Irene Posted November 15, 2006 Report Share Posted November 15, 2006 Hello Everyone.I was recommended to this forum by a friend because I have been experiencing horrors over the past month with Norton 2007. It's a long story, but I'll try to keep it short...My Norton AntiVirus 2004 become due for renewal early in October. I decided to upgrade to Norton Internet Security 2007. Bad decision!! Each time I booted up my pc would freeze at the Windows logo screen with no progress showing in the progress bar. I contacted Symantic 'Support'. I spent hours online and subsequently on the telephone (020 number) with India or China getting absolutely no where. I installed , uninstalled, rebooted, restored my system over and over again! I eventually asked for a refund and decided to renew the old 2004 subscription. This had worked perfectly well before. However, it would no longer perform live updates. Many hours again online, on the phone, uninstall, reinstall etc.. A few days ago I had reached the heady heights of a High Priority Case. The 'Technical Expert' decided that I probably had a virus!! I told him that it definately was not so. He then recommended a free trial of Norton AntiVirus 2007 for 15 days. As a last resort I agreed to download the said program. Would you believe it, I am now getting LiveUpdate's.. Norton is running just fine. However, I am now back to the screen freeze on cold start!! I then hold in the power button to power it down, then it reboots to the screen which offers Safe Mode or System Restore. If I choose Safe Mode, then restart from there, it boots up ok.Has anyone come across this before? I am completely bemused by the whole situation. Any assistance / guidance would be very much appreciated. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
-pops- Posted November 15, 2006 Report Share Posted November 15, 2006 Any assistance / guidance would be very much appreciated.I, and numerous others here and elsewhere, avoid ANYTHING that carries the Norton (Symantec) badge. Even things that were previously of good repute but which have been acquired by Symantec seem to acquire the "Norton curse" and manage to wreck the computers they are installed into. This doesn't happen with all users, some people swear by Norton but many, many others swear at it.You can get perfectly good software that will do everything Norton will do (and better) without any charge at all and a quick look at the security section here will show you some of these. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Irene Posted November 15, 2006 Author Report Share Posted November 15, 2006 Thanks very much for that. I'll go and check out the security section right now! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andsome Posted November 15, 2006 Report Share Posted November 15, 2006 The problem is that you will have a hell of a problem in eliminating Norton completely from your computer, it is so very invasive. I would visit their website and see what the recommendations are for completely removing all Norton products that you have. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Irene Posted November 15, 2006 Author Report Share Posted November 15, 2006 The problem is that you will have a hell of a problem in eliminating Norton completely from your computer, it is so very invasive.How right you are!! During my saga with Symantec 'Support' I was required to download their Norton Removal Tool, which is supposed to remove all traces, so I will have it to hand when I find a good alternative (preferably before my trial period runs out). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
-pops- Posted November 15, 2006 Report Share Posted November 15, 2006 The programs I use areAVG Free antivirusAVG antispywareSygate personal firewall (free)and for other antimalware programs:Ad-AwareSpywareBlasterSpywareGuardSuperAntiSpywareThese have kept me going for a long time now without problems. Others may have different suggestions but, the important thing is to appreciate that there is no need to lay out any money at all to get effective protection of your computer.I am also very keen on keeping backups of my system so that if (when) something goes wrong, I can always revert to a "good" system.Please keep coming back if you have any questions - well, come back anyway and enjoy the forum. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Irene Posted November 15, 2006 Author Report Share Posted November 15, 2006 Many thanks for the information. I've just done a search for AVG.. found plenty to study! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Irene Posted November 23, 2006 Author Report Share Posted November 23, 2006 Hello again!I just wanted to say thank you to everyone for recent help.I have removed Norton... Hooray!! You were right andsome it was very difficult to remove it all. I finally did an explorer search for all files containing Symantec, then deleted them manually. I have subsequently installed AVG free Anti-Virus and Anti-Spyware. It's working a treat. I also installed, as an added comfort cushion, Microsoft Defender which updates and pretty much runs itself.So, many thanks to all - I'm almost sane again now! :D Irene Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andsome Posted November 24, 2006 Report Share Posted November 24, 2006 Hello again!I just wanted to say thank you to everyone for recent help.I have removed Norton... Hooray!! You were right andsome it was very difficult to remove it all. I finally did an explorer search for all files containing Symantec, then deleted them manually. I have subsequently installed AVG free Anti-Virus and Anti-Spyware. It's working a treat. I also installed, as an added comfort cushion, Microsoft Defender which updates and pretty much runs itself.So, many thanks to all - I'm almost sane again now! :D IreneFingers are all crossed for you. :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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