My mom and Norton

My 88-year old mother recently said her old desktop computer isn’t working and she needs a new one. I’m two hours away, so I can’t really diagnose it and her needs are so minimal, I bought her a new HP desktop for around $400. I’m driving down tomorrow to install it.

In talking with her about what she software she uses, she mentioned that she has a subscription to Norton. My jaw kind of dropped. She said Comcast recommended it! Of course she never consulted me when subscribing once the 90-day trial ran out, and so for at least five years she’s been paying $60 a year for this ‘service.’ (I suggested that since she has not one but two sons who are conversant in computer stuff, she’s best to consult with us first before subscribing to anything).

To make matters more difficult, she has no paperwork, no information about what Norton subscription she paid for, no idea whether her Norton account is attached to her current email address, etc.

Thoughts on a) finding out what the hell she’s paying for [assuming the old rig is in fact dead] and b) deciding whether to put it on her new desktop since she’s paid for it (billed earlier this year, she believes). My thought is to leave it off the new rig, just use Windows Defender, and try to cancel the subscription or at least turn off recurring billing.

Thanks in advance for any advice. My mom is really good about avoiding email scams etc but she trusts in Comcast and thought this was a necessary service.

This is the way.

My Mom and Norton sounds like the next great geeky comedy sitcom.

Not sure how to cancel if I have no info. I guess I can try logging in under her email address?

Or a reality series of people trying to help their elderly parents with computer issues.

If you can’t do a password recovery on any of her known emails, you’ll have to spend a no doubt lovely afternoon on the horn with Norton support probably. Failing that, dispute the charge when it comes up.

If she got it through Comcast, it may billed through them as well.

My first reaction was that it sounds like a feel good late '90 comedy. Diane Keaton plays the mom.

If she’s paying, there must be some kind of charge for it, right? Possibly just tell the credit company to reject those charges.

Definitely just go with windows defender.

Also, another option for old folks:
Chromebooks are an excellent solution for folks who mainly just do browsing, email, etc… they are essentially unbreakable and require no maintenance.

This is a great point that I totally endorse, but probably not of massive utility to someone who just bought his mom a $400 Dell ;)

The only problem with Chromebooks is that their screens almost all suck, and if they encounter a limitation to using them they’ll be basically unable to do anything but spend money to fix it (hire geek squad, ect). Like such and such sent me a Thumb Drive and I can’t get it to load… maybe I should buy a new computer? kinds of questions.

I got my grandmother an iPad but had to take it back because she kept tapping the screen with her nail, not her skin, and it didn’t work, and even reminder her repeatedly did nothing, because that’s what tapping things meant to her. Pretty quickly she gave up even trying to use it and went back the Gateway 2000 era CRT box she understood. She also wrote a lot… by printing out what she wrote in Word, checking it, then retyping and printing it again. She never understood spell checking.

Dealing with Grandparent use cases really has nothing to do with what the thing can do abstractly but what they’re able to do with it. If the screen on the Chromebook is so washed out they can’t see what they’re reading, they won’t tell you the screen sucks… they’ll just assume this is what all laptops are like and stop using them at all.

Oh as to the OP Norton problem… I think that’s just called “Retiree inefficiency”. The time value money you’re going to have to spend to fix it will shock and surprise you. It’s probably one those incredibly annoying but increasingly common old person vampire charges that unless you’re monitoring all he transactions and she’s made you a party to her credit cards ect, are basically unsolvable by people with a day job.

Eventually I got to the point of having a big binder and had every single account of my grandmother with passwords that I choose, and kept monthly reports of her finances and expenses personally. When we had to dispute a credit card charge - I don’t remember what it was now - on an account I didn’t have access to, it was effectively impossible, because they literally wouldn’t even speak to me and she couldn’t even understand the questions they were asking her.

There’s a special hell for the millions of people and thousands of companies that exist to prey on the elderly. Not a lot makes my blood boil like those subhuman pieces of absolute trash.

When COVID hit I got her a Lenovo laptop to do Google meetups with family, and she uses it fine. But she says the screen is hard to read on, and wants to be able to read email and such on a big old monitor. Yes, I could teach her how to hook up the laptop to the monitor, but she has mobility issues etc. Just not worth it. This is simpler, albeit costlier.

Yeah, I’m going to have to go through her bills when I go down there tomorrow and find it. It would probably have a reference number or something. Even if it is too late to get a refund, that would help in trying to cancel going forward.

Dumb question, but have you set it up with larger OS font & browser magnification?

Comcast used to recommend – and I think provide at no cost – the “Norton Online Security” suite. That ended in January when they moved to their own proprietary suite that works with their router.

I don’t know the particulars of how it’s billed, but based on that second link it appears Comcast encouraged people to sign up directly with Norton – so hopefully that process is a little more clear cut/has an email trail. Maybe you’re incredibly lucky and she’s just running an old, no longer active Norton subscription on her PC?

Good luck! This stuff is such a pain.

I thought the same, but it’s for posterity!

Understood.
Also for posterity… I got my parents chromebooks, and they essentially just use them like desktops. They are permanently connected to monitors and keyboards and stuff… but the ChromeOS means that I get a lot fewer calls for assistance, as they tend to just work.

I haven’t, but the other functionality she wants is to print out photos of the grandkids. So that also would involve moving the laptop into the bedroom and connecting to the printer. So thanks – I may do that anyway – but using the laptop alone is not an option.

The other factor is this: getting a new computer is an exciting thing for her. She has little to be excited about, particularly after a year of near total isolation. So even if the laptop was a viable option, this brightens her day (for a relatively measly $400).

Epilogue: my mom found the most recent Norton charge – $90!! – but the bill listed a toll free number. I called, selected ‘cancellation’ as a menu option, got a human being quickly, merged my mom in to the call so she could confirm she wants to cancel, and they cancelled the service with a pro-rated refund of more than $50. They will email her confirming the cancellation of the service and the end of recurring billing. I give them kudos for that level of service, it was easy, took about five minutes!

For future reference if others face this, the Norton number I called was 877-294-5265.

Thanks for everyone’s ideas and guidance.

Out of curiosity, is the general practice amongst the security saavy to not pay for any anti virus services, and just use Defender? I have free Avast on my only computer, but it’s annoying, with their notifications to try and get me to buy their services for cleanup etc, and it always takes time on startup. It would be good to know that anything other than Defender is a waste. Or do you mean, Norton sucks in particular? Or that you know… grannies don’t watch porn, or what?

Wow, that’s great! Always nice when someone beats your expectations.

This is generally my opinion.