Yet Another Cycling Forum
General Category => The Knowledge => Ctrl-Alt-Del => Topic started by: Polar Bear on 14 April, 2008, 10:58:14 am
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Ok, own goal
Bought a pc mag wiht a 90 day trial of 2008. LHTought I'd try it. Massive cock up installing so it won't work. It won;t uninstall either. Looked at teh Symantec site but any uninstaller needs a product code which the install never got to when the install borked.
Any clues please? :(
At the moment AVG and ZOnealarm are working just dandy. So much for commercial poo. I used to support the commercial vendors position but my mind has changed in a day.
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(http://faroutshirts.com/images/NukeSite-Preview.png)
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Hmmm. I suppose technically you're right but the collateral damage might be unacceptable to the neighbours ;D
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Bad news I'm afraid. A friend gave me an old laptop, it was running slowly so I thought I'd strip off anything we didn't need - got down to Norton and 4 months later still trying to exorcise it.
Google "Remove Norton" and you'll see why, you can even buy tools to remove the sod.
I've manually got rid of most of it, just down to a few annoying popups during boot up.
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Reformat and reinstall XP or Vista which ever it was. Easier and quicker.
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Just restore from the partition image you took before the attempted installation of NIS. You did do a partition image didn't you ?
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I've uninstalled it before. I used Windows Task Manager and Google to halt all the Norton processes. Then I deleted the Norton directory. Seems to get rid of pretty much anything.
I use the same technique to delete ESET every time the free trial ends and then start another one. So I get the bestest anti-virus program for free! :thumbsup:
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All of Symantec software leaves lots of registry entries even after using the uninstall option. It's worth spending £20-£30 or so to get a registry cleaner program.
Norton really is a nasty bit of bloatware though.
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I've uninstalled it before. I used Windows Task Manager and Google to halt all the Norton processes. Then I deleted the Norton directory. Seems to get rid of pretty much anything.
Yes that and then as Flying Dodo said, clear out the registry. That's do-able by hand but it's a thankless task. It took me about an hour when I did it :(
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Just restore from the partition image you took before the attempted installation of NIS. You did do a partition image didn't you ?
People who install trial versions of Norton are not people who take partition images.
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A friend gave me an old laptop,
Maybe you need to contact that firm which supplies the install disks for old PCs? I solved many problems with a 2nd hand Thinkpad for £22! I can't remember the company's name - somebody at ACF recommended it to me but I can't do a search over there with guest access. >:(
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I recommended the firm but they don't do the discs any more. Microsoft closed them down. There was a very bitter open letter on their last time I looked about how they were told they had to be in some kind of special Microsoft programme toi do the disks and when they asked how they joined the programme they were told they couldn't. Basically Microsoft want you to buy another copy of Windows if you loose the media.
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I've uninstalled it before. I used Windows Task Manager and Google to halt all the Norton processes. Then I deleted the Norton directory. Seems to get rid of pretty much anything.
Yes that and then as Flying Dodo said, clear out the registry. That's do-able by hand but it's a thankless task. It took me about an hour when I did it :(
Actually I found it satisfying rather than thankless because I finally found out what my laptop is doing all day. So I don't stress as much as I used to when the CPU appears to have been taken over by something unrecognisable. It usually turns out to be an inefficient but well-meaning process. And sometimes I can end it without breaking anything.
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I recommended the firm but they don't do the discs any more. Microsoft closed them down. There was a very bitter open letter on their last time I looked about how they were told they had to be in some kind of special Microsoft programme toi do the disks and when they asked how they joined the programme they were told they couldn't. Basically Microsoft want you to buy another copy of Windows if you loose the media.
What a shame! It seemed almost to good to be true at the time. What's the firm's name?
Thanks for the recommendation anyway. It was a lifesaver.
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If you know what precise flavour and SP of Windows your licence key is valid for, just borrow someone else's CD.
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Or get that Ubuntu feelin' :thumbsup:
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I recommended the firm but they don't do the discs any more. Microsoft closed them down. There was a very bitter open letter on their last time I looked about how they were told they had to be in some kind of special Microsoft programme toi do the disks and when they asked how they joined the programme they were told they couldn't. Basically Microsoft want you to buy another copy of Windows if you loose the media.
What a shame! It seemed almost to good to be true at the time. What's the firm's name?
Thanks for the recommendation anyway. It was a lifesaver.
Hi just checked and it looks like they are back in business ! There is now some speel about having an agreement only to provide disks for machines more than two years old (ie when the manufacturers don't do it any more). Perhaps the manufacturers gave Microsoft a kick and told them to allow it to get customers off their backs.
http://www.gennersales.eu/
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Just restore from the partition image you took before the attempted installation of NIS. You did do a partition image didn't you ?
People who install trial versions of Norton are not people who take partition images.
Well, actually I did but I had NIS 2007 beforehand and all that happens is that it reverts back to that which I want to get rid of but can't either. :(
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At the moment I am working as you can see but I've also now updated my laptop (not with NIS I might add) so I have an up-to-date fallback position.
What is going to happen with this machine is that it's oging to get a completely fresh install in a few weeks when I have more time.
Oh, and I'm not going to go Linux on this box. I see so many threads on various fora about this hardware wont work, that setting isn't right, etc., etc., etc. I don't necessarily like Bill Gates but Windows is not my problem here, NIS is. I'm not going to make the obvious statement about windows simply because it will jinx me to do so. I know this is true - it is an unwritten law of IT.
I will play with linux on a lower spec machine later in teh summer though when I have more free time. I am curious but I'm not yet ready to swap over. You never know, I might even like it once I get a reliable install working with all my various kit over the home network. ;D
In the meantime at least I seem to have NIS under control ... :-X
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Hit Ctrl + Alt + Del to start Windows Task Manager. Go to the Processes tab, select anything which starts with 'nav' and hit End Process. Then find all Symantec directories and empty them. That'll kill it! You don't need to do a registry clean-up if you're going to reinstall Windows soon.
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I've gone back to a restore point a week ago, now managed to unisntall NIS but in the process it has broken links between Outlook and Word. I have also reinstalled Zonealarm, AVG and Ad-Aware. Now to repair MS Office ...
This rubbish has cost me about 4 hours of my life. I suppose some will think that I've got off lightly. ::-) ;D
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I think Peter Norton of the Pink Shirt had his photo taken off the box when he realised how evil it had become.
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While you're at it, take a bit more pain by replacing AVG with ESET. It's really fast. AVG is quite an overhead on your system. In fact it's so slow it counts as bloatware in my book.
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ESET eh? I'll look it out and see ...
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ESET maybe good but it's £40 a year and AVG is free.
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Not if you delete it when the trial period is up and install it again. I suppose it's piracy, but ::-)
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Well, back to the original post. NIS is gone, YIPPEE!!!!! ;D ;D ;D ;D
PC is pootering along very nicely with the freeware, quicker than with NIS bloatware. All links between apps seem to be working again.
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So what are the best alternatives for Norton then? I've got it on my machine and have thought of getting rid of it for ages...
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So what are the best alternatives for Norton then? I've got it on my machine and have thought of getting rid of it for ages...
I'm now running Zonealarm firewall, AVG antivirus and Ad Awre Pesonal sypware removal tool.
All three are free.
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ESET is free too! And it's the best of the lot. I'm sure Polar Bear would have managed to install it by now if he had a keyboard adapted to his grotesque claws.