Office 2003 Norton and Vaio

[dani2xll]

when my vista starts it auto pop's up with norton internet security and asks if i want to install it. I dont want to. How do i stop this popping up?

My laptop also came with an armful of stuff that i dont use including Office 2003. I have bought Office 2007. Am i right in my assumption that Office 2003, Norton and the rest are just trials? It would be useful to know as i dont see the point of installing trials. Can i just remove them using add/remove from control panel?

[rich912]

Hi dani2xll,

Yes they are both trials.

Have a look at this thread re removing Norton from your system.

[davemee]

They get paid for every bit of 'trial' software they ship.

It's the only way you can shift software as appaling as norton... I hate the amount of drivelware they install, as it takes me a few days to remove it cleanly and be sure that it's not screwed the rest of the system up. I wish they'd extend this thinking to other endeavours; they could sell sandwiches pre-installed with a dead rat, or toothpaste pre-installed with broken glass.

[rich912]

They get paid for every bit of 'trial' software they ship.

True, but that is marketing for you and Sony are not alone on this. I guess that you would have been prepared to pay more for your machine without the trial programs installed?

[davemee]

It's an interesting poing you raise, Rich. When I first got the machine, before I could use it, I had to spend around 2 days backing up the system (to save the cost of an OEM license allowing sony to ship OS cds with the machine), then uninstalling the crud, making sure it was gone, etc etc. I'd say this is a good 1-2 days' work if handled properly. In this case, my cost (if treated at billable hours) works out around 25% the cost of the machine. I'd rather pay 10% more and not get the trash preinstalled, *and* have proper OS restore disks. The penny pinching on sony's part saves the user in the very short term, but costs much more in the long term. A problem I have at the minute is going to require a complete reinstall of my system and software, a few day's work, because I can't boot into vista's repair mode with the minimal OEM OS license I have on this machine.

I know everyone does it. Doesn't excuse it. Doesn't mean it's anything other than stupid, short-term thinking, and driving your customers away in future so you can make an extra buck now.

[kee-lo_]

Wow am I glad you don't work for any leading Supermarkets....

[dani2xll]

many thanks, used the info above and norton was successfully uninstalled. do i uninstall office via add remove or is there a special route to take as per norton?

[rich912]

I’m pleased to hear that Norton has gone forever

Yes you can uninstall Office 2003 completely via Add/Remove programs or you can upgrade to Office 2007. I personally would uninstall 2003 and do a clean install of 2007 – upgrades, in my experience, can be glitchy…

[jumbles1971]

If you uninstall the Office 2003 Trial does it leave the hidden folder (MSOCache) in the root of the C drive? It's 222MB on my computer so if you've uninstalled the Office 2003 Trial it might be worth looking to see if it's still there.

[dani2xll]

i've uninstalled office and i dont see that file you mentioned on the root folder.