The EVIL that is NORTON SECURITY SUITE

[resinboy]

I have been running Norton Security Suite since my fresh Win XP rebuild in December.
Yesterday, I have decided to try a couple of new apps, and TRIED to remove NORTON. Seemed to successfully un-install. However, no matter WHAT application I tried to install ( Panda AV, AVG, Zone Alarm), they would either fail the installation, or appear to install ok, and then kick up an error, usually failing to start some service.
I cannot get ANY firewalls or AV programs running since the removal of Norton. I have tried scanning for virus' from a disk, as well as on the web, nothing shows up at all. If I Ghost my system back to a week ago, everything runs fine.
I am now on a mission to get Norton off my system for good, but I don't know how at this point. I have an image of my origial install from December, but I hate to go that far back .
Any suggestions?

 

[TechHead87]

I'm about to attempt the unenviable task of removing Nortons from a relatives computer. Should be backing up everything before hand.

 

[John]

http://service1.symantec.com/SUPPORT/sharedtech.nsf/docid/2006031710323113

 

[linkgoron]

Originally posted by: John
http://service1.symantec.com/SUPPORT/sharedtech.nsf/docid/2006031710323113

Except stop 4 lol

 

[corkyg]

In my book, Norton fell victim to Symantec back in the 80s. Symantec has always been an evil swallower of good software. They usually buy, suck out the blood, and throw the bones on the scrap heap. This all started for me when Symantec "acquired" the best DOS-based utility ever - PC Tools. They sucked it up and killed it and left Norton Utilities as the only survivor, albeit not as good. In the last few years they devoured PowerQuest the same way. The good news is that they just re-badged PasrtitionMagic 8 as their own. I can live with that.

But, security suites are all somewhat crappish. Stick with the best of each category - Firewall, AV, and Anti-Spam. One size does not fit all in spite of the marketing hype.

 

[resinboy]

thanks for the link, John, but same results. I imaged my original install back to C drive, then removed Norton: now I can get other programs to work. Wish I knew what happened, as I have a fair amount of programs to re-install.

 

[Noema]

Originally posted by: corkyg

But, security suites are all somewhat crappish. Stick with the best of each category - Firewall, AV, and Anti-Spam. One size does not fit all in spite of the marketing hype.

Well said :thumbsup:

I think it's better to mix and match different applications.

 

[Nocturnal]

Just use SymNRT. Mcafee on the other hand, they're pure evil. Even their removal tools sometimes do not work.

 

[DaiShan]

This is why I hate windows. Last week I suspected Norton Internet Security of causing some network related problems on one of the workstations at the clients site, so to test the theory I was just going to disable it - easier said than done so I figure ah whatever I'll remove it and re-install when I'm done troubleshooting. So I'm logged on as Administrator (not just admin class account THE administrator account) and I go to un-install and I get "Permission denied please contact technical support" I'm sitting here thinking uhh? So naturally (old habits die hard) I think that I'll un-install it from safe mode, forgetting that now the installer service is disabled in safe mode and cannot be enabled. What I ended up doing was using msconfig to disable all non-Microsoft services, and all startup entries, then rebooted and removed it fine. I guess I've been spoiled by the power of root in LInux, which will literally let you rm -rf /dev (now THAT was a fun call to respond to)

 

[DaiShan]

Originally posted by: Noema

Originally posted by: corkyg

But, security suites are all somewhat crappish. Stick with the best of each category - Firewall, AV, and Anti-Spam. One size does not fit all in spite of the marketing hype.

Well said :thumbsup:

I think it's better to mix and match different applications.

I whole heartedly agree, and I've always been a big proponent of a tiered approach to system security, including running multiple virus engines on your system. Unfortunately that is no longer an option (found that one out after McAfee deleted a user profile because Norton was installed on the same system. When I brought this to the attention of the techs at McAfee the tech said "Have you tried uninstalling the McAfee software" "yeah, no problems when I did that" "Ok, great, just leave it un-installed" "Uhhhh")

 

[resinboy]

decided on Bit Defender- small footprint, great reviews. Mailwasher pro for spam.