Unable to promote NOD32 v5 to my customers!

I've been cleaning infected computers for over 10 years and a good portion of those years I'd install NOD32 Trial version using a current a NOD32 Installer I'd have on a CD. I'd tell my customers to try it for the 30 day trial period and if it ran well, purchase the license when it alerted you it was about to expire. Most people would buy NOD32 after the trial period.

Now with NOD32 v5, I can no longer promote it because it requires an Email address to download, install and activate for the 30 day period. I NO NOT feel comfortable asking for my customer's Email address and Password in order to DL, install and activate NOD32 v5 for the trial period.

The last time I tried installing NOD32 v5, it didn't even allow me to DL the installer file as a stand alone file. Instead it only allowed me to run a live installer which did the DL and installation automatically and left me with no installer file that I could save to a CD. This is very bad! Very very bad because now I have no way to reinstall NOD32 v5 when a virus comes in and damages NOD32. This damage and disabling of NOD32 is something I see happening more and more in recent months.

One option I now have is to install NOD32 version 4 trial version and have my customers do the update to version 5 after the trial period. Unfortunately, many of my customers are not skilled enough to do that so I have to install something other than NOD32. I do not desire to become a NOD32 reseller, but I do desire to promote NOD32 to my customers without adding any fees to my invoice for anti-virus software. I'm perfectly happy to give all the profits to Eset. I will be satisfied to make my money by charging for the time it takes to clean the computer and install the antivirus software.

I am pleading to Eset. Please make a NO32 v5 trial version installer available that I can download, install and promote to my customers without having to ask them for their Email address or password.

Please advise.

---pete---

 

Hello,

You can always download the latest version of the installation packages for ESET NOD32 Antivirus from the following locations:

32-bit (x86) - http://download.eset.com/eval/win/eav/eav_nt32_enu.msi
64-bit (x64) - http://download.eset.com/eval/win/eav/eav_nt64_enu.msi​

Moving the request for information off of the web page and into the installer means that prospective customers can download and begin installing the software immediately without having to first fill out a form on the web site and then wait for an email to arrive with download instructions that might not get delivered due to mistyped email address, spam filtering and so forth. The information requested through the installer is the same as, perhaps even a little less than, the same information that was requested through the web site to download a trial version.

Regards,

Aryeh Goretsky

 

Ok, that solves the problem where I need the Installer as a stand alone file.
However, it does not solve the problem caused by NOD32 v5 requiring an Email address of the customer's computer.

Put yourself in my position. I typically have an infected computer of my customer. I uninstall their previous antivirus program and install NOD32 v5 using the appropriate installer from the link above. Since I typically DO NOT know my customer's Email address I cannot proceed to activate the trial version and NOD32 v5 will not allow itself to download the updates which leaves NOD32 useless. At this point, I'm stuck and can't continue cleaning the infected computer.

Please advise.

---pete---

 

No response?
Any other suggestions?

Anyone at Eset I could communicate with directly on this issue?

---pete---

 

no suggestions because the trial needs an email.

Unless you have your own domain and make a catch-all email - then you can setup customers like customer.1223@clients.mydomain.com etc, etc. It's technically workable...

 

Yeah, I am aware of such techniques but there are good reasons not to do any of that. I'm just letting it be known here at Wilder's that ESET is shooting itself in the foot with their new Email requirement because I'm sure that there are others like me that promote NOD32 to hundreds of people via the Trial version who will no longer be able to do so.

I have to say, NOD32 is a great security tool but when it comes to closing the deal and making the sale they fall way short. Unfortunately, this Email requirement on the trial version is the deal breaker for me and I'm being forced to abandon ESET for all my customers. Too bad.

---pete---

 

I am surprised on people who are so loyal to some software that they want to promote the software even if the software vendor does't care about this.

By the way eset is not the only AV in the market, there are so many other choices, even better. I wil suggest you to go ahead with any better alternative.

 

I would say be greatful that eset only requires an email address. other vendors require more information.

I dont see an issue with asking a customer their email address and then asking them to print out the email from eset so you can activate the trial.

 

+1 - The refusal to even setup a wildcard for his customers smack of petty imo - I've provided a workaround that has ZERO privacy implications and the OP seems intent on making a mountain out of a molehill I already provided the tools to FLATTEN...

 

Allow me to clarify. I have the customer's computer in my shop and the customer has no access to their Email or any other computer. So how is the customer going print anything out or aid me in the activation process? The computer needs to be scanned by me and I can't even activate it to clean it using the trial version?


If I'm missing something, please help me out.

---pete---

 

Ok allow me to clarify. First the wildcard. I assume you mean using a catch-all Email at my domain. In the past I had to shut off the catch-all due to the problems associated with SPAM Email. So that's NOT a practical solution.

So, I'd have to create a series of temporary Email addresses to be used solely to activate NOD32 installations. This would allow me to activate the trial version while the computer is in my shop, but what then happens after the 30 day trial period when the customer is supposed pay and register NOD32? I assume it would cause all sorts of problems with ESET because the customer's normal Email address is not associated with that particular trial version.

If I have any of this wrong, please correct me.

---pete---

 

you need a web host that allows you to setup aggressive spam filtering then. I guess I am biased because I also have a hosting division within our company - I would setup a sub-domain, clients.mydomain.com - setup the catch-all - push it all through postini or our built-in junk filtering (which is tunable as well) and I would change all tunable junk settings to maximum aggressiveness, and with the ESET license issuing email in the whitelist.

I would check the mailbox ONLY when I expected an email from ESET and setup a filter in the mail program to put those emails into a mailbox and then DELETE anything else.

In this way, I wouldn't have to deal with junk email and I would get a license registered for every customer using a unique email address.

The customer would NOT get a reminder from ESET at and of license, but they can still click the link in the software and purchase.

 

Why all these excuses and work arounds ??
Why cannot ESET pick the valuable complaint ( which by-the-way I just filed with the ESET distribution channel with exactly the same thoughts.......).
At least for signed-up partners I would it expect to be a must-have: direct link to eval copies................

And again: I am getting tired to set up eset-special adresses just to receive an activation key............

 

Hello,

First off, apologies for the delay in a reply—I have been away from the office.

Secondly, please understand that I am not a part of ESET's sales or customer care departments, just a technical resource for them, so my explanation here may be lacking in some small details or otherwise incorrect. The ultimate source of information about how ESET's software is sold is the sales department.

Lastly, what I am going to discuss covers ESET North America (ESET, LLC), which covers the United States and Canada. How the software is sold in other parts of the world may vary, although I would imagine the basics are the same. Again, check with your local ESET office or distributor for an explanation of how sales works in their region.

ESET North America has required that prospective customers provide their contact information before downloading a trial version since at least 2007, when ESET v3 was released. I think it may have been required even earlier (I joined ESET in 2005) but I am less certain about how the trial process worked back then. Possibly some of the resellers who were around at that time can chime in for certain.

Anyways, for at least the past four years (if not longer), ESET North America has required people who were requesting a trial to provide their contact information via the web site. This information is then used to create a trial license, which is sent to the email address they provided, and I think there may also be some notification emails sent out when around the time the license expires.

In ESET v5, the contact form was moved out of the web site and into the setup program. This meant that instead of filling out a form and answering a bunch of questions, people could download the installer and begin loading the trial version onto their computer right away, dramatically reducing the number of steps (web pages clicked through, data entered on them, and so forth) required to get the software downloaded and an installation going on their computer.

The requirement for collecting contact information before providing a trial version has been in place for several years now. The only difference is at which point the information is being collected.

I do not want to say that anyone was gaming the system or taking advantage of the way the trial mechanism was implemented in previous versions. After all, it is really clear from this conversation that you do want to provide ESET's software to your customers. That said, if you were doing, well, "something" that no longer works now, my best suggestion is to contact your local ESET office or distributor and see what kind of arrangements are available which allows you to provide the software to your customers in a way which helps both you and them.

Finally, I would like to remind everyone that this forum is, first and foremost, used for product support, not sales or marketing activities. While I have tried to answer your questions about how the software is marketed and sold, you really need to contact an ESET office or distributor. They are going to know the exact details of how those particular processes work, and will be better able to answer your questions than I can. Perhaps they might even have some new program I'm aware of which is tailored exactly to your needs. The only way to find out, though, is to contact them.

Regards,

Aryeh Goretsky

 

That sounds excellent. I passed that request to my ESET partner sales organisation. Believe it or not: they pushed it to product support ;-)
But let's be patient, it could well be they find a solution working from the partner portal..........

 

Aryeh Goretsky, thank for the detailed and most professional response. I will do my best to contact the sales & marketing people at ESET. I suspect that they have not thought this issue through all the possible scenarios. In the past I was always able to get a recent stand alone NOD32 installer from one of my customers when I'd help them install it in their home. I'd use that installer to promote NOD32 to my other customers when I just needed to install a trial version. As I stated earlier a high percentage of my customers would buy NOD32 after the trial period. The whole key to success on the hundreds of NOD32 sales (annually) I was responsible for is NOT HAVING TO PROVIDE ANY EMAIL ADDRESS to get the trial version installed and fully operational. See, I've been one of their best salesmen and they don't even know I exist. I sell their product and don't take any commission from the sale. I'm perfectly happy to take my fee directly from the customer for installing NOD32 and using it to clean their computer. Everybody wins!

Thanks again for the thoughtful and professional response!

---pete---

 

Just had the reply of the German support team:
Indeed with the 5.x version there are three possibilities:
- use the online installer
- use the standalone installer and activate using the 'email-Option'
- use the standalone installer and activate using EAV-Code/ Psw of a 1/3-month trial period for that customer ordered through normal partner portal.
(can be transferred / prolongued / expanded afterwards by conversion to a normal license, even without changing the EAV-Number

I suggest to use option 3, which creates no further hazzles.....

 

I really need to emphasize that each ESET office and reseller may handle the trial/purchase license process differently, so the process in Germany may not apply in North America. It's always best to contact the sales department in your local region to verify what their process is for this sort of thing.

 

Please allow me to rehash what you are saying:

You are a service provider who is providing a service to your customer, in the form of cleaning a virus infection off their your customer's computer. To do so, you are installing a trial version of software that you have not paid for, nor has your customer. You are then using that software to provide the service for you to your customer. So, in essance, you are profitting by using trial software for free.

Hum... Maybe one of the reasons behind ESET now requiring the informaiton to install is because of people like you.