My Norton is driving me nuts

April 14, 2005 | pbrown

[general_re]

Oddly, I am currently in the process of walking my mother through uninstalling Norton 2005 and installing an older version of NAV, because, as you've discovered, NIS 2005 is a piece of **** :)

[Musket]

This is a long thread, but just for the record - I use Norton AV and the Personal Firewall and they have not failed me yet. Just don't ever expect any support from them, either via email or phone, it's just not gonna happen.

[Hillarys Gate Cult]

Did you scandisk/defrag in the Safe Mode? Kim Komando recommends doing that even with no problems.

Had to do the same thing. Ran into severe problems with NAV 2005 ( Win XP SP2 ). It's bloatware. It's my last Norton purchase ever.

[SierraWasp]

"Did you scandisk/defrag in the Safe Mode?"

No, but I made certain to close all open programs. I'm not certain I know how to get into Safe Mode on purpose...

I just got off the phone awhile ago with the 6th tech at Symantec who actually has sent me a fix in my email, but now my Outlook Express is acting up and telling me it's downloading the mail while actually doing nothing!!! Called ISP and they're saying the email may be too big at just a hair under 1 Megabyte, but I don't think that's it...

Boy, oh boy... when it rains, it pours!!! At least Norton/Symantec has NOT charged me one cent for the six support calls that have run really long in efforts to help me. I just thing they don't really know what to do either!!! I've lost confidence in the company and I sure hate trying to communicate with those difficult thick accents!!! I make 'em repeat till I understand!!!

[GOPJ]

My computer works better than ever! Also, I have added Webroot Spy Sweeper.

I have Ad-aware and Webroot Spy Sweeper -- Ad-aware catches more spys. And it's free.

[Hillarys Gate Cult]

I'm not certain I know how to get into Safe Mode on purpose...

Note: I'm posting this for all users so some of this stuff you've indcated you already know.

For Windows 98. On restart, tap the F8 key several times. You can also hold down the Ctrl key through restart, but it doesn't work on all computers. A menu will come up. Choose Safe Mode. It takes a few seconds to come up. It looks like a normal Windows screen, high res video settings will not be there, wallpaper will look "bleached out" and it will show the words "Safe Mode" in the corners.

In the Close Program Dialog Box ( can be reached by holding down Ctrl and Alt with only a quick tap on Delete key ) close everything but Explorer and Systray. First run Disk Cleanup, then scandisk and defrag. Once that's done, exit normally.

[js1138]

If you have Windows 98 you are running a machine thaqt is at least three or four years old and probably slow by current standards.

Not to mention that W98 isn't very good at multitasking, which means that background processes like virus scanners bog down the machine more than they would with XP.

I use Norton 2005 on one of my home machines with no trouble. I chose, at installation, not to install the Norton firewall. I have never liked that. My main reason for continuing to use Norton is that it is cheaper to pay the anual fee than to switch.

I use AVG on another home machine. It does not receive email, so I am not as concerned about it.

Athe work we use MacAfee, Norton and Trend on various machines. They all seem to work fine. The Exchange email server uses GFI, which filters viruses and spam. It is close to 100% effective against spam, but it is expensive and only runs on servers. It has also blocked new virus variants before they were reported in the media.

[SierraWasp]

Regrettably, I believe you are absolutely correct! And it really irritates me that this computer virus protection racket is so successful that it works better than the American Auto Industry's "planned obsolecence!"

Rather than fight this any longer and wasting another entire day... we're going shopping for a new machine!!! The old Win98 rig just can't cut the mustard anymore because I've already learned you can't up grade the OS in these Compaq machines without up-grading the innards and Compaq's innards are too proprietary to easily replace!

Thanks for confirming the obvious. One just gets entirely too comfortable and attached to a machine and just hates to let go. I've noticed this weakness gets worse as I get older. (grin)

I've uninstalled Norton and taken the machine off line and am typing this reply on Mrs. Wasps newer Emachine!!!

[js1138]

I wouldn't throw a working machine, at least I never have. W98 machines still do word processing and spread sheets. They will also get you on the internet as long as you browse safe sites.

I would do a system restore on this machine, get all the Windows updates, Install AVG and ZoneAlarm, and keep it as a backup.

[SierraWasp]

Sounds like a plan! I hadn't decided to "throw" it, but your suggestions are very useful! Thank you for your enlightening replies to a very frustrating scenario!!!

[Tuba Guy]

Thanks for the advice. I added Ad-aware to my arsenal (along with Webroot and AVG anti-virus) and it did indeed find some stuff that Webroot had missed. I have also switched to Firefox Mozilla as my browser and now feel relatively secure.

Thanks again!

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[lilmsdangrus]

Norton Sucks!!