Obliterating Norton Antivirus

[gunner154]

I've recently had a problem with my computer that required me to perform a system restore to fix it. However, upon completing the system restore, Norton Antivirus encountered some serious problems.

Firstly, its virus definitions were not up to date (I was using Corporate Edition), but when I ran LiveUpdate, it firmly believed that it was up to date. Secondly, it's not capable of scanning files. It tells me of some error.

So I concluded that it was corrupted and tried to uninstall it. However, at the stage when it mentions that Windows was configuring the Antivirus or something like that (for uninstallation), it stalled there.

And I couldn't reinstall because it believed that some previous installations are still on the computer.

All in all, I've resorted to uninstalling it, using ctrl+alt+del to kill the uninstallation process, disable the automatic Loading up of Antivirus protection systems, and finally just deleting the remainder of the Symantec folder. I've settled for avast! Antivirus. And it seems very promising, picking out all sorts of trojans and adware that were previously left untouched (perhaps Ad-Aware wasn't competent enough...).

However, it told me that its various realtime protection systems like the mail scanner would not be activated because Norton was still installed and both could not run at the same time. I'd get this message each time I start up my computer. However, the avast! realtime protection seems to be working fine. The only sign of it not working would be the message I'd get upon each boot.

So now I have two questions:

1.) Is the avast! realtime protection really working?

2.) How can I remove the remains of the corrupted Norton Antivirus Corporate Edition and kill off the warning message I get each time I start my computer?

Many thanks.

[Andrew]

Norton is terrible software in my experience. Especially those stupid 30 day trials that come with just about every single computer you buy at big box stores that slow the computer down to the point of uselessness. Stay away from Norton and probably McAfee, even if you can get them for free.

Sounds to me a good thing to do would be to back up any data on your computer, then format and reinstall windows. It could be the fastest way to clear up this norton problem, and you get a fresh fast OS.

1. No idea.

2. I've heard of some software specifically made to completely remove norton from computers. Googling "remove norton antivirus" got me to Download and run the Norton Removal Tool

I'm currently using Avast Antivir Personal and it is ok. the worst part is when it updates the virus definitions it pops up an advertisement for their products. So I'll most likely be uninstalling Avast pretty soon since I don't like it when I'm doing work on computer and then get 2 popups whenever it is updating (that can take away from fullscreen apps).

[gunner154]

I think avast! has an option to check for fullscreen apps like games before displaying pop-ups.

Well, the hassle of reinstalling every bit of software is rather daunting to me. I'll probaly have to sit with this until the computer breaks down completely.

The removal tool seems promising, but when I restarted my computer, avast! still told me that Norton was still in there.

Great.

Edit: After seeking out additional folders and forcefully deleting them, and clearing up everything in the registry manually relating to Symantec, On-Access scanner is finally working PROPERLY and I no longer get that irritating notification on conflicting programs. Cheers.

[Caid Ivik]

I had this daemoniac program for two months... father bought me a scanner for Christmas and received licenced copy of the program for a year with it, so why not try? After two hours of installation I thought it should really protect the machine. However Spybot always found some extra shit after the scanning. It just blocked downloading, using Hamachi and few other net-things. About twice a week it noticed me that my computer is in danger. Why? Because I haven't scanned the disks etc again and again. When I tried to make a deep configuration of what I want to scan at first, there were no options. The scans, which never showed any adequate findings or solutions in comparision to time I had to spend managing it. And in the end it became crashy, especially while updating.

Never again, the sooner you eradicate the beast the less problems you have. Format c:

[gunner154]

The program didn't bug me much when it was around. Often, I would even forget about its existence.

The problem, however, was removing it. All seems fine for now! :)

[Megashrap]

I really hate the program all together.Not only is it a memory sys. hog,but it didn't even catch a wiff of the last virus I got. In fact the virus shut it down completely making it useless all together. I even had everything updated for it.I will never install it again.I mean damn, this was the complete package too Norton anti-virus,Internet security,firewall.

[gunner154]

Now for a new problem... I got a laptop a few months ago that came with McAfee SecurityCenter, and a subscription for 3 months (I think, which also means I got the laptop 3 months ago...). Now that subscription has expired, and I'm looking for other forms of antivirus. Avast gave my desktop some problems when it always stopped scanning after a certain point so I'm reconsidering if I should actually get Avast on the computer.

What free antivirus would you guys recommend? I'm thinking of AVG, but is that viable? What about Avira? Does AVG hog resources or scan slowly or poorly?

[Megashrap]

I only use, and have since back when I had XP windows defender,malware protection and firewall.I've never had a problem yet with virus's spyware etc.

[gunner154]

I've gone back to using avast. Now the startup time has increased by a notable duration.

[gryphon]

For me it's Norton Corporate, Avast Free edition, AVG free edition, or Sophos depending on how much I like to spend or the total solution.

[Nyarlathotep]

I've always used Mcafee and never had any problem with it.