Spyware, viruses, & security forum: Norton virus problem

chosen AV + Anti-spy programs and save then to My Docs or desktop so you have them ready to install as soon as you've cleaned up Nortons' mess.
Needless to say be disconnected from net while doing so.
You may wish to create a restore point after removing Norton but before installing & updating new program(s). I would create one after each program installed but before the next.

After removing Norton you may be in need of a defrag since it's such a large program.

IF infected, you may need an online scan as infection may prevent a successful install of new protections:
http://uk.trendmicro-europe.com/enterprise/products/housecall_launch.php


You may wish to try AVG Free AV 7.5 & Free Trial AVG Anti-Spy 7.5:

http://free.grisoft.com/freeweb.php/doc/2/

Good Luck!

First off, Norton 2002, thats the problem. I believe that Norton 2004 was the first year to offer worm protection, and was able to scan in zip files ect..

Now if the pc does have a trojan,virus or worm, creating a restore point would be a bad idea. Think about it, all the trojans, virus and worms are kept right there..Turn off system restore until the pc is cleaned of reformated.

Antivirus, I have seen top antivirus programs that would not clean a infected pc, AVG free is one of them. My opinion is Kaspersky is about the best, yes I have seen crap that It would not clean but way better that the rest.

Solution? After turning OFF system restore, install a trial version of decent antivirus and let it try and clean the pc. It may take several scans. Examples of GOOD antivirus: Kaspersky, NOD32, BitDefender. Stay away from McAfee as the new 07 version is a MAJOR resource hog. After or IF the pc is disinfected, buy a good Internet Securty Suite. If the pc cleaning cant be done, reformat that thing and dont use Norton 2002!

Remember, everything that you remove weather its a program or a trojan, it all saves in system restore. TURN IT OFF! Good Luck.

PS, first thing you might want to scan before a full system scan, system32 folder located in the windows folder.

I used add/remove.

Thanks, I was able to delete norton using the add/remove utility. And now I can use the PC again but I guess I have no virus protection. How can I make sure all of norton is gone? I am leary about goiong out to the internet to download AVG Free without protection. Any suggestions?

to make a seperate tool for 2003 and earlier but it has been pulled from the Symantec website, probably because the products are old. They updated the symNRT tool to include 2003 and newer but there is nothing listed anymore for 2002. Whether it will work or not I don't know. Manually removing it is probably the way to go in this case.

programs to a my docs file & then "send" to a USB Storage Drive (1 Gig can be had around $20 at discount shop VERY Useful) or burn to CD. Take home & transfer to your machine to execute/install.

I would like to believe that everyone knows not to delete computer programs,but unfortunatly, that IS NOT the case.

So to clarify things for those who do not know or who think that delete & uninstall are the same,there are some important differences.

Delete does NOT remove 100% of the program.
it will remove the icons & other things that you can actually see on the computer,but it leaves behind the heart of the program...the thing that made that program do what it did,look like it did,etc. when you use delete all you do is remove the shell of the program; the guts of it will remain on the computer.

Uninstalling a program WILL remove 100% of the program, 100% of the time.
when you use the UNINSTALL method of removing a program,there won't be anything left but a memory. no shell.no heart. no guts.nothing.period. Another thing about uninstall; usually your computer will run smoother & faster too(unless you have bugs,virus',etc on the computer as well).

If you do not remove the "Application Data" entries and the prefetch group the system will still try to boot the item. I have found over the last 5-7 years that no main software or third party uninstallers remove these items. Manual deletion is also needed. Norton and McAfee both historically, leave several items on a hard drive. It causes more frustration for people than the decision of what to install afterwards.....Sry Master

Hello! After having to struggle for a long time with the WIN 98 SE system (not supported anymore by Windows), I was glad to go to XP Pro. I found the Service (free) of "Onelivecare" from Windows a great help!OK, it's very long (in my case around 3 hours)but it seems to be effective. You can still work on the PC during the treatment, although it does slow down, naturally, your PC. I have a whole series of stuff (all free-I'm Scottish!) and the afternoons of Sunday is dedicated to running them all! With onelivecare, then AVG Free, then Spybot,then Adaware,then Windows Defender Sundays are filled in! Some of these things such as Cleandisk, Checkdisk etc can be programmed as Scheduled tasks, others can't (since they need an active click to launch the programme)but I've managed to arrange things so that from 1300hrs (lunchtime) through to "Siesta time" (I live in the South of France, and that's tradition!) everything has been done, and all I have to do before siesta is run onelivecare with a click - then off to bed!
With all these programmes, I've never had a problem of compatibility, nor is my bank balance reduced! I've never had any type of incident either - so I'm happy!
Of course the purchased versions would make life easier, all being "automated", but I'm happy!
(iwmpop) Happy Easter!

Not that you should'nt have both enabled,but for your first line of defence should be a firewall followed by an up to date patched OS without both of those a anitvirus software will be useless,as for you hp comp you'd be better off giving it a good spring cleaning by reformatt,which by the way should be done on a yearly basis depending on which info sites you visit.