Another Norton Internet Security problem

Am up at Dad's computer where Norton Internet Security is installed. When you boot pc a message says Norton auto protect could not be loaded, please restart the computer. Restarting the computer gives the same message and the Norton auto protect icon on the system tray is disabled. I try to uninstall the program so I can reinstall it but Norton won't let me saying I have to log in as an administrator. I am the admininstrator of the pc so I think they mean the administrator for Norton. Thinking somehow a virus or trojan horse may have infected the pc, I run the anti-virus program which still works and also installed and ran Webroot's spysweeper, rated number one by PC World. Basically came up with nothing save a couple of cookies it didn't like. Machine doesn't act like a virus is installed and looking at running processes, I don't see anything malicious that jumps out at me.

So any advice on how to fix this fiasco? Like I said I can't even delete the program to do a fresh reinstall.

Are you running XP? If so you could try restoring the system to an earlier time.

You can also try Norton's web site. If it is a virus keeping Norton from loading, chances are they will have a work-around.

Can you reinstall without uninstalling? Sometimes when the install detects a previous version it will ask if you want to uninstall it first. That may get you around the admin message.

Good Luck.

Greg

Funny thing, the same thing happened on my dad's computer. I had never seen or heard of anything like that happening.

IIRC, he ran live update which updated the software and cleared the problem. I never did find out what the cause was.

Added: A few more notes. In case I wasn't clear, it was exactly the same thing, down to the Administrator privelege. It happened to him about a week ago. I also run NIS and didn't experience this problem.

I would try the Norton Anti Virus online scan from their website and see what it comes up with. Also scan with Spybot and maybe disable the system restore point temp because sometimes viruses hide in there making it impossible to permanently remove the virus. Good luck with your problem :shrug:

Am downloading the updates now, about four meg worth. As I am only connected at 24k, it is going to take more then a half hour but I am not going anywhere.

Drizzle, exactly the same thing for me, I run the program and did not experience the problem. I hope the update will fix it for him. I'll post back after the updates are done.

Yup, running live update and rebooting cured the problem. When I return back to the land of broadband, I'll have to do some research as to the cause the problem. I'm wondering if one of the automatic windows xp updates caused the problem. Dad's system is running xp home on an AMD Sempron CPU while I am running XP Pro on a Intel P4.

i got problems with Norton too.

-David

Looks like we are going to be very busy at work tomorrow...

JM-99

Ello,

Looks like it is time to get serious. Deleate all prefetch data and windows temp files. Delete all cookies and "offline" files from IE. Download and install Spybot Search and Destroy. Run it to get the updates. Disable system restore, you will re-enable it later as the last step. Get the latest virus defs for Norton and install them. Boot into safe mode (f8) at start-up. Run Norton Anti-virus. Run Spybot Search and Destroy. Hopefully you will have picked out and deleted any virus or spyware that was causing the problem. Restart in XP and re-enable system restore.

If that doesn't work, back up your data files, reformat and re-install XP.

Just saw this. This is happening to a LOT of users. My guess is the auto update did an update that broke the program, and then couldn't get anymore updates to fix itself.

I fixed several computers by opening norton up, then doing update. Then after that it worked/loaded fine.

Well, actually, I think my norton has been working like a charm lately.

-David

LOL, I am not longer a Norton IS user but a NOD32/Zone Alarm user.