Symantec Trial won't go away

  • Thread starter Thread starter Donald McDaniel
  • Start date Start date
D

Donald McDaniel

I installed Symantec Internet Security 2007 for Vista last week, didn't like
it, so I uninstalled it from Programs and Features in the Control Panel.

Then I installed my new copy of Trend Micro Internet Security for Vista.

Now, the Security Center claims that Norton (all of it) is STILL installed,
and working, and the Windows Firewall is turned off, even though I just
turned it on.

I am NEVER going to put another Symantec product on my system again.

I would really appreciate any helpful information about this, especially
from those having the same problem, and what they did to fix it.
 
Ironically, I have a very similar problem with a free trial for Trend Micro
Internet for Vista RC2. I didn't uninstall a beta Trend Micro before
installing the new free trial version, and the installation was not complete.
I then uninstalled both, and reinstalled the free trial version. However,
I get a persistant message to reboot the computer in order to begin using
Trend Micro. Discussion with their tech support has resolved it only to the
extent of using msconfig to block a Trend Micro component from loading as
Vista does. This in turn, however, causes windows to consistently complain
of a blocked startup program. So I am considering giving up on Trend Micro
for this particular Vista installation -- it's a bit broken!. In general,
these antivirus programs dig themselves in as deeply as rootkits, I suspect.
 
I realize that the antivirus companies don't ship a 'computers for dummies'
book, but NEVER install a beta version of anything on a system you want to
keep. Ghost the drive, install the beta, test the beta, then restore the
Ghost backup before you even think about installing a new beta or release
candidate. After the release version becomes available, restore the Ghost
backup for the last time and install the new one. You might consider using
a VMWare Workstation environment for testing the betas. With most companies
doing builds at least once a day during beta, it is not possible to provide
uninstall or over-install capability to all the versions. The beta is to
find mistakes including installing the in presence of earlier released
versions, but not the betas as the number of versions becomes too many to
test. Sometimes the fix in a beta is the install logic that just did
something bad that can't be handled properly and this gives the companies a
chance to get it right. I suspect that some of the companies will reward
beta testers who find major goofs with free product, but you have to read
the license and notes where all these items are disclosed. We can't read
them for you.
 
Just as a rule I don't do beta testing except for work. Not at home with
product, though a WDK or other mainly reference item might be an exception.
 
David,
"I realize that the antivirus companies don't ship a 'computers for dummies'
book"... that comment is a bit harsh.
"NEVER install a beta version of anything on a system you want to keep."...I
would tend to agree, but don't overlook that I am using Vista RC2, itself a
beta, and at the time the only versions of antivirus software available for
Vista were beta's. Faced with a choice of no antivirus or a beta, I
installed the beta.
Your recommendation for using Ghost is a good idea, and I myself use it, but
at the time Symmantec didn't have even a beta version of Ghost for Vista. At
least I didn't know of one.
Your suggestion of a VMware workstation sounds good, too, although I
would've had to learn how to use VMware to protect my beta installation of
Vista. This Vista installation is not one I depend on for productivity.
"...We can't read them for you". I'm not asking for anyone to read the
EULA's for me. I'm aware beta software doesn't carry any warranty for
fitness. Sometimes, however, there's no other way to evaluate new software
than to install a beta!
Cheers,
Chemical X
 
There is a new version of Symantec Ghost Solutions Suite 2.0 available from
CDW. It handles Vista or so I have heard, but I haven't tested it myself.
It is the old Ghost that uses DOS to boot. It is ideal for testing but not
a live backup.

Chemical X said:
David,
"I realize that the antivirus companies don't ship a 'computers for
dummies'
book"... that comment is a bit harsh.
"NEVER install a beta version of anything on a system you want to
keep."...I
would tend to agree, but don't overlook that I am using Vista RC2, itself
a
beta, and at the time the only versions of antivirus software available
for
Vista were beta's. Faced with a choice of no antivirus or a beta, I
installed the beta.
Your recommendation for using Ghost is a good idea, and I myself use it,
but
at the time Symmantec didn't have even a beta version of Ghost for Vista.
At
least I didn't know of one.
Your suggestion of a VMware workstation sounds good, too, although I
would've had to learn how to use VMware to protect my beta installation of
Vista. This Vista installation is not one I depend on for productivity.
"...We can't read them for you". I'm not asking for anyone to read the
EULA's for me. I'm aware beta software doesn't carry any warranty for
fitness. Sometimes, however, there's no other way to evaluate new
software
than to install a beta!
Cheers,
Chemical X
Click to expand...
 
The uninstall tool doesn't fix this problem. I uninstalled my Symantec
products using this uninstall tool.

I am too faced with this problem-

VISTA WSC is telling me that Norton Internet Security is turned on for a
Firewall-

It's telling me that Norton Virus scanning is on.

However it's not installed on the PC. I see no sign of it running in the
task manager. There's not even a Norton or Symantec directory on the box!

WSC is incorrectly detecting the software and that it's on.

I suspect that WSC is reading a registry entry to determine the security
status rather than talking directly to the program...

In any case- does anyone have any insight into fixing this?
 
The only way I could get rid of NIS 2007 was to re-format and clean install
Vista. Pretty drastic, I know, but I was having issues with NIS while it
was installed and running and even more after I had run the uninstall tool
and supposedly got it off my system. So I got my $s back from Symantec for
NIS 2007. Now running with Windows Live Onecare and it seems to be working
ok. Takes a long time to do a virus scan tho.

Kirk
 
Hal said:
The uninstall tool doesn't fix this problem. I uninstalled my Symantec
products using this uninstall tool.

I am too faced with this problem-

VISTA WSC is telling me that Norton Internet Security is turned on for a
Firewall-

It's telling me that Norton Virus scanning is on.

However it's not installed on the PC. I see no sign of it running in the
task manager. There's not even a Norton or Symantec directory on the box!

WSC is incorrectly detecting the software and that it's on.

I suspect that WSC is reading a registry entry to determine the security
status rather than talking directly to the program...

In any case- does anyone have any insight into fixing this?
Click to expand...

The following works for XP. I can't guarantee that it will work in Vista
since I haven't tried it.

Open a command window (Start/Run --> cmd.exe) and run the following
commands:

net stop winmgmt
cd /d %windir%\system32\wbem
ren repository repository.old
net start winmgmt

(or alternatively delete it using the command "rd /s repository" instead
of the ren command)

You probably need to run cmd elevated. If you want a graphical way
instead of the command line:

Start>Run>services.msc [enter]

Scroll down to Windows Management Instrumentation and double-click it.
Now click on the "Pause" button. Leave that window open and double-click
My Computer. Navigate to %systemroot%\Windows\System32\wbem (where
%systemroot% is the drive where XP is installed). Delete the Repository
folder and *only* the Repository folder. Now go back to the WMI service
window you left open and restart the service.

This will rebuild the Repository and hopefully straighten out the
incorrect entries for all your duplicates.

In order to see the Windows files, you may need to unhide them:

Make sure you are able to see all hidden files and extensions (View tab
in Folder Options from the Control Panel).

Malke
 
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