My daughter bought a laptop with Norton Anti-virus pre-installed, when the licence expired I installed AVG8 for her - I've used AVG for ages and always liked it.

When I tried to install it a message appeared saying that it was inadvisable to run 2 AV programs together. I tried uninstalling Norton - NIGHTMARE!! - you need to create an account, get a registration number, follow all steps........ blah blah blah.....................!!

Tried using the CCleaner uninstaller, the process just froze after a few minutes and said Norton uninstall had been unsuccessful!

The only thing I could do was to delete the start-up entry for Norton and then install AVG, which seems to have worked.

This is fine but is only a work-around, surely there must be a simpler way of uninstalling Norton?

Anyone out there got a fix, or does she have to 'live with it'?

You could always try Revo Uninstaller. Just be careful...because it is very powerful and you can delete more stuff than necessary it you aren't careful. Just Google it and you'll be able to download it for free.


AJ

You really need to remove Norton with the correct Uninstall Tool. You can find the correct tool for your version at this link:

http://service1.symantec.com/SUPPORT/tsgen...&view=docid

If you haven't removed it properly, the only way to do so may be to reinstall it, and then to use the correct tool.

Norton does stretch it's tentacles into a lot of places, and you may get future problems if there's a lot of stuff left behind. It's hard to say, but it's usually best to get rid of it properly.

I can't express strongly enough how much I hate Symantec. They have their crap on almost every machine you buy from a store or manufacturer. They pay big bucks to them to put Norton AV on there. My last Dell laptop purchase I made sure that crap was not installed. I actually had to argue with the clowns at Dell about it. Finally I told them it's very simple. Do as I ask or shove the computer your a......

I can't believe how many people I know that think Norton is just great. Ask them how may AV's they have ever tried and they say none no need to because Norton is the best. I say why do you think that and they say because it comes with all the machines that you buy so it must be the best. I than ask them if their mothers had any children that lived

That is one of the things that The PC Decrapifier targets:
http://pcdecrapifier.com

The fact that program even needs to exist is a disgrace.

I also had a discussion with them about not putting third-party garbage on my HDD but they stated they couldn't do that back in 2003. So the day I got my PC I formatted the HDD to remove stuff like McAfee, etc.

While I was arguing with them they insisted they couldn't do it either. They "offered" to send me an empty HD and all the the disks I need to install what I want. I said sure if you knock of a nice percentage of the purchase price for the extra work I have to do. The install disks YOU WILL be sending me any ways so don't sound like it's a special favour to me. Of course they said no. So I explained to them the fundamentals of our relationship. I pay you give me what I want. You aren't doing me a favour by selling me the machine A$$ hole. Once I got a manager on the phone I was given a code number for a "no software option". No trial junk or AV or any of the crap would be installed on my machine. So I ask the guy if a "no software option" exists and actually has a code for it why did they insist they couldn't do it for me? He starts giving me a bunch of BS so I cut him off and told him not to waste his breath because he had lost all credibility with me. I also informed him that if my machine came with any of the junk that I didn't want I would send it back immediately. It came and did not have the junk on it.

That's why I like dealing with my local PC shop because I get what I want with no argument and no extra fluff and the same system specifications for quite a bit cheaper plus I get to talk face to face with someone that speaks Canadian EH!

A local yokel, EH! Wins every time.
davey

What did you SAY THAT CODE NUMBER IS ??? I am sure we are all dying to know, at least I am.
davey

Sure I will give it to you. It's not top secret. I ordered it on October 14, 2006

If you ever bought a Dell they send you an Itemized bill/receipt. It lists all the hardware and software features. You have the description of the item, quantity and item number. There is also a two letter code in front of the description.

This is how the item is listed on my receipt. 412-0379 OA No Software Package

OK! OA Bookmarked.
May come in handy soon.
"Somebody" just learned how to use "Delete all" button on Delete Browsing History...
There went my Autocomplete Form History and good "Cookies".
However, I guess I have to forgive him. "Somebody" has also been browsing the Dell PC webpage.
davey

OA is not the code 412-0379 is. OA is just the two letters in front of the item description. Other items also had OA in front of them. 412-0379 is the item number for the No Software Package. At least it was when I purchased the machine on October 2006.

I'd like to know the description of OA. I can think of one Ordered Angry, when they told you no.

Either that or Obnoxious Ahole. I am sure that is what they thought of me after I told them to give me what I want or they could shove the machine up their poop chute These companies never stop amazing me. They act like it's a privilege for you to be buying their products and you should be grateful to them for selling it to you. GM and Ford thought that way for years and they are dying their much deserved deaths as I type this. Does my heart good to see it happening to them to.

So am I right in thinking you guys don't like Norton?

I'm wondering if Kaybee got it off his system.

Peter Norton is OK but he sold out to Symantec:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Norton

I disliked it so much I had removal scripts for years when asked to clean up peoples PC's that wanted it really off their systems - of course that meant I had to have watched installations of it to know what left overs to zap. They put more crumbs on a system than a cookie factory could produce.

Of course that's back in the early days of AVG Free, and when Computer Associates had the precursor to eTrust Antivirus called InoculateIT PE which was free (if only CA still made a superlite AV like that now but I guess it bloated for OS support).

Go see, might help?
http://forum.piriform.com/index.php?showtopic=17564

You 'aint paying attention.

Already covered in post No.3.

http://forum.piriform.com/index.php?s=&...st&p=112611

Yea but that update was not announced until September 1, 2008 so I think that it was good to add the cross reference.

I didn't say it wasn't.

The post was made for no other reason than to inject a little bit of humour, something I've seen you practice on more than one occassion.

Story of my life...

OMG!!

(HP Laptop running Windows VISTA Home Premium)

I've run the Norton removal tool that you suggested and it went through all the stages and finally stated that Windows Firewall would need activating and to restart the computer.

Did all that - and when restarting it went through a checkdisk routine and eventually the Windows logon screen appeared. I typed in the password and clicked 'ok' and waited - the screen then went blank with just the cursor (arrow) showing. The hard drive light lit and then flickered for a while - then NOTHING!!

By pressing Ctrl-Alt-Del the various options appeared (Switch User, Log Off etc etc) and I selected the Task manager - which appeared but didn't really tell me anything I could understand!

After 20 minutes, by which time it still hadn't started up, I decided to switch it off and am now in my daughters' bad books - she doesn't have a working computer.

IT WONT WORK - HELP!

Boot into Safe Mode, then System Restore to an earlier date.

Hopefully you can do that as sometimes that also means Safe Mode won't work either.

Sorry - how do I do that??

How to start Windows in Safe Mode

I'm sorry to hear about your probs, and hopefully you can get back to where you were following Andavaris advice. Your problem may be caused by the original "part removed" Norton.

I've removed Norton at least 3 times myself with the correct tool following format/reinstalls (Norton is part of my recovery partition), and there weren't any problems, but it was a full, complete install each time, and not a partly removed one. You may have to go down the road of reinstalling Norton to completely get rid of it.

I can't describe how badly I want to see Norton exterminated as a company. They are a disease. Try buying a new machine from one of the major manufacturers without it or McAfee on it. Than you have to go through this BS to remove the crap and than as Dennis said the crap is part of your recovery partition so every time you you start over there it is right back up your ass. It should be illegal for this. Problem is most people don't care they think that Norton is great so they don't complain about it. If enough people complained the major computer manufacturers wouldn't be putting that crap on there.

Thank you but, in spite of all your help, it still won't work! I successfully restored it to the restore point I created just before attempting the uninstall, but still didn't manage to get it to boot up any further.

I totally agree with everyones' opinions on Norton forcing themselves on consumers. What would happen if we went to buy a new car and were told that you can only have it with lime green leather upholstery - that would soon be outlawed!!!

Once again thanks for all your suggestions - looks like I'll have to get a 'techy' friend of my daughters to look at it, although he too thought that reverting to an earlier SR point should have sorted it. Ah well, here's hoping!

Have you thought of visiting the Norton head office and smashing the machine over an executives head and than shoving the broken pieces up his arse? I think that would fix the problem Oh Waite his head is probably already up his arse so you will have to put the machine up there in one piece to smash it over his head

Final update as I'm now getting really pi**ed off with the damn machine!

Left in 'post Windows logon screen' mode - (you remember, it's a blank grey screen with the 'arrow' cursor), for 20 minutes and went back to switch it off using Ctrl-Alt-Del to bring the options screen up. The 'shut down' button was showing that it had downloaded some Windows updates and it's now installing them before it switches off.

Does this make things any:
_
a) Clearer |_|
Harder |_|
c) Unsure |_|
d) Couldn't care less |_|

Please tick one box only!

And it's goodnight from me................and goodnight from him!! [Courtesy the Two Ronnies]

OK they should have been tick boxes but, when posted, it all went out of alignment Grr

Re: Anthony As' post - precisely where is Nortons head office - and does anybody wish to join me in a communal laptop/arse shoving excercise??!!!

Does it make any difference if you try to log on as a different user?

Thats the spirit. Not enough people feel this way thats why nothing is done about it. I won't just be arse shoving laptops. I will find some of those old main frames that take up rooms and I will shove those to

To use a phrase from one of Peter Sellers last movies Being There "I like to watch."

No - on the logon screen there is my daughters' user id plus 'guest', if I click on guest it 'logs off' and returns again to the logon screen.

You gotta back off on that coffee a little, AA.

Kaybee, sorry you are having trouble.
I actually did visit one of the offices, sort of. I installed norton's free trial on a VM (VM runs WXP pro, sp2.), and got an error, so asked the online chat helper try to fix it. Very nice, helpful person, actually called me on the phone. Got the trial to work, finally. You have to give them remote control of your computer. I WOULDN"T HAVE DONE IT except that I had Returnil active.

I installed and uninstalled 3 times altogether. Took 2, 3 hours. Nothing crashed. Lotsa reg entries left after the uninstall completes.

The attached pictures show a bit about the remote chat assistance Norton uses.





Not very informative, but it suggests that there may be some other problem not related to the Norton installation.

You might try going back to a restore point earlier than the one you selected for the first try.
Also, did you try DennisD's suggestion to reinstall and then uninstall?
Also, the DeCrapifier just seems to use Nortons Own uninstaller.

I don't drink anything with caffeine in it especially coffee. Is there anything more disgusting tasting than coffee? Yuck I can't stand the smell and ever since I took a sip from my mother's cup when I was young I have never touched it. I get a laugh out of seeing all the junkies lined up at the drive through coffee shops for their morning fix

You won't see me lined up at the drive through coffee shop as I don't have a car.

In fact you won't see me at a coffee shop with their ridiculous prices.

I walk to my local Bargain Shop where I can purchase an instant coffee container for $9.57 that makes about 100 cups or more and 1 liter of 2% milk for $2.09 that lasts me a week.

Being Canadian you know what I mean though. Seems like there is a Tim Hortons on every corner and their drive throughs are packed every morning. Than you see the drivers mindlessly driving with blank stares while they get their fix into them. I have never had a coffee or tea in my life. Never will either. Good thing to because if I had some Caffeine in me I would be at Norton head office by now inserting computers into places they shouldn't be

There are 9 Tim Hortons within a 3KM radius of me and the closest one is three locations east of me and the cars, pickups and SUVs that come and go from there is non stop.

Even the 13 cent a liter rise in gasoline has not curtailed the mad dash for the $1.25 medium cup of coffee.

I never have been a fan of anything Norton ( Symantec ) nor McAfee for that matter its just that most brand name system comes pre-packaged with either one installed plus AOL and various trial applications installed and thus the need for PC-Decrapifier and comforting guidance to extricate the un-wanted stuff in a painless and expedient manner.

Let's not discuss the merits nor pitfalls of caffeine consumption and stick with the original topic Norton Anti-Virus - how to uninstall? or let's have a Moderator set up a topic for Caffeine Anonymous meetings.

And finally...................

We had to create rescue disks and reinstall the entire operating system, no amount of System Restore, or help from our tecchy friend solved things!!!

At least we, once again, have a clean install!

Thanks once again to everyone for all their help

Glad it worked out for you but what you had to go through is total BS. Norton should die and I mean like yesterday.

If it could be turned into safe biodegradable compost then I would agree with you but I would be afraid that some lingering droppings would still remain that would leave me with a bad taste in my mouth and heartburn that would take a bottle of Tums to get rid of.

Yep, I'm really happy you've got it sorted, but a shame you had to go through all this to do it.

Did you ever find out what was causing the problem?

Yeah....Norton.

I spent the last few days setting up an HP laptop for the G friend. Came with Vista Home Premium which I am not impressed with but thats another story. It came with Norton Internet Security installed. I was fortunate that the uninstall was fairly smooth and painless. I first went to the Norton start menu item and selected uninstall. It finished it's routine and I rebooted. I then ran the Norton Removal Tool to clean up. Rebooted and ran the tool again. Rebooted and Ran CCleaner's reg tool and there were only a couple entries for Norton/Symantec . Installed Avira AntiVir. No problems. I'm sure there are some reg entries left behind but nothing that is causing any problems right now and I don't want to mess with them until I get more familiar with Vista. The one glitch was when I went to download the Norton Removal Tool from Norton's site I couldn't. Some thing about a server error or what ever. I ended up downloading from Magor Geeks.