HELP! with Norton Antivirus

Question

I need help big time.  I have had Norton Antivirus 2003 professional edition installed for several years.  Never a problem.  This a.m. I received a window that said my subscription was up in 30 days and would I like to renew.  I proceeded with the renewal process.  I decided to upgrade to Norton Antivirus 2006 and began the download and installation process.  I have Windows XP.   The installation was interrupted and I was informed that I needed to remove the '03 program first, which I did.  I then rebooted and noticed that my home page had been hijacked and overtaken with another one.   I ran Ad-Aware since I recall this helped the last time (years ago) that this happened.  Incredibly 42 critical files, etc. were detected ( I never had more than 14 or so) were detected and I had them removed.  This rogue homepage is still there.  As I mentioned, this happened several years ago and this board helped me restore my homepage and remove the problem page.  I have forgotten what to do to correct the problem.  (The new rogue homepage is different from the one seveal years ago.)   I then returned to the installation of the Norton '06 which was interrupted with an error message as follows,'Error 1406: Could not write value Norton AntiVirus to key...'  It then gave instructions on how to fix this which involved turning off anti spyware programs.  However, I was unable to utilize the instructions since the '06 installation icon had disappeared off the desktop and I have no idea where it is or how to get it back.    Completely flummoxed and concerned, I decided to utilize the system restore back one day which I thought would restore Norton '03 and I can start again from scratch.  When I did this, the '03 icon was indeed on the desktop and listed in the Add/Remove Programs file.  Unfortunately, when I went to uninstall '03 again and put in '06, somewhere in this process I received the message, 'Unable to restore security settings.  Please uninstall and reinstall all Symantec security products to correct the problem...(1005,3)'.  It then gave me instructions to fix this error with LiveUpdate or Autofix but it required me opening Norton '03 and the icon was not on the desktop and I don't know where, and if, it is otherwise located.  The last alternative was to uninstall and reinstall but that was to no avail either as I was told I couldn't proceed.    One other thing.  After I system restored, and the icon was back on my desk, when I clicked on it, I got a window declaring an inability to open it and mentioning something about a Symantic integrator being unable to initialize the current frame class and to make sure I did not directly run the integrator.   I have no idea what this is.   BOTTOM LINE:   I tried to upgrade my norton antivirus to the '06 version, in the process uninstalling the '03 version.  Now I no doubt have been infected with all kinds of things since my homepage has been overtaken and I have no antivirus security and I am unable to install either the '06 I just purchased or reinstall the '03 (I have the disk - I don't need to download the '03.)    I am at a complete loss as what to do and am worried that this cannot be easily fixed.  Is there anyone here that can help me?? Message Edited by rsberger on 09-09-200609:09 AM

bluecoal · Answer

When you say rogue homepage, what do you mean? Is this a "bad" homepage, or a "good" homepage that is just not your choice of homepage?

When there are no other issues, if you want to change your default homepage, you can go to the menu at the top of explorer.

Tools, Internet Options, General and there is a spot to change your homepage.

Norton AV does not always properly uninstall with the uninstall routine. It is sometime necessary to do additional steps to completely remove it and correct the conflicts that newer versions see.

If the items found were cookies, then you probably don't have a serious problem yet. If they were actual files, then you may have additional issues to fix.

I think there are two steps you can do at this point:

You can get the program hijackthis and post a hijackthis log in the hijackthis forum on this site. There are instructions on how to do that in the sticky items at the top of the first page there.

You can also go to Symantec's site and look for their manual removal instructions for your 2003 version. I believe you can also get manual update files from Symantec, you could look for that as well. With all that, you could then reboot in safe mode to reduce the amount of other stuff running in the background and try the 03 uninstall again, reinstall 2006 from your downloaded files, and then get an almost current update from your downloaded definition file. I don't know if that will work or not, but it is what I would try in that situation. If it does work, you still need to evaluate your system for infection and go the hjt log route for additional help if necessary.

bluecoal · Answer

Hi,

I have had time to do a little searching for you.

Here is a link to a microsoft cleanup tool:

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;290301

I have not used this tool. I found it when searching for some Symantec or McAfee problem solving information. I have had one person report back that it sucessfully cleaned up a Symantec or McAfee (I don't remember which) uninstall issue.

On the symantec page I found this link for a removal tool:

http://service1.symantec.com/support/nav.nsf/docid/2001092114452606

Again, I have not used the tool personally.

At the bottom of that page are links for manual removal instructions. My Symantec uninstall problems came with versions earlier than 2003 and I used the manual steps when I did it.

As a precaution, my thought would be that you should do some file backups before you try any of those fixes. And as I said before, if the problems are really spyware related, you will need to get help with that before you can solve the symantec issue.

txtchr · Answer

Thanks for the update to the new AVG version, Steve. I need to update my bookmarks! Both my son and daughter installed AVG on clean installs (one unfortunately after a hard drive crash), and the other after a hard drive reformat, so installation of AVG was a snap.

I know that the helpers on the HJT board have helped some people get NAV off their system. One of my other son's friends had a massive infection on his laptop that he had help with on the HJT board. One of the viruses has literally corrupted his NAV, requiring him to remove it manually. The helper guided my son's friend through this process, so I know it can be done; but you are right, as he did have to edit the registry. He then promptly installed AVG.

Thanks for your help and wisdom. You all do a great job! :)

txtchr · Answer

rsberger,

Back in July you had issues with your NAV Live Update. Did you ever get that resolved? I had tried to help you get that back on track (refer back to our previous posts).

If you cannot get Norton to work properly, there are other alternatives:
AVG located at http://free.grisoft.com/doc/Get+AVG+FREE/lng/us/tpl/v5
and Avast! located http://www.avast.com/eng/avast_4_home.html
are both good alternatives that are free. The helpers on the HJT board recommend these programs as viable alternatives to the paid versions of anti-virus software. Both my son and my daughter (college students) switched from NAV to AVG after their NAV subscriptions expired; they both are very pleased with AVG's performance and ease of use.

You'll need to attempt to get NAV fully removed, however.

Message Edited by txtchr on 09-10-200602:49 PM

zbestwun2001 · Answer

txtchr,
That's an excellent suggestion, hopefully it will do a clean unistall.

Sometimes I have had problems getting one AV out and the other in.

Make sure all other apps are closed when deleteing the AV program to help.

There has been sometimes when I have had to go into the system registry and pick out some entires or I would just use HJT to get some out.

Hopefully this person will have no such problems..

Here is the link to AVG which I highly recommend.

AVG7-AntiVirus-FREE

Steve

txtchr · Answer

Thanks for all those links, Steve. I've placed them all in my bookmarks (as others should too). I teach high school students advanced computer software, but unfortunately most are clueless about safety on the internet. Too often they come to me crying that they've got some sort of infection and "What do I do?" I guide them to sites that I've read about here.

"Walking on water" you say -- my son's friend I talked about before that got help this summer on the HJT board is 14. The analyst that assisted him was patient, clear, and had no idea he was working with a teenager. Anyone that can help a 14-year-old (no matter how computer savvy) through a tremendous infection (and believe me it was massive), earns my respect. I was the one who guided this boy to the DCF. He's grateful you all helped him, even though the laptop he was working on was not a Dell.

Let's hope rsberger gets his antivirus issues straightened out, otherwise, you'll be seeing him on the HJT board, I fear.

Mary :)

zbestwun2001 · Answer

Thanks for you commments.. we try here.

We can do alot in the HJT forum but we haven't mastered walking on water yet...lol
Have a great day

Steve

Here are some other useful programs...

WinPatrol
Zone Alarm-FREE
AdAwareSE
Spyware Blaster
Ewido trojan scanner-NOW FREE
CCleaner
MWAV

Message Edited by zbestwun2001 on 09-10-200601:16 PM

zbestwun2001 · Answer

Thanks for those kind words .... and personally we don't care how old you are to help you out... as long as you are able to follow the instructions which we make sure are very well worded...

Have a good Sunday..

Steve

rsberger · Answer

thanks for your assistance. I have been away since yesterday am and will try these suggestions. I wonder whether I had problems with NAV since I have Ad Aware, Spyblaster and Spybot S&D operating.

I am getting all sorts of warnings that there are attempts to overtake my IE and invade my computer that I need to get this done as soon as possible.

This board has been great in the past and I am hopeful that it can help me now.

zbestwun2001 · Answer

rsberger

No I don't think that is the problem.

All 3 of those programs should be fine . Keep in mind you only run SpyBlaster once when you bootup and for and those other 2 maybe weekly.

That wouldn't cause that.

Steve

Virus & Spyware

HELP! with Norton Antivirus

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