friend needs help

I have a friend with a gateway laptop with Norton. This is the msg she got.
My Norton security ran a backup and signaled me that I
have achieved critical mass on my Gateway pre-installed
2GB storage. (my wording, not Norton's!)
Her question was whether an external hd would help although from reading some article she thought this message meant she was running out of ram. on her next post she says this
this is what Norton wants me to buy from them on a yearly basis:

Norton 360 Online Storage - 1 User

Get more storage to safely and securely back up all your important files.

BUY NOW!

$29.99 Buy 5 GB Storage
$49.99 Buy 10 GB Storage
$69.99 Buy 25 GB Storage

Protects important files from loss

Data is safely backed up at a secure, remote location

Automatically backs up the important documents, photos, music and other files you want to protect
Seamlessly discovers new files and backs up that data

Easily access and retrieve your data any time with 24 X 7, always-on online service

Pay for what you use -- additional storage can be purchased in increments whenever you need it

Upgrade to the Latest Version
System Requirements
Supported Operating Systems:
Windows® XP Home/XP Pro/XP Media 2005 +
Vista Home Basic/Home Premium/Business/Ultimate
Phishing Protection feature requires Microsoft® Internet Explorer v6.0 or higher
Online backup feature requires high-speed Internet connection
Email scanning supported for POP3-compatible email clients
Minimum Hardware Requirements:
300MHz or higher processor
256MB of RAM minimum
300MB of free hard disk space
I was thinking this was some scam to upsell their online storage service, what do you guys think?

TIA

 

Sounds like it's detecting the recovery partition (not used for personal file storage) as almost full, which it should be.

Not a scam, and she can just ignore the warning as it doesn't mean anything except that norton can't recognise a recovery partition, but yes, it's a pretty p*ssweak marketing ploy.

My advice would be to 1. Ignore it, and 2. Remove Norton 360 and get a decent AV like NOD32 (My preference), Avast or AVG (Free), or Norton 2009 (If for some reason you must have Norton).

 

Thanks so much! I didn't want to tell her to ignore it if it was really something.

 

No probs, glad I could help.

 

Hi sbarnet,

This is Mike from the Norton Authorized Support Team.

The message your friend is receiving is notifying them that they have reached the 2 GB limit for online storage that is part of the Norton 360 package. As is stated in the message,they can purchase additional space for the Norton Online Backup.

Although the online storage is the recommended method, because the files that are backed up are encrypted and on a server, there is also the option in the Norton 360 Backup feature that will allow the backed-up files to go to an external drive or optical media as well.

Also, if your friend is using Norton 360 version 1 or 2, they are entitled to a free update to Norton 360 version 3, which contains many new and enhanced features, including new options for the Backup feature. Please NOTE, that this process will update them to the latest version of Norton 360, but it will not extend their subscription. To update to Norton 360 version 3, please visit the Norton Update Center at the link below.

Norton Update Center

Let me know if you have any other questions or need assistance in changing the backup location, etc.

Thank you,
Mike