[prospect]

People buy Symantec Corp.'s popular Norton line of anti-virus software to protect themselves against computer headaches. But in the latest version of the product, Symantec includes some code to protect itself.

With Norton AntiVirus 2004, scheduled to go on sale next month, Symantec is using a simple but sometimes unpopular installation process called product activation to stop users from sharing or selling copies of its best-selling software line.

The Business Software Alliance, an industry trade group, says piracy costs the software industry $13 billion a year worldwide in lost revenue. Like the music industry, software companies big and small are taking offenders to court and employing technical means to make copying difficult.

Users of Norton AntiVirus will have to register their copies with Symantec online or by telephone within 15 days of installation for the program to continue to work. Unlike optional registration commonly used for marketing purposes, Symantec's registration system can dictate whether a program is allowed to function or not by associating a unique software key with every computer using a licensed copy of the software.

The company said it plans to include product activation in all its products. "We're doing this in order to provide users with assurance that they are receiving an authentic product from Symantec," said product manager Del Smith. Many e-mail solicitations offer to sell versions of the software that are actually illegal copies, he said.

Software product activation could become much more common in the next few years. "Unless consumers push back rather strongly, it's going to continue to be a trend," said Michael Gartenberg, an analyst at Jupiter Research.

Microsoft Corp.'s decision to require such activation for products such as Office XP helped pave the way for the change.

"Consumers should be cheering this on," said Robert M. Kruger, vice president for enforcement at the Business Software Alliance. Product activation is less drastic than taking users of pirated software to court. "From the consumer standpoint, this is a kinder and gentler method than enforcement," Kruger said.

Some analysts question the value of product activation. Determined pirates will find a way around it, the thinking goes, and more casual users will simply find similar programs that don't limit the number of installations.

"It's not as if all those people who were using the software for free are going to start paying for it," said Rob Enderle of the research firm Enderle Group.

Discouraging nonpaying users while keeping paying customers happy can be a tricky balancing act. Loyal users of TurboTax objected this year when Intuit Corp. tried product activation with this year's version of the tax-preparation software.

Some customers complained that the change made it more difficult to prepare tax returns because it allowed them to print only from the computer on which the software was installed. Others were suspicious that the new program might undermine their privacy, and complained that the software installed components that remained on their hard drives even after the product was uninstalled.

Intuit backed down and says it does not plan to include product activation in future versions of TurboTax. "We learned a lot about how our customers use our product," said Scott Gulbransen, a spokesman for Intuit. "One thing we learned is that they need more flexibility."

Whether Norton users accept the anti-virus program's product activation feature or not depends largely on how Symantec puts it into effect, analysts said.

Under Symantec's plan, users will have to reactivate their copies of Norton AntiVirus when they replace their computer or make major computer upgrades, such as a replacing a hard drive or motherboard. Users will be permitted to activate a single copy of Norton AntiVirus 2004 as many as five times.

Symantec thinks the requirement is unobtrusive enough that customers shouldn't mind, as they did with TurboTax. Symantec tested a version of the activation process on 40,000 copies of Norton AntiVirus 2003 this year and received "no major complaints," Smith said.




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[bellgamin]

Users will be permitted to activate a single copy of Norton AntiVirus 2004 as many as five times.

Wow, Symantec is sooo generous. This sort of thing never stops the real pirates. It merely provides a gross inconvenience to paying customers -- not to mention a breach of privacy.

There are lots of great AVs out there. Why mess with NAV under these conditions?

[skyman]

NAV, according to the tests, is the best antivirus software out there...

People hear this and their advertising states this and when a computer user reads or hears about it, this is where they go.

Symantec has a lot of money at stake and although people get paranoid about privacy, etc. think about it...

How many people do you know that have given their NAV disk
to others to download a FREE copy...

I don't blame them for trying to protect their investment.

[Rowdy1]

I would have no problem with the activation requirement or even RIAA going after people who are sharing thousands of music files if the money that they are supposedly protecting was routed back down as true savings to the consumers who are being inconvenienced by the activation requirement.
So Microsoft, protected millions and millions of their dollars by requiring that we activate Windows and Office XP, so how did that help me the consumer that still has to pay a huge amount of money for the product. Just maybe we all need to protect OUR money by no paying the outrageous prices for Microsoft products that constantly crash and are full of security holes causing us to waste our time applying security patches every time you turn around.

[bellgamin]

Originally posted by skyman:
NAV, according to the tests, is the best antivirus software out there...

No offense, skyman, but please provide links to any tests you know of that show NAV as being "the best."

Here are some tests showing that NAV is a good AV, but by NO means "the best." I can list many more, if needed...
Here's one

another

another

another

NAV is a VERY good AV. I didn't say otherwise. However, while it may be *among* the best, NAV is demonstratably NOT *the best*.

The proof of this is in (1) actual tests [I listed some above] and (2) comments from unhappy users & former users of NAV. You can search for & read LOTS of those...

at DSLR

Bottom line -- since NAV is not the best or only choice, why put up with a limit of being unable to use it after only 5 modifications to your computer? There are lots of equal or better choices that do not place such an inconvenient & potentially expensive limitation.

[prospect]

This is all B.S. 5 times

[skyman]

bellgamin,

You have obviously done your homework on antivirus programs.

Perhaps I got too loose when I said that NAV was the "best" out there.

I should have said that NAV is the best out there that you can buy at Staples or Office Max, which is the place that the average computer user goes to get their software.

The average computer user turns to the commercial outlets to find out what is good for him and PcWorld, rates NAV better than all the other commercial antivirus programs available.

The stats you show on other programs are impressive but I doubt that the average computer user will ever discover them.

If you only had a choice between McAfee and Norton, which one would you chose?

Again, your research is great and may make me switch...

[prospect]

I wonder who I like. I can't believe that McAffee out scored Norton
on the second link. The first one I couldn't read it.

[Bvr01Fvr]

Originally posted by prospect:
I can't believe that McAffee out scored Norton
on the second link.

Is McAffee still kicking? Time to put them out of their misery don'tcha think?

I did my own survey and Humbdidledee is the best anti-virus software of them all because I say so!

[bellgamin]

Here's another thread about NAV

If your computer is fast, with plenty RAM, then KAV is good for BOTH AT & AV.

If your computer is slow, & low RAM, like mine, then a good combo is...

NOD32 [for AV] + BOClean [for AT]

shaloha......bellissimo

[starman2002]

2004 will be the year people that use Norton AV will finally decide they've had enough and find another av program.

[dobhar]

Have been using NAV for years and have been quite happy with their AV.

I also use BOClean for my AT and have been using this product ever since I bought 4.04 many years ago. I have been getting free upgrades since I bought it and am now up to version 4.11.

Just my 2 cents...

[bellgamin]

Originally posted by dobhar:
I also use BOClean for my AT and have been using this product ever since I bought 4.04 many years ago. I have been getting free upgrades since I bought it and am now up to version 4.11.

3 questions about BOClean [2 serious questions; 1 question in jest]

Q1- Does the Usage Agreement for your BOClean specify for HOW LONG your updates/upgrades will go on?

Q2- Has BOClean ever spotted any nasties on your machine?

Q3 [in jest]- Has BOClean actually helped to clear up your BO?

shaloha.......bellgamin

[dobhar]

(1) I first bought Version 4.04 on 11/13/1999 and have been gettng free upgrades for almost 4 years. I don't know what the agreement was back then but the agreement now is for 3 years.

(2) Yes, it has twice and that was a couple years ago. I also use a trojan tester called "Trojan Simulator" that I downloaded to test BO to make sure it's working...it is simular to the ECIAR test. It can be found at http://www.misec.net/trojansimulator

(3) And finally yes...I never smelled better...

[bellgamin]

Thanks dobhar. $39 for 3 years is a super good bargain.

Because my computer is old & slow [233 Mhz], I now use an anti-trojan program that runs *on-demand* only.

On the other hand, BOClean is a real-time monitor, right? Do you have any idea of how much of an impact BOclean has on your computer's system resources? Based on what I have learned from you, I would like to switch to BOclean when my present AntiTrojan license expires... IF it won't bring my aging box to its knees.

Any info you can provide will be greatly appreciated.

aloha from Hawaii......bellgamin