[Goodboy1959]

Hi All:

I need some advice from the members!!.

My Norton 2007 is coming up for renewal, and have decided that I will dispense with it, once and for all, and start using AVG free, which I use on my Laptop with no problems.

Problem 1:

If I use the Norton Removal tool, which many members recommend, will this ALSO remove the earlier version of Norton, (2002), which came as part of my software package, (pre installed, not on disk), and will this cause any system problems??.

Problem 2:

Will the Windows firewall be able to be turned back on?. The reason for this question is that since buying Norton 2007, have had to keep it switched off as it stopped me from accessing the Internet, (even switching off the Norton firewall didn't help).

General advice:

I purchased Uniblue Powersuite, do any members know of any problems between this and other AntiSpyware program's out there??.

Also, I know so many others have asked, but what would you all recommend as a nice mix of free Spy ware/Add ware program's to install, and is the Windows firewall adequate for general protection.

Thanks in advance......Andy

[ZeRealBigBoss]

Why did you pay for an AV? This is an excellent free one, one of many; you can find more of them on several places in this forum:

http://www.free-av.com/

Do not use the Windows firewall, that is a useless plague. Here:

http://www.download.com/ZoneAlarm-Fi...html?tag=lst-7

and:

http://www.lavasoft.com/products/ad_aware_free.php

Getting Norton out is an absolute horror. You will have to run de-install, then reboot, then run msconfig and in Startup switch everything of that has to do with Norton, reboot again, delete what is left of the Norton program directory, then with regedit search and delete every key that mentiones Norton or NAV or Symantec, and that are a lot. Takes abt. 45 minutes in all.

[golferbob]

first off ,norton is not one of my favorite programs. website below for norton's tools ,choose the one you need. i myself use avg free , comodo free firewall & super antispyware free.


http://service1.symantec.com/SUPPORT...05033108162039

[Broni]

Norton IS a horrible program, and resource hog, so you're doing right thing to get rid of it.
Windows firewall is more, or less useless, especially for outbound traffic protection.
A while ago, I ran some test on Vista firewall, and results were really bad.
You may see my test here:
http://www.smartestcomputing.us.com/...howtopic=28597
The best ranking free firewall is definitely Comodo: http://www.personalfirewall.comodo.com/
I'm personally using free PC Tools free firewall (http://www.pctools.com/firewall/), and I'm happy with it.

Zone Alarm firewall, which I used in the past, seems to have too many issues once in a while.
You can see firewalls ranking here (post #7):
http://www.computerhope.com/forum/in...3.new.html#new

Norton Security Suite came with my Vista, and it was the very first thing, I uninstalled, and considering all kind of problems, people are having with its removal, it went pretty smooth for me.
I used Norton Removal Tool, first, then I scanned my registry for any key with Norton, and Symantec name in it, deleted all those entries (Norton Removal Tool left quiet a few), and I didn't have any ill effects.

As stated before, there is no reason to pay for any security tools, because there are plenty of them, and good ones, out there for free.

As for AV, I use AVG free. As for antispyware startups (real time protection), I use free a-squared :http://www.emsisoft.com/en/software/free/, and Spyware Terminator: http://www.spywareterminator.com/

[bearone2]

it's a resource hog if tied to norton internet security or systemworks.

i use/have used norton/symantec av for years and love it.

i'm surprised 2007 was running with 2002 still onboard.

fwiw:
the removal tool won't remove everything.

i use "search" in xp and "find" in regedit and eliminate every reference to nor/sym, reboot and install what's to be the new av, whether paid for or free.

[ZeRealBigBoss]

Recently I found this, marked as: Windows firewall:

[Broni]

brilliant....LOL

[Goodboy1959]

Thank you all for your replies, and I will be removing Norton in the next few days.

One thing though, when you have mentioned searching out any entries left after using the Norton removal tool, is this using the "Search" facility on the startup menu, or do I have to go by another route.

(Sorry if the last question seems silly, but I have only limited computer skills, and dont want to muck it up)

Andy

[scruftig]

Nrton is a joke it should be classified as a virus. The removal tool works excellent I bought Kaspesky then used the norton removal tool and did not disable the Kaspersky firewall. Kaspersky found an e-mail worm that norton could not find plus one virus that norton missed.

[ZeRealBigBoss]

In that case, the best thing to do is downloading and installing this; run it after you have run the de-installer, modyfied the start-up tab, rebooted and then deleted the Norton/Symantic directory:

http://www.download.com/Abexo-Free-R...html?tag=lst-6

If a program runs on start-up, you can not delete it nor its directory, that is why you have to modify the start-up tab. You also might stop the programs while they are running; delete the Norton/Symantic directory, and if Windows can not delete a program because it is still running, it tells you which one that is, so you then can stop it manually and continue deleting.


Manually it goes like this; you have to meddle in the Windows registry, so you have to adhere strictly to these instructions:

Click on start - run, write regedit and give enter. A window opens; click Edit Find and in the search field write symantec

Now search, and the program will stop on the first occurrence of the search word. Right-click on the blue field, click on Delete and after deleting press F3 and repeat. The program can find entries in the left as well as in the right window. Once this search is completed, go into the left window and click on My Computer up top to reset the cursor to the beginning. Now do the same for norton and NAV. With the latter you will have to check every time it stops that it does not by chance refer to some other program; if it does or if you are not sure, leave it. Close the program, reboot and ready.

Make sure that XP does not roll back to an older reistry on the next start-up. I hope that I could explain the things without contributing too much to the confusion.

[Broni]

you have to meddle in the Windows registry, so you have to adhere strictly to these instructions

Before you go to the very first step in provided instructions, click File, then Export, which will allow you to save your whole registry, just in case, something goes wrong (which shouldn't).