Nazi Norton

[Cosmo]

Grrrrrrrr ... I've spent the past 6 hours trying to fix my $#@@$% computer. Anyone ever try to uninstall Norton??? I'm sure Microsoft had a hand in it's creation since it's like the Borg "Resistance Is Futile".

Tried to run the Norton removal tool ... can't run because a file is in use somewhere. Try and find that puppy. I'm ripping my hair out by the roots ... if I ever get this fixed, I'll be back. I may be tranq'd out like a 60's housewife, but I will return.

 

[Outta here]

There's hope Cosmo.... check yer pms

 

[karrie]

Ugh, I hate when that kind of thing happens.

I ended up with LimeWire (recommended by a friend who I now think must truly hate me) on my computer. And damned if I could uninstall the whole thing. I ran the utility, it SAID it uninstalled, but I still had little startups and stuff for it that would pop up at unexpected moments. I had to hunt down and delete all the little extras manually to get it wiped out completely. Highly frustrating.

But... using CTR-ALT-delete ought to bring up every running program and enable you to close it down so you can uninstall, shouldn't it?

 

[lone wolf]

I went into Add remove - and made up a lot of really neat new words while waiting....

Wolf

 

[Kreskin]

No help here, just understanding. Norton is Frankensteins Monster. I had it on an old computer - nearly chucked it out the window.

 

[s243a]

Isn't their a removal tool you can get from the Nortan website?

 

[DaSleeper]

Norton ain't bad if you use selective install and only install the antivirus software and don't enable the rest of the junk that comes with it...

 

[#juan]

I had this problem about ten years ago. My solution was: "Format 'C'.......It worked like a charm after three days of sweating and swearing...;-):smile:

 

[DurkaDurka]

Restart you computer in safe mode, press F8 as the computer boots. Windows will boot into a very basic mode, with any extras disabled. Once booted, go to contral panel-add/remove programs. Try uninstalling again.

 

[Just the Facts]

Isn't their a removal tool you can get from the Nortan website?

Yes:

http://service1.symantec.com/SUPPORT/tsgeninfo.nsf/docid/2005033108162039

 

[shadowshiv]

That's strange. I have never had a problem uninstalling Norton(I decided to try Mcafee instead on an older computer), but trying to uninstall Mcafee was a pain in the butt!

What are you going to try now that you are getting rid of Norton, Cosmo?

 

[Cosmo]

I had this problem about ten years ago. My solution was: "Format 'C'.......It worked like a charm after three days of sweating and swearing...;-):smile:

Frick Juan ... don't be telling me that. My last computer died that very same way ... was so messed up it wouldn't even format in safe mode. That's when I got this one, complete with Norton from the factory. And yep, DaSleeper, I installed the whole enchilada.

Here's my report so far ... or as accurately as it can be told with the profanity filters in place ...

I let Norton lapse. Bad Sandy, no music downloads for you! As a result, I ended up with cyber crap on my poor machine. Some adware, some spyware and yep, some kind of virus. The thing is running at the speed of a turtle and I am an incredibly impatient computer user.

I was going to buy new protection software but decided to give ShawSecure a try. They assured me there was no hidden "stuff" in it. uh huh, sure. I hadda uninstall all the cleaning progs I had been trying out. Did so, including the dreaded Norton. Installed ShawSecure, and it caused my poor computer (and me) to have a wee nervous breakdown.

Called Shaw (they have awesome techs) and we worked through it, figuring out Norton had gone Borg on my a$$. No biggie. Download the removal tool. Go to safe mode. Uninstall. Simplicity in spades.

Norton is the devil. Satan in C++. Evil incarnate. I cannot begin to repeat the verbal explosions that came from the computer corner yesterday and last night. Suffice to say I can swear really, really good. Even surprised Shell.

I finally traced the error messages and found the Norton files that were causing trouble. I deleted the f****ers and ran a Reg Cleaner and another cool proggy (ccleaner, used to be Crap Cleaner and it's great). Tried the Shaw scan again. No dice. No problem ... safe mode solves everything, right? Start in safe mode (another 10 minutes of my life I'll never get back). Remember ... each restart takes about 10 mintues. Even typing this, the freaking thing can't begin to keep up with my typing.

Try to run Shaw's scan again. But, being the pseudo-geek, I figgered out I oughta run it selectively on the locations where Shaw has been hiding. No dice. Scan won't even launch, never mind do what it's supposed to.

After that I threw a fit of epic proportions -- even scared the poor dog -- took some valium and chocolate and slunk off to bed with an old vampire novel. It was around 3 a.m. when I finally called "Uncle". I'd been at it almost 24 hours by then and looked as wild eyed and freaked out as a pit bull on meth.

Of course before retiring I checked in here to find the message from Zan ...

There's hope Cosmo.... check yer pms

Canucklehead has saved my sanity and my computer more than once and is, apparently, offering to remote his Geek in Shining Armor self in and fix this situation before my head explodes. He's spent many hours sitting at my keyboard, shaking his head, muttering things about "what has she been downloading??" and doing wizard magic. I didn't even think about begging him to send his virtual angel to fix this (he ran off to the frozen north so I figured I was on my own). If he succeeds, I'll start a "Canucklehead is Gawd" thread!!

Thanks everyone for the suggestions. The sympathy is greatly appreciated as well. Shell isn't a compter addict and even though she offered me everything from chocolate to drugs to backrubs, she can't really help with this. Only those of us who've ever fought a Trojan or, in the olden days, tried to repair a win.ini file, can truly understand the depth of angst and rage this produces.

Ok ... off to see if Canucklehead is available and, if not, to suit up and attempt to slay this freaking dragon again myself.

I shall return!

 

[DaSleeper]

One online scanner I've had a fair amount of success with, on my machine and other people's machines is Trend Micro http://housecall.trendmicro.com/
You pretty well need a high speed connection for this, and it works better if you're hard wired. It will scan for viruses Trojans and spy-ware, and remove it. Bear in mind that when removing, some spy-ware have their tentacles in the registry and removal might damage it and you may have to run your operating system CD in repair mode.
Good luck!

 

[Outta here]

LOL poor poor Sandy - My head would have blown right off my shoulders by now if I was in yer predicament. He sez: Stay put - don't log off to try and slay the dragon, and look for a pm in about 20 minutes to get you two connected.

 

[#juan]

Quote:
Originally Posted by #juan
I had this problem about ten years ago. My solution was: "Format 'C'.......It worked like a charm after three days of sweating and swearing...:wink::smile:


Frick Juan ... don't be telling me that. My last computer died that very same way ... was so messed up it wouldn't even format in safe mode. That's when I got this one, complete with Norton from the factory.

In the "good old days" , Win 98 had this wonderful option of "Restart in DOSS" You then typed in your format instructions and you were away to the races......or at least to reloading Windows......:smile:

 

[Zzarchov]

To be fair, if norton was easy to remove, it would be terrible anti-virus software. The first thing any virus would do would be to remove Norton.

 

[DavidB]

Norton cannot be completely removed from a system except to reformat your computer (which is something you should do once a year anyhow). This topic has been discussed in several computer security forums.

I think Norton Antivirus is a virus.

I would recommend you check out Kaspersky.

Regards.


David

 

[DurkaDurka]

To be fair, if norton was easy to remove, it would be terrible anti-virus software. The first thing any virus would do would be to remove Norton.

That doesn't make a whole lof of sense. If a virus wanted to disabled the AV, it wouldn't be doing so via add/remove programs, it would do so by deleting a couple required dll's. No software maker tries to intentionally make it difficult to uninstall. In Nortons case, it's a bloated piece of crap when unistalled, leaves all sorts of junk laying around the system... registry keys, services etc.