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The Price Is Right

By Jacob Cohen | January 20, 2005

I recently decided to purchase anti-virus software for my three home computers (well, two are mine, one is my wife’s). The top contenders were, naturally, McAfee VirusScan 9.0, and Norton AntiVirus 2005.

I looked at McAfee’s VirusScan first, and was a bit disappointed with McAfee’s Web Site. The primary question in my mind was “what is it going to cost me to set this up for all three of my computers?” Sadly, after scanning their web site for about twenty minutes, I was unable to find the end user license agreement (EULA) or any terms of use, or anything that told me whether I would have to buy a copy for each computer.

I ended up sending a question to their customer service, who replied that I would indeed need to purchase a copy for each computer, and forwarded a copy of the EULA. I later discovered that the EULA is available in their frequently asked questions (FAQ) section under the “Installation” category in their customer service website. I would have preferred a direct link from the product information instead of having to guess where this is located. I had even checked the FAQ in the “Purchasing” category, but that did not contain this item.

So that was a bit disappointing. $45 for each computer, plus maintaining an annual subscription for each. I decided to see what Norton had to offer with their AntiVirus 2005 software.

I viewed the product information for Norton AntiVirus, and noticed a link to a related product, the Norton AntiVirus 2005 Home Protection Pack. What is this? I clicked on the link and discovered that they offer a package that lets you install the software on up to three computers, and for less than what McAfee would charge for only two of my computers! This is great. I applaud Norton for anticipating what customers will want and making it easy to find. It only took me about fifteen seconds to proceed to buying this product after I had found it.

I can only wish that more companies were focused on what the customer wants, and not how they can make the most money.

Topics: General |

One Response to “The Price Is Right”

  1. nobody Says:
    March 4th, 2007 at 2:49 am

    Avast!

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