Why do Curry's/Dell do this?

Just got a Dell mini Inspiron netbook (very good). But it comes with Norton Internet Security pre-installed (one month free) and the deal from Curry's Digital gives you a cut-price subscription to Norton 360 v3.0. So they clearly need to do a bit of communicating! Be warned anyone buying from Curry's to ask for a cheap deal on the program that's actually installed on the netbook, otherwise the joy of uninstalling one and reinstalling another Norton product will be yours.

In reply to a post by GeoffB:

Just got a Dell mini Inspiron netbook (very good). But it comes with Norton Internet Security pre-installed (one month free) and the deal from Curry's Digital gives you a cut-price subscription to Norton 360 v3.0. So they clearly need to do a bit of communicating! Be warned anyone buying from Curry's to ask for a cheap deal on the program that's actually installed on the netbook, otherwise the joy of uninstalling one and reinstalling another Norton product will be yours.

Their so called *discounts* are laughable anyway - just check the prices on amazon etc and you'll see how much more currys are charging.

First thing I do with any new PC is to remove all the crudware bundled in. But I feel sorry for users who don't know how to do this and probably feel forced into subscribing to the likes of Norton just to get rid of the pop up messages.

In reply to a post by keith_thfc:

But I feel sorry for users who don't know how to do this and probably feel forced into subscribing to the likes of Norton just to get rid of the pop up messages.

Or who aren't aware of alternatives (or simply can't be bothered to consider any)...

Packard Bell do that.Spent hours cleaning all the 'rubbish' off it.

Edited by deleted (Thu 27-Aug-09 11:37:43)

Yea, Packard Bell and HP/Compaq are the worst for bundling :/

In reply to a post by GeoffB:

Just got a Dell mini Inspiron netbook (very good). But it comes with Norton Internet Security pre-installed (one month free) and the deal from Curry's Digital gives you a cut-price subscription to Norton 360 v3.0. So they clearly need to do a bit of communicating! Be warned anyone buying from Curry's to ask for a cheap deal on the program that's actually installed on the netbook, otherwise the joy of uninstalling one and reinstalling another Norton product will be yours.

Hi, I would like one too! For your nice new Dell mini Inspiron netbook, keep the link handy the only way to remove Symantec hogware. It worked for me!

Norton Removal Tool http://service1.symantec.com/Support/tsgeninfo.nsf/d...

Follow the on-screen instructions.

Your computer may be restarted more than once, and you may be asked to repeat some steps after the computer restarts.

Edited by deleted (Thu 27-Aug-09 11:45:06)

I think pretty much every PC manufacturer does it to some degree: Packard Bell, Acer, HP/Compaq, even Dell - though I noticed recently that Dell do now give the option of no pre-installed A/V on PCs/laptops.

In fairness, it's a bit of a catch-22 for them. On the one hand, they've often been criticised for selling PCs with no protection (and so leaving the ignorant masses vulnerable to all the nasties on the 'Net); then, when they start bundling A/V with their kit, it always seems to be one which people don't like for some reason.

I guess we should really be criticising the likes of Norton and McAfee for being such a pig to uninstall and replace with something better!

You'd be much better off buying an old unused version of NIS, the older the cheaper, from Amazon etc. and just using its printed Product Key (not the actual CD software) to reactivate the installed one after 1 month.

It'll still be cheaper than the Curry's cut-price offer on Norton 360 and you won't have any messing about with uninstalling or installing software.

I've been doing this for years for all the family's PCs by buying multi-user versions that can be had about the same price as single user.

In fairness, it's a bit of a catch-22 for them. On the one hand, they've often been criticised for selling PCs with no protection (and so leaving the ignorant masses vulnerable to all the nasties on the 'Net); then, when they start bundling A/V with their kit, it always seems to be one which people don't like for some reason.

The sellers only bundle the crudware because they get commision. That's why you never see anything like AVG free installed.

And they only ever bundle trialware versions, not the full product. And quite often (especially with currys) the customer is misled into thinking that its the full version only to get home and discover otherwise.

Edited by deleted (Thu 27-Aug-09 16:25:13)

In reply to a post by keith_thfc:

And they only ever bundle Trailways versions, not the full product.

HP, for one, bundle full versions of Norton, with limited period licences.

Even so, Norton, for one, lets you upgrade to the latest version whilst you are using an earlier version during its licence period.