2005 software and in its place install a copy of AVG free edition. I also quickly cleaned up the system a bit - updated XP to SP3, defragged the hard drive, ran full virus scan with the new AVG software, etc. Machine ran much smoother and was noticeably faster to boot, etc.

However I am getting hints through the girlfriend that her Dad is not a happy bunny. Apparently me removing this Norton software will mess with the machines remaining warranty? Also they are still apparently paying for updates for Norton 2005?!

Surely AVG Free and the installation of a router with built in firewall is better than any Norton 2005 software?! Or have I messed up? Is the Norton 2005 software still supported for updates, etc at all?

Is the original install file for the Norton 2005 package located anywhere on the machine if I am asked to reinstall it

Thanks in advance.

 

[Ebola]

Warantees are for hardware. Symantec already destroys oses, maybe it kills hardware too. LOL. Call symantec and complain. They tried screwing my parents into paying for their software after their subscription ran out too. Truely aweful company.

 

[Exige]

Yes, I don't think removing software would mess with the warranty. But you should really check with the owners before you go changing their computers around. Especially if it's your girlfriends parents, whom sound like they might not know much about computers, you can easily fluster them.

Tell her dad, 2005 was three years ago, and quit paying for it. AVG is win.

 

[Max0r]

Symantec was great in the DOS days =(

 

[imposter]

NIs is total junk. First thing we remove on all systems. AVG is is nice solution. If they don't mind paying go for kaspersky. and honestly. 3 years, im sure warranty is over already.

 

[Stratus_ss]

Warantees are for hardware. Symantec already destroys oses, maybe it kills hardware too. LOL. Call symantec and complain. They tried screwing my parents into paying for their software after their subscription ran out too. Truely aweful company.

Agreed, about the warentee... no company in their right mind would base warentee on software... to many end user problems... in fact most warentees explicitly exclude software issues of any kind.

As for support I believe they do support it by releasing the virus definitions for previous versions... so long as they definitions are up to date I cant understand why the actual year of the product would make a difference aside from say nortan 2002 being put on say vista

 

[don256us]

Removing Norton does not remove the warrenty. Don't go at him too much if he believes different. You can't win that argument.

I can understand though if he just paid for Norton and then the guy who's dating his little girl comes along....

Mind you I'm not saying you're a bad guy. Heck I don't even know you. Change on a computer without the owners permission is something that makes people mad.

So now you have to clean up the mess which is much harder IMHO. If he has an excisting acount with Norton, work with him to restore it.

You could try to talk to him but I'm guessing he's not really all that ready to do so. He may just want his machine back with what he knows.

Now I agree that Norton is the root of all evil and that AVG is a great program to replace Norton, but you should have mentioned that to him first. the point is not to do what is right for the machine, but to do what's right for the owner. Help him see the light but remember that he's the king here.

You're job is to educate, his is to deciede.

 

[smerko]

So does anyone know where the OEM install files are on the Dell machines should he wish me to reinstall it? Or are they all on a CD/DVD or something?

 

[don256us]

I don't have that answer for you but I would guess that with his client information, Symantec could provide you with the installation files via thier web site.