I'm only forwarding this; I'm not responsible for the writing or the 
content of the message.
Rachel

From: Aaron Howell [log in to unmask]

Hello,
As a long time user of Symantec products, I am saddened to inform
everyone that the new Norton 2007 products are no longer
compatible with Jaws.
After purchasing Norton Internet Security 2007, and performing
extensive testing on it, I've determined the following.
* A blind person is unable to activate the product without
sighted assistance.
if Jaws is loaded, the Activation program immediately quits,
rather than displaying its dialogs. This happens during the setup
process, and causes your installation to be left in an unusable
state. Fixing this requires sighted assistance to get through the
activation process, at which time the product (mostly) repairs
itself.
* Once the product is installed, configuration is exceedingly
difficult. The software is completely inaccessible from the
keyboard, Unlike it previous versions the interface does not
appear to take advantage of the Windows built in html rendering
facilities, instead using its own rendering method.
All configuration must be done with the jaws cursor, and Jaws's
ability to see things like buttons is eratic at best.
(admittedly, it may be possible to improve this via the use of a
tool like Hotspot clicker, but getting to a state where you could
would require heavy sighted intevention, and its questionable as
to whether it would be worth it.) * When the product tries to
alert with Jaws loaded (at least on my machine), it instead blue
screens and reboots. I tested this with the standard antivirus
test. Eicar?
(not sure on
the spelling), which is a harmless .com file intended to do
nothing but trigger antivirus products. (all products use this as
a standard, "hello world"
test.)

The combination of the three above points leads me to believe
that ongoing persistance with this product would prove fruitless.
(Note: while I did not perform testing with Window Eyes, it has
been my experience in the past that WE has been less effective at
accessing the Norton interfaces when they were accessible, so I
have no reason to believe, and hence no inclination to try it,
that the situation with 2007 would be any better, in fact, I
suspect it would be dramaticly worse).

This message is a heads up to advise others not to buy the Norton
2007 products. if you are a Norton user, stick with 2006, as that
is, at least, accessible. If not, then it looks like its now time
to find a new package (Microsoft's OneCare is looking good at
this point).

Regards
Aaron


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