Norton Antivirus: Activation is Seriously Broken

Norton Antivirus: Activation is Seriously Broken

Written By
Loyd Case
Loyd Case
Nov 24, 2003
1 minute read
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Once a loyal customer of Norton Antivirus, Loyd has switched to a competitor. Why? Because Nortons activation scheme breaks too frequently, leaving his computer at risk.

Putting Customers at Risk

Until a couple of years ago, Id never been much of a user of antivirus software. Mostly, it was because I had been lucky. After getting a broadband connection and finding a worm on my home network, though, I decided it was time to bite the bullet.

PC Magazine has always rated Norton Antivirus [NAV] highly, so I bought it for the first time back in 2002. Actually, I bought Symantecs Norton SystemWorks 2002, but eventually unloaded everything except the antivirus software. It worked great. It was unobtrusive, mostly compatible with the PC games I used, and saved my bacon several times as various e-mail viruses made the rounds. Later, I upgraded to the 2003 version — mostly so I could get rid of the remaining detritus left behind by SystemWorks.

As my one-year virus definitions subscription drew to a close, it was only natural to upgrade to the 2004 version.

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