Pre-Installed Software Activation Keys

[Andy]

Does anyone know where I can find the activation key for the Norton Internet Security that came pre-installed on my T60?

I was troubleshooting a problem and suspected it might be firewall-related, so I went to Symantec's support site where I found a document recommending I upgrade from the pre-installed Norton Internet Security to the latest version, which looked like a minor upgrade. I clicked the button to proceed and eventually discovered that Norton had merrily uninstalled my existing NIS and installed the new version. Presto, no more 120-day license, on which I had 90 days or so remaining.

Norton started asking for the key to the product but I can't find it. I'm pretty disgusted with Norton for damaging my system like this but I don't really feel like researching alternatives right at the moment and would just as soon defer that task for another couple of months.

Any help appreciated,

[jdhurst]

I agree that they should warn you they are installing a new version; however, it has always been clear to me that the pre-installed version is a very short term license.

You should be able to find the installer for the version that came with your system under a folder like C:\IBMTOOLS. Uninstall what you have, and install / set-up the pre-load version.

If you feel the pre-load is faulty, you just have to buy a new version. However, you machine is new enough that whatever version of NIS is there, you *can* set up the firewall, so the pre-load really should work.
... JDH

[Andy]

I agree that they should warn you they are installing a new version; however, it has always been clear to me that the pre-installed version is a very short term license.

You should be able to find the installer for the version that came with your system under a folder like C:\IBMTOOLS. Uninstall what you have, and install / set-up the pre-load version.

If you feel the pre-load is faulty, you just have to buy a new version. However, you machine is new enough that whatever version of NIS is there, you *can* set up the firewall, so the pre-load really should work.
... JDH

I was aware the pre-installed NIS was limited to 120 days, which I thought was a fairly generous eval license. But I was not happy that their support site took me through an uninstall rather than the "upgrade" which I distinctly remember it saying. OTOH I was quite pressed at the time and it's possible I didn't read everything carefully.

But I really wasn't expecting to have my license reduced from 90 days to 15 through installation of the "upgrade". And Norton seems to count days differently, too -- Thursday it said I had eight days left on the license, and today it expired.

Thanks for the pointer to the pre-installed software folders. I did snoop around a bit but then I remembered this forum and it has already paid off!

The path is C:\SWTOOLS\APPS\NORTONIS. Lenovo has evidently dropped the \IBMTOOLS folder name.

Thanks again!