From The Naked PC issue #5.02...

Norton AntiVirus: Resolving Subscription Problems and Upgrading to Version 2002 - Part 3

by Lee Hudspeth
January 17, 2002

In this article I conclude all the open issues raised in parts 1 and 2. Here's my supplemental page for the links:
http://www.TheNakedPC.com/t/502/tr.cgi?lee1

* Customer Service subscriptions department phone number always busy (800-441-7234).

As reported in part 2, Symantec has explained why it happened and tells us what they have done to correct that problem; in my tests a few weeks ago the number rang and answered. But it's busy again as of the date of this writing (January 16, 2002). An email about this to Symantec's PR department brought this response: they reiterate the unprecedented growth in customer interest in their 2002 consumer products along with record subscription renewal levels, and advise that they've added agents to increase capacity and are now adding additional phone lines to their North American customer service and technical support center, among other improvements. They recommend that if you do receive a busy signal, try calling back at a later time. "Certain times of day and days of the week (Mondays, for example) tend to be busier than others." (Folks, I'm simply passing along what I've been told.)

* NAV 2002 failed to register me during installation.

This has turned out to be an unanswerable question. In fairness to Symantec, there's not much they can do for me specifically without setting up the PC in question in a lab somewhere and trying to re-create the circumstances, and that's not practical. During my tests both the installer's built-in auto-registration feature failed and the main program's built-in registration feature failed, so I had to connect to the Web site manually and register that way, which worked. I noted this in the "ease of use" table by marking NAV 2002 "Failed" for the "Easy to automatically register on-line during installation?" criterion. It's in Symantec's hands to put the necessary attention on improving NAV's registration behavior.

* LiveUpdate subscription problems.

Heather Hass, Symantec Public Relations Specialist, and a technical support engineer have provided the following explanation of recent improvements to address subscription problems. "On November 5, 2001, Symantec launched a new subscription services Web site. This updated site features an interactive subscription troubleshooter that can be found here."
http://www.TheNakedPC.com/t/502/tr.cgi?lee2

"This troubleshooter [asks customers] specific questions that help define the issue. The ultimate resolution matches with the answers provided. This personalized approach simplifies the process for customers and ensures a targeted solution. Symantec has also updated the subscription client [to keep subscription information] on a server for all subscription customers [previously the data was kept on the customer's PC]. The updated client is available to customers via LiveUpdate. This change-over is more reliable and will result in better usability."

That's the official word. In my experience using the Web-based troubleshooter, it worked reasonably well as an interface to a large, complex knowledge base. It turns out that no knowledge base article addresses my particular problems--see parts 1 and 2- -in which case the troubleshooter takes me to "stage four: contact symantec" where I can choose between free online support or fee-based phone support. As previously reported, using free online support yielded a response that included the aforementioned Customer Service subscriptions department phone number. Your mileage may vary. If you want to provide feedback to Symantec about the troubleshooter or any other matter, go here:
http://www.TheNakedPC.com/t/502/tr.cgi?lee3

The new server-side subscription data model is called LiveSubscribe. When your LiveUpdate component automatically rolls itself over to LiveSubscribe (has already happened for me and--I suspect--most of you), that can take as many as five update cycles. Symantec explains the multiple cycles are a one-time experience required to correctly roll over to the new model; afterwards the multiple cycles won't recur. If it were my show I would have sent out a bulk email--separate from any ongoing opt- in newsletter so that the message would stand out--to all opt-in customers informing them of the impending multi-update cycle experience, why it's required, the benefits, etc.

Tip: to determine if your PC is using the new LiveSubscribe model, search for IraLrShl.exe; anything 2.0 or above is LiveSubscribe (I have v2.1.0.1419), anything less than 2.0 means you're still in LiveUpdate mode. If you're below 2.0 then do a LiveUpdate (it'll do the 1-5 cycles to update to LiveSubscribe); this is the preferred method since you'll also be getting other component updates. If necessary, you can use this link to download the latest version of the IraLrShl.exe installer (Lrsetup.exe):
http://www.TheNakedPC.com/t/502/tr.cgi?lee4

* How to get an extension in the case of a premature subscription expiration.

As I reported in part 1, in October of 2001 my copy of NAV 2001 expired while showing 275 days remaining on my subscription. At the time, I couldn't find my purchase information so I didn't know if the subscription was really expired or not, but I was confused by the "275 days remaining" counter. Symantec explained to me that in the case where a customer has lost her/his paperwork, and feels they are owed an extension, their procedure is as follows: run LiveUpdate until no more updates occur and you're in LiveSubscribe mode, call Customer Service subscriptions department phone number 800-441-7234 and explain you've lost your paperwork, approximate when you bought your current version, and they will append the appropriate number of days to your subscription. The final resolution for me was that I kept looking and eventually found my paperwork: my copy of NAV 2001 had legitimately expired on October 30, 2001, one year from the purchase date, so I was not owed an extension by Symantec.

When all else fails, try this: completely uninstall whatever version of NAV you're using and re-install from scratch. Several TNPCers have kindly written in to share that this scorched-earth tip has worked well for them.

As for me jumping ship, not yet; I continue to use NAV 2002. So far I haven't found any competitor's features compelling enough to warrant switching. I will continue reporting on other popular anti-virus products in my "Evaluating Anti-virus Software for Ease of Use" series (see the supplemental page link provided at the top of this article) so you can decide which product best meets your needs.

You can reach Lee Hudspeth at:
mailto:LeeHudspeth@TheNakedPC.com

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