sperman Posted May 10, 2011 Share Posted May 10, 2011 I recieved an e-mail today from Norton that they charged my credit card for the automatic renewal of their Antivirus software. The thing is, I never signed up for automatic renewal, and did not authorize the charge. I'm in a chat room with one of their support personnel right now trying to get the charge reversed, but I will never used any Norton product again. All the CS rep wants to do is tell me what a great feature the Automatic Renewal is, because it ensures my protection never lapses. If any of you use Norton, you better check your account settings. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RangerTrace Posted May 10, 2011 Share Posted May 10, 2011 I recieved an e-mail today from Norton that they charged my credit card for the automatic renewal of their Antivirus software. The thing is, I never signed up for automatic renewal, and did not authorize the charge. I'm in a chat room with one of their support personnel right now trying to get the charge reversed, but I will never used any Norton product again. All the CS rep wants to do is tell me what a great feature the Automatic Renewal is, because it ensures my protection never lapses. If any of you use Norton, you better check your account settings. That happended to me too and I didn't mind while I had that PC. Now I have a Mac. I hope it doesn't try to do it again this year since I'm not using their program. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Graham Smith Posted May 10, 2011 Share Posted May 10, 2011 There's a lot of subscription based that does that. In fact, it's right there in the licensing agreement you agreed to if you've got an hour and a good magnifying glass. Here are a couple suggestions if you don't want to have to deal with what has become an overly bloated piece of software that will suck the life out of your computer: If you are running XP, get the full version of AVG. If you check the tech savvy web sites you will find that while other programs may get higher ratings, a lot of professionals use AVG. It's relatively benign (i.e. doesn't interfere with other things) and easy to install and adjust to suit your needs (unlike some of the "better" programs it competes with). If you are running Vista or Win7, download Microsoft Security Essentials. It's free and does a very good job with an extremely low profile. Also get a copy of Microsoft Malicious Software Removal Tool, also free and a good companion product. In either case, also get a copy of Malwarebytes, it's also free and can pick up on couple things the others miss. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DyNo! Posted May 11, 2011 Share Posted May 11, 2011 I don't run anti-virus software and I've gotten about three viruses in a decade, all fixed with three hours and a series of back-up disks after a reformat. You've got to try really hard to get infected sometimes. All anti-virus software does is cost you money and slow your PC down. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LJE Posted May 11, 2011 Share Posted May 11, 2011 I recieved an e-mail today from Norton that they charged my credit card for the automatic renewal of their Antivirus software. The thing is, I never signed up for automatic renewal, and did not authorize the charge. I'm in a chat room with one of their support personnel right now trying to get the charge reversed, but I will never used any Norton product again. All the CS rep wants to do is tell me what a great feature the Automatic Renewal is, because it ensures my protection never lapses. If any of you use Norton, you better check your account settings. I logged into my Norton account to turn off my automatic renewal, and found out I could not. Went to my account info page and deleted my billing information. When the warning box popped up stating the required fields were missing, I closed my browser. Logged back into my account and my billing info had been successfully deleted. Went to automatic renewal again and turned it off, this time it was successful. Hope this helps those having trouble turning off automatic renewal. Larry Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sperman Posted May 11, 2011 Author Share Posted May 11, 2011 I'm running Windows 7. Thanks for the advice on software to try. When I get back from Barry I'll deal with trying to uninstall NAV. The credit card they had on file had expired. Because I had renewed the card the only thing that had changed was the expiration date and the CCV #. I was still surprised they were able to process the card without updating the information. It amazes me that a company that big is willing to trash it's reputation by resorting to these tactics. After about 15 minutes with the customer service rep in India, they finally issued a refund. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tracker Posted May 11, 2011 Share Posted May 11, 2011 We recently had the same thing happen. They would only agree to refund 50% "but its a great deal.....you can keep the software" WTF????? LAST TIME DEALING WITH THEM Our techie at work has us run spybot, ever try it? Seems to help with spy ware. Rich Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LJE Posted May 12, 2011 Share Posted May 12, 2011 When I get back from Barry I'll deal with trying to uninstall NAV. To completely uninstall NAV, do not use Win 7 (or XP) control panel. Go to the Norton website and download the Norton Removal Tool and run that. This is the only way to completely remove NAV from any windows operating system. Larry Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Graham Smith Posted May 12, 2011 Share Posted May 12, 2011 To completely uninstall NAV, do not use Win 7 (or XP) control panel. Thanks for posting that. It's not the first time I've seen software that cannot be fully uninstalled with the programs own uninstall program. I think that says a lot about the advisability of installing it in the first place. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
benos Posted May 12, 2011 Share Posted May 12, 2011 I recieved an e-mail today from Norton that they charged my credit card for the automatic renewal of their Antivirus software. The thing is, I never signed up for automatic renewal, and did not authorize the charge. I'm in a chat room with one of their support personnel right now trying to get the charge reversed, but I will never used any Norton product again. All the CS rep wants to do is tell me what a great feature the Automatic Renewal is, because it ensures my protection never lapses. If any of you use Norton, you better check your account settings. I logged into my Norton account to turn off my automatic renewal, and found out I could not. Went to my account info page and deleted my billing information. When the warning box popped up stating the required fields were missing, I closed my browser. Logged back into my account and my billing info had been successfully deleted. Went to automatic renewal again and turned it off, this time it was successful. Hope this helps those having trouble turning off automatic renewal. Larry Nice workaround on that! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TimBoettcher Posted May 14, 2011 Share Posted May 14, 2011 Norton is horrible! They encapsulate all files and slow your computer down considerably! I have been using Avira http://www.avira.com/en/avira-free-antivirus for over three years and have had no issues. Make sure you delete all Norton folders out of your PC if your going to switch! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wgnoyes Posted May 21, 2011 Share Posted May 21, 2011 (edited) I don't run anti-virus software and I've gotten about three viruses in a decade, all fixed with three hours and a series of back-up disks after a reformat. You've got to try really hard to get infected sometimes. All anti-virus software does is cost you money and slow your PC down. What?!??! Damn Cameron, you don't ever get to work stats in MY computer room! No seriously, it's a whole lot easier than you think to pick up creeping crud, and it doesn't have to be just you browsing somewhere you shouldn't. It can come in from a friend's computer being infested and sending out virus-laden emails to everyone on their address book. You receive it, you get infected, and YOUR machine starts spreading it to everyone in your address book, and at that point, it becomes YOUR responsibility. Got any personal data on your machine? SSN's? CC#'s? Those can get lifted too, and then your credit and life is ruined for years. Get an AV system. I don't care what you get; just please get SOMETHING! Edited May 21, 2011 by wgnoyes Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wgnoyes Posted May 21, 2011 Share Posted May 21, 2011 I recieved an e-mail today from Norton that they charged my credit card for the automatic renewal of their Antivirus software. ... I can't imagine this happening if you just buy the box at a store and install that way. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DyNo! Posted May 22, 2011 Share Posted May 22, 2011 (edited) and at that point, it becomes YOUR responsibility. Got any personal data on your machine? SSN's? CC#'s? Those can get lifted too, and then your credit and life is ruined for years. That's true - I didn't consider that I don't have any sensitive data on my machine since it's just for fun and games when school is not in session. If you've got our credit card info and ID on your PC; I hope you do have some safeguards! Carry on... Edited May 22, 2011 by DyNo! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wgnoyes Posted May 23, 2011 Share Posted May 23, 2011 You sure you don't have anything on your system? Name? Address? Contacts list? Email address of friends? That's all personal data, and people want that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Classic_jon Posted May 23, 2011 Share Posted May 23, 2011 I don't run anti-virus software and I've gotten about three viruses in a decade, all fixed with three hours and a series of back-up disks after a reformat. You've got to try really hard to get infected sometimes. All anti-virus software does is cost you money and slow your PC down. The last time I heard a statement like that was the *third* time a customer brought his PC back in because it was "slow." Each time he had uninstalled the antivirus software I installed and had gotten infected. There are a lot of things you can get from websites just by going to them if you don't have antivirus or antimalware protection. A malformed Helo connection is a good example of such a "drive by" infection. Take a look at http://www.microsoft.com/technet/security/bulletin/ms10-049.mspx for a good example. If you want to run without Anti-virus then when you get infected (not if, when) then you will have to deal with it and the repercussions. Personally, I have accepted that antivirus is a necessity if you are going to be on the internet and I live with it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flatland Shooter Posted May 23, 2011 Share Posted May 23, 2011 (edited) I recieved an e-mail today from Norton that they charged my credit card for the automatic renewal of their Antivirus software. ... I can't imagine this happening if you just buy the box at a store and install that way. The problem with buying the box is the software itself (not just the virus lists) is out-dated by the time it hits the store. And in the case of Bit Defender, their money back warranty is only valid if you buy it directly from them. Might be the same way with Norton products. Bill Edited May 23, 2011 by Flatland Shooter Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wgnoyes Posted May 24, 2011 Share Posted May 24, 2011 The problem with buying the box is the software itself (not just the virus lists) is out-dated by the time it hits the store. ... So then you simply run norton update and get the latest maintenance, both av signatures AND the code itself. You don't need to give them a cc number for that, just establish an online account with them, which you have to do anyway to register and activate the product. When (current generation example) NIS 2011 gives way to 2012 in the stores and your 1 year subscription runs out, its just as cost-effective then to uninstall 2011 and install a new 2012 from the box. And if you've got multiple systems, they have pretty decently priced 3 & 5-seat offerings available. Norton seems to get a lot of bad press around here, and I don't think it's justified. Since 2009, it has run well, unobtrusively, and fast in the background on my machines. But my appraisal here extends only to NAV and NIS. Norton 360 is what the old Norton Utilities evolved into, and THAT one has all the additional monitors and overhead that claims to want to help with maintaining your operating system and registry database, and that is what drags your system down in performance. NAV and NIS are fine. 360? Pass. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sperman Posted May 24, 2011 Author Share Posted May 24, 2011 I haven't had any complaints with the Norton product. But I refuse to be a costumer of a company who does business this way. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WhiskeyFoy Posted May 25, 2011 Share Posted May 25, 2011 I did desktop support for over 6 years before my current job and honestly Norton, Trend, McAfee.. All of them are "good" but honestly not great. Its like when Tommy boy was selling break pads and the one gruffy old man wanted a Guarantee on the box.. "You can get a good look at a steak by sticking you head up a Cows A** but wouldn't you just want to take the butchers word for it?"... They eat up more computer resources than needed and still allow viruses to get through. Best product I have came across is Malwarebytes. Its free to download and run manually. You can also spend 30 bucks for the unlocked version and with that it does an even finer search and you can set up a schedule for it to run a full or partial scan. That mixed with a decent knowledge of sites to steer clear from you should be golden. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kevin Holman Posted May 25, 2011 Share Posted May 25, 2011 (edited) There's a lot of subscription based that does that. In fact, it's right there in the licensing agreement you agreed to if you've got an hour and a good magnifying glass. Here are a couple suggestions if you don't want to have to deal with what has become an overly bloated piece of software that will suck the life out of your computer: If you are running XP, get the full version of AVG. If you check the tech savvy web sites you will find that while other programs may get higher ratings, a lot of professionals use AVG. It's relatively benign (i.e. doesn't interfere with other things) and easy to install and adjust to suit your needs (unlike some of the "better" programs it competes with). If you are running Vista or Win7, download Microsoft Security Essentials. It's free and does a very good job with an extremely low profile. Also get a copy of Microsoft Malicious Software Removal Tool, also free and a good companion product. In either case, also get a copy of Malwarebytes, it's also free and can pick up on couple things the others miss. Everything you need to know about antivirus and malware, this man just said. It's free, it doesnt slow your computer down, and it works. Edited May 25, 2011 by Kevin Holman Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spanky Posted July 28, 2011 Share Posted July 28, 2011 I'd imagine the auto renew was an opt-out and not opt-in. Ive been using microsoft's free security essentials with pretty good success http://www.microsoft.com/security_essentials Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wgnoyes Posted July 28, 2011 Share Posted July 28, 2011 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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