TL's Pissed off at Symantec & Needs HELP!!

[Timber Loftis]

Program causing the problem is Norton AntiVirus - for WinXP. Now, I've been using Norton products to de-bug my computer since before Windows was available.

But, the newest version of AntiVirus has me irked. It comes with a 1yr subscription to the website for virus updates - fine. But, once that subscription runs out, I get a DAILY POP-UP SPAM REMINDER TO RENEW!!!! [img]graemlins/1pissed.gif[/img]

Now, just today I contacted their legal dept. I think this is illegal in that it violates truth-in-advertising laws (I thought I was buying a *program* not a renewable annoying internet service subscription - and the box did not tell me I'd have this issue) as well as anti-spam legislation (spam does not have to come in the form of an email, IMO, it can also be a cookie in a program).

That said, I'm wondering if anyone has thoughts on this issue. MORE IMPORTANTLY, I wonder if anyone knows how to deactivate the pop-up reminder. For some reason, the AntiVirus my office uses allows you to set it to a 7-day reminder, but mine at home only allows for reminders every single damned day. Symantec says you cannot deactivate this "service." Any PC gurus out there know better - there's just gotta be an .exe file I can kill.

HELP???!!!!

[Rokenn]

I'd poke around in the registry, you may find a key for it there.

[andrewas]

There is an exe you can kill, but youd also kill the whole program, so theres not a whole lot of point to it.

Registry key sounds good, but tracking it down would be a pain. Also, I dont think norton has one, or at least dosent use it right, because of the following trick:

Uninstall norton
Reinstall norton

No more popup. Ive never done it myself - it is not entirely legal I think, and more importantly my norton hasnt expired yet. But I hsaw it on this very forum, so its probably worth a shot.

[Larry_OHF]

I know that WinXP is different than Win98...but the principle is still there. I was able to deactivate an annoying pop-up program called Save...by typing in msconfig into the run prompt. That brought up a manager that allowed me to desigante what things would be allowed to boot up with the turning on of my machine. The deal was...if I removed it...it would have made my program that it is connected to disabled. So...I left the Save spam in there...I just told it never to come on! Yeah! That has helped me. Other than that...I would not know what to do.

[Djinn Raffo]

look in

C:\documents and settings\all users\application data\symantec\live subscribe

in that folder is a file called catalog. Now what you need to do is replace that file with one from someone whose subscribe date ends a year from now or at a later date..

probably not technically legal.. but its a workaround and it works. find someone else who uses norton and get their catalog file from them. just overwrite the one in that folder with the new one you get.

[Larry_OHF]

Hmmm...I'd a never thought of that one, Djinn! I learn so much from you guys every day! I should write a "how to" book.

[Rokenn]

well if we are getting illegal I'm sure you could find a crack on a warez site [img]graemlins/hidesbehindsofa.gif[/img]

[Timber Loftis]

Originally posted by Djinn Raffo: look in C:\documents and settings\all users\application data\symantec\live subscribe in that folder is a file called catalog. Now what you need to do is replace that file with one from someone whose subscribe date ends a year from now or at a later date.. probably not technically legal.. but its a workaround and it works. find someone else who uses norton and get their catalog file from them. just overwrite the one in that folder with the new one you get.

I like this solution, Djinn - plus it's the one I understand most (not being a techie [img]graemlins/readingbook.gif[/img] ) Anyone have the file he's mentioned or know of another way to deactivate.

As far as legal - you gotta be kidding me. It is absolutely legal to edit a program I bought and paid for so that it behaves the way I want it to.

[Night Stalker]

TL

You don't even need the Live subscription. You can download the dat files directly, you just have to remember to do it. I believe you can uninstall the Live Update from System Works and still leave the rest running.

And about this question of legality, when did MY machine become the property of every software dev shop in the world? I underdstand content developers concern over unauthorized distribution, but as long as I am not distributing or reverse engineering to plagarize, what is mine, is mine!

[Timber Loftis]

Night Stalker, I think NAV has its own subscription reminder separate from live update. And, last time I tried to download the update, it told me my subscription was expired.

I agree on your attitude toward your machine, of course.