Symantec Adds Product Activation

maliabu writes "GlobeTechnology/CNET reports that Symantec has added an antipiracy technology to the new version of its main virus-zapping program, in the form of compulsory product activation. It is intended to protect consumers from widespread counterfeit copies of Symantec programs. The company estimates at least 3.6 million bogus copies of its programs are sold annually, causing headaches both for Symantec and unsuspecting buyers, who find out too late that the software isn't doing the job."

Comments

Need antivirus?

[w.p.richardson]

Check this out!

Symantec antivirus for home use is bloated as hell and has required yearly "subscriptions" for some time now. When that nonsense started, I bailed. Antivirus software should at the very least offer free updates to the virus definition files, given the havoc that these things have been causing of late.

Re:That's the standard

[PaschalNee]

>(and yes, I know it's technically virii)
The plural of virus is neither viri nor virii, nor even vira nor virora. It is quite simply viruses, irrespective of context. Here's why.

Avast

[yarisbandit]

Er, freeware anyone? Try avast for example - it's free for home (desktop) use, and has free definition updates as long as ye register.

I personally can't see what extra features would make me fork out on a costly alternative, that i can only install on one machine due to product activation, even though i have more that one pc at home...

So use AVG

[Zog The Undeniable]

Get it here. It's free for non-commercial use, even if the interface is a bit baroque. But so is Norton's.

Re:What about OEM and Corporate versions.

[cmdrbuzz]

Read the article.
Home i.e. NON CORPORATE products will require activation.

Best anti-virus is free

[WildBeast]

AVG Antivirus is pretty good, got automatic updates and it's free for personal use.

You Only Get 5 Activations with NAV 2K3!

[volpone]

I was a Norton AntiVirus user for several years. I bought my first NAV copy back in 1997. I loved it, paid yearly for the virus def. subscription, and upgraded three times, most recently to NAV 2003.

NAV 2003 turned out to be a dog. It took 4 installs & activations before it worked properly on my Win 98 box.

A month later, I replaced my Win 98 box with a P4 box with Win XP. I installed & activated NAV 2003, which failed. I uninstalled and reinstalled it, then tried to activate it. I was informed (by Symantec's web site) that I had exceeded the maximum number of installs and was politely asked to purchase another license.

Three phone calls to Symantec tech support were useless. They repeatedly told me that this was Symantec's policy and absolutely refused to give me more installs FOR THE PROGRAM I BOUGHT FROM THEM. (Not from a store, but from Symantec's Web site itself!)

I just bought MacAfee's product earlier this week. To hell with Symantec and all of their crap.

Free virus scanners

[celerityfm]

So far we've seen people mention Grisoft's AVG (which I use at home), Avast, and even F-prot for DOS - but I haven't seen anyone mention this yet

Housecall - online virus scanner-- got someone who thinks they have a virus? Just send em to this site, while it doesn't prevent viruses, it will tell you if any show up! Its good in a pinch, and if you think your current virus scanner might be missing something.