John,

I did a search today on Google for "Windows Xp Service Pack 1" "Norton Anti Virus" and found a number of references to the problem. I then did a search within Symantec for "Windows Xp Service Pack 1" and the data I pasted into this thread came up in one of the pages listed.

My machine had been set for automatic Microsoft upgrades which is why I had the initial "Windows Xp Service Pack 1" when it first came out. After that I set the windows upgrades to custom install so there may have been patches etc but I didn't get anything to fix the problem so I was still struggling to fix it for quite some time.

Symantec was of no use at that time. A year later they had fixed up a patch for it, but it's a long time to go without anti-virus software. They may even have fixed it within the year but they never replied to my email requesting help and certainly didn't let me know there was a patch for the problem.

It was a "hole in the bucket" problem, as I recall. I couldn't get the Norton upgrades or download & install anything including virus definitions so I couldn't fix the problem which prevented me from upgrading or downloading.

Helen