Thanks for the words I kind of didn't want to hear.  My daughter's Inspiron 8600 has NAV 2004, and sure enough, hers did like yours: updated automatically fine, and went through the manual Live Update without a hitch.  On this one (her brother's) I ran a manual scan that showed no virus threats, but at the conclusion it once again gave me the pop-up screen that Live Updates were now available and did I want to download them.  This time, though, I clicked NO.  I've tried about a dozen times today to no avail.

I still don't understand how it could have updated automatically yesterday without an issue, and then today it all goes awry (no new programs installed, very little use, no new sites visited).  Just seems a little odd to me.  Thanks for your help.  I'm not looking forward to uninstalling and reinstalling this program.  What an unnecessary waste of time!  I'd trash the whole thing except that I paid for virus definitions through next May on it.

Thanks for the link.  Here's the question:  I updated to SP2 way back when -- last summer shortly after it came out.  Live Updates have been downloading and working without a glitch until yesterday (6/30/05).  I know that Live Updates come in on Wednesdays and on critical update times.  I have not done anything to this software yet (I'm dreading the whole task, which is why I'm putting it off).

There are so many files listed there!  Which one to choose?  I'm pretty computery savvy, but let's just say that some of it is slightly over my head. 

And pardon my anger, but does Symantec really think that the average computer user is going to be able to figure this all out?  I've been working with computers since the old DOS 3.0 and Apple IIe days, so I kind of know what's going on.  But someone who has just bought their first system -- well, really?  Sorry, just venting.  I'm frustrated about the whole situation.

On another note, I did e-mail Symantec tech support AGAIN, and got another response.  They told me to repair Live Update by unistalling all of my Symantec and Norton software and reinstalling it.

I'll take a further look at your link and try to figure this all out.  What a learning process this has been.  Thanks again.  I appreciate any insight anyone can give me.  :)  Knowledge is power!

Vague is not the word.  I thought I was reading through a car repair manual, and let's just say that I know how to turn on my ignition and radio and that's about it on my car.  Jeez!  I have been a die-hard Norton user for years.  Just purchased an Inspiron 6000 for my parents (both "seniors") and at the advice of my brother had McAfee included as the antivirus software.  The LAST thing they would need on their very first system would be to encounter a problem like this.

After the fireworks have finished going off, I think I'll settle down and try to figure this all out.  I'm too frustrated and angered by it all.  In the meantime, I'll let it do its automatic scan tonight and then see if I can manually download updates to the virus defs from the web this weekend.  The only thing I'm really concerned about is it being protected from viruses.  Since I've been connected to the internet since I had to dial up on my 14.4 modem and viruses were something you really didn't have to worry about, if I have to manually update the defs on this machine for a while I can handle it.  I'm not that lazy.  Thanks again.  I appreciate the empathy, support, and suggestions from everyone.

Have a great 4th of July!

Message Edited by boppo on 07-01-2005 09:34 PM

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@txtchr wrote:

On another note, I did e-mail Symantec tech support AGAIN, and got another response.  They told me to repair Live Update by unistalling all of my Symantec and Norton software and reinstalling it.

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The tech support pretty much said the right thing. You are going to need to uninstall NAV, then uninstall LiveUpdate, then uninstall LiveReg. Then you need to delete the related folder(s) in C:\Program Files, then delete the related registry entries.

After doing all that,

1) download lusetup-lt.exe (June 30, 2005) from Symantec.
2) install NAV 2004
     (do not run LiveUpdate yet)
3) go to the options and disable automatic updates
4) Run lusetup-lt.exe .  It will uninstall the old version of LiveUpdate and install the new version
     (there may be a reboot needed. ???)
5) Run LiveUpdate manually. Rerun LiveUpdate (reboot as needed) until there are no more updates.

6) turn on automatic updates (if you really want it)

If the automatic update feature is used, LiveUpdate may get damaged up if the PC is rebooted or hangs while LiveUpdate is installing updates. I recommend leaving automatic updates disabled and manually checking for updates 2 or 3 times a week.

I run LiveUpdate manually with Norton SystemWorks 2004 and Norton Personal Firewall 2004 and have no problems with it.