From TNPC issue #4.24...

Norton AntiVirus: Resolving Subscription Problems and Upgrading to Version 2002

by Lee Hudspeth
November 29, 2001

About a month ago my Norton AntiVirus 2001 subscription service mysteriously and unexpectedly expired, while showing 275 days left. I'll spare you the tedious history of all the tricks I tried, including the time-honored swinging a rubber chicken around my head while hopping up and down on one foot. I read all the relevant knowledge base articles, followed all the procedures (some of which didn't precisely match my particulars, but you know that drill)... sigh. With an expired subscription, I was not able to get daily virus definition updates. When I tried calling the 800 number for Symantec's subscription services group, all I got was a busy signal (twice on two different days and at different times).

I knew from long experience that a "scorched earth" approach was the only way to solve my problem. For those of you who find yourselves in similar circumstances, I hope my working notes help you get your own anti-virus services working again. (These notes are also a good roadmap to upgrading your anti-virus software.)

1. Bought a copy of the latest Norton Antivirus 2002 ("NAV 2002") at a local software superstore.

2. Kept the NAV 2002 box, to which is affixed the UPC sticker. This sticker--the original, not a photocopy--is REQUIRED in order to get the mail-in $20 rebate. The sticker also includes the product serial number that I later discover I needed registering online. (Keeping the box's UPC sticker is a good tip for *any* software product you buy.)

3. Backed up the affected system.

4. Verified that the PC's emergency disk worked.

5. Completely uninstalled the previous version (NAV 2001 version 7). When the uninstaller finished, it reported that some elements could not be removed, so I clicked the Details button on that dialog box. I screen captured information about the five open elements, paste the screen shots into a WordPad document, and printed it as a checklist. A reboot eliminated all of the open elements. However, the folder C:\Program Files\Norton AntiVirus\Quarantine still existed, containing two zero-byte files. I manually deleted these files and the two folders, and continued.

6. Installed NAV 2002. (Soapbox on) This may sound like a statement of the obvious, but I find that being in a hurry when installing software is the SINGLE most dangerous thing you can do. Typically, I'll miss some subtle requirement that renders the install completely useless, and I have to uninstall and start all over again. So, even though I have performed thousands and thousands of installs in my career, I always take the time to scan the User's Guide "Install" chapter for notes and caveats, and I always carefully read the text on each dialog box the installer presents to me. In this case, there was a big "gotcha" waiting at the end. The dialog box that announced in large bold type "Norton AntiVirus 2002 has been successfully installed" also included--in teensy weensy type--the text, "WARNING: If the Norton AntiVirus CD is in your CD-ROM drive, remove it before restarting your computer." Folks, most packages don't ask you to remove the CD. People are creatures of habit and if I hadn't been careful, I would have left the CD in the drive. NAV's designers should either modify the installer to not require the customer to do something non-standard, or they should put the warning text in a separate dialog in the same large, bold font as the text that announces a successful install. (Soapbox off)

7. On reboot, NAV 2002's Information Wizard was not able to send my registration data over the Internet. It didn't report why, just that it couldn't. I had two options: try using NAV's Help, Product Registration feature or go to the Web site. When I skipped the Wizard's registration process--due to its failure--I then accepted the defaults on all the post-install tasks and configuration settings. (Note: later the Help, Product Registration feature failed to register me, so I had to go online and fill out some forms, which worked. Go figure.)

Then the LiveUpdate tool ran, and it got stuck on the same process that was causing problems with NAV 2001: Confirming Subscription Status. After an interminable six minutes, the program figured out that I was "okay" and let me do a live update.

Next the Rescue Disk tool ran and created a six-floppy rescue set (although this PC has an Iomega Zip 250 drive attached, I skipped the Zip Rescue option). I tested the rescue set's boot floppy; after all, why bother to create a rescue set if you don't test it!

After a successful test of the boot floppy and a reboot, NAV 2002 began a system-wide scan. Oddly enough, it got stuck scanning one particular--known to be uninfected--file so I had to abort the Wizard-induced full system scan and manually restart it. This time the scan finished.

8. I followed the steps in my previously published article that describe the optimal settings for any anti-virus package.
http://www.TheNakedPC.com/t/424/tr.cgi?lee1

9. I performed a test using the publicly available EICAR test file; NAV 2002 passed.
http://www.TheNakedPC.com/t/424/tr.cgi?lee2

Total time on this entire operation: three and a half hours, and counting. Folks, I'm not happy about the problems I've recently encountered with Norton AntiVirus: premature subscription expiration; INEXCUSABLE busy signal on the subscription services phone number; and the tool's inability to register me with its own built-in registration features. I'm going to be in contact with Symantec about these problems and I'll keep you posted. Meantime, I'm reviewing competing anti-virus products, and will share those reviews with you in future issues too.

Have you had subscription problems with Norton AntiVirus? Have you had upgrade, uninstall, or reinstall problems with Norton AntiVirus? Are you, like me, about ready to jump ship? If so, I'd like to hear from you.

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

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