BS: The dangers of Norton Security

Subject: BS: The dangers of Norton Security
From: Donuel
Date: 25 Oct 05 - 12:44 PM

Before you install an internet security program or even update one, you should be warned that it could lead to having to reformat your entire drive.

Sometimes Norton Security will perceive a Windows function as a virus and erase it leaving you with a less than whole computer... (especially if the spyware etc. was designed to attach itself to an operating funtion)

Certain operating systems will not allow a specific repair to Windows or its bundled Internet Explorer so the only fix is to wipe your drive clean and start over from scratch.

If you are lucky enough to still be able to back up everything the exercise will only be tedious and time consuming.

It would have been nice for Norton to advertise this danger.

Subject: RE: BS: The dangers of Norton Security
From: MMario
Date: 25 Oct 05 - 12:47 PM

That isn't actually the fault of Norton's but rather the fault of the OS. Norton's does what it is suppossed to do - remove an infected file. It's not Norton's fault that Microsloth won't let you repair the bloody OS

Subject: RE: BS: The dangers of Norton Security
From: Bill D
Date: 25 Oct 05 - 12:49 PM

ummm.. that needs more documentation than just a warning. I have never heard of this. What Windows function could do this?

Subject: RE: BS: The dangers of Norton Security
From: Donuel
Date: 25 Oct 05 - 12:56 PM

Windows Internet Explorer functions are seemingly most vulnerable.
Corruption of these files can leave one without the ability to scan disk, defrag, download or run media player, multimedia flash etc.

Subject: RE: BS: The dangers of Norton Security
From: Donuel
Date: 25 Oct 05 - 12:58 PM

that should read - download anything, run media player...

Subject: RE: BS: The dangers of Norton Security
From: MMario
Date: 25 Oct 05 - 01:00 PM

heck - blinking too hard while viewing a website can corrupt the Internet Exploder.

Subject: RE: BS: The dangers of Norton Security
From: GUEST
Date: 25 Oct 05 - 01:17 PM

It's those bloddy satellites again...

Subject: RE: BS: The dangers of Norton Security
From: GUEST
Date: 25 Oct 05 - 01:28 PM

its a Hard Hard Disk........................

Subject: RE: BS: The dangers of Norton Security
From: MMario
Date: 25 Oct 05 - 01:33 PM

I thought it went..

Hard drive
Hard drive
Crash again no more!
Many days have we waited
for data that you store
Oh Hard Drive crash again no more!

Subject: RE: BS: The dangers of Norton Security
From: JohnInKansas
Date: 25 Oct 05 - 06:51 PM

Norton should never delete a file that does not actually contain a virus. No original Windows files, from any legal installation disks have ever, to my knowledge, been reported as infected.

If a critical file is infected and deleted, you should be able to do an "overlay" reinstallation of Windows and/or of Internet Explorer without the necessity of a reformat. In older Win versions this often will return everything to "default" setup; but in newer versions it usually will keep most settings. Especially in the obsolete Win95/Win98/WinME, an overlay may return you to the default IE, which I believe was ver 4.0 for the Win versions affected. IE4.0 lacks security levels and encryption required by some websites so you might need a reinstall of a current IE.

If Windows is not repairable by doing a repair, or an overlay installation, it would normally mean that the virus with which you were infected has done some nasty stuff. Neither Norton nor Windows can be blamed for that, unless you can provide assurance that your Norton was always kept current and was always run in real-time protection mode(s).

Even if critical functions are disabled on your machine, with any remotely recent Win version you should be able to boot to Safe Mode from your installation disk(s) and use the necessary functions from there to make repairs without a reformat. You may also have followed the instructions at original installation to make a "recovery disk" that would allow a Safe Mode boot and would provide necessary management tools - - but I don't know where mine is either. (I would expect to use the install CD if the need ever came up.)

Your Norton log(s) should show what specific file(s) were deleted, and with a boot to Safe Mode and with your installation disk(s) you can extract and replace any individual file that was deleted, although a complete system overlay installation usually is recommended if there's major corruption.

Lots of sympathy extended; but I'm afraid without more specific information, not much credibility here.

Situations of the kind you describe most often occur when AV updates are neglected, a virus/worm gets onboard and is allowed to do substantial damage. In worst case, the virus may reformat your HD for you. When you update the AV, all it can do is delete the original virus, which may require deleting a necessary file in rare cases. The AV cannot track all the peripheral damage the virus may have done while it lurked and waited for you to update and find it. Not an accusation, of course. Just quoting the odds.

John

Subject: RE: BS: The dangers of Norton Security
From: GUEST,Mr Red
Date: 26 Oct 05 - 01:40 PM

A colleague has just bought a new PC with Norton Pre-installed but not paid for - he is destined to say no to Norton everytime he switches on and can't load AVG.

caveat emptor - Dell can't see the problem.

Subject: RE: BS: The dangers of Norton Security
From: gnu
Date: 26 Oct 05 - 02:13 PM

I installed Norton on January 4. I have re-registered Norton at least fifty times. I have had to "fix" at least a dozen problems. I removed it last week and am hoping that Rogers', my ISP, security doesn't give me any grief... and, it's free.

Subject: RE: BS: The dangers of Norton Security
From: GUEST,petr
Date: 26 Oct 05 - 04:46 PM

I cant say anything bad about Norton other than the one time I got hit
with a virus (bugbear) couple of years ago(through a word file mailed from a friend) norton failed to detect it.

When I bought a pc last january it came with a free 3month version of Nortons, when the time ran out and I paid for a renewal, the install
failed to work.. I followed the instructions which told me to uninstall Nortons and re-install it, however after uninstalling I found I couldnt just do a full install from Nortons website only a renewal.

SO I emailed Nortons and asked them -- their response was that anything that comes pre-installed is the responsibility of the vendor and that it has nothing to do with Nortons. About all they could do was offer a refund. (Since nowadays they dont even supply recovery disks with a computer I thought I had to take my computer over to the vendor, turns out the recovery section is on a separate partition on the hard disk..

Subject: RE: BS: The dangers of Norton Security
From: gnu
Date: 26 Oct 05 - 05:29 PM

Norton actually ANSWERED you? SHITE!! You must know who to.... because hey never answered me. So, they told you it wasn't their problem and offered you your money back, less all your troubles and effort, of course... did you get the $?

Subject: RE: BS: The dangers of Norton Security
From: Mr Red
Date: 27 Oct 05 - 03:47 PM

When I installed Norton I had problems with the ATI AiW card and had to re-install many times. Norton always failed after the install, and Symmantec referred me to the website. But hey - I got an answer. I used AVG after that but rubbished the PC when the TV function failed terminally.
I don't have any AV s/w now but then I never open attachments, never allow auto-installations from the net (especially Flash) and generally paranoic permanently.

The only time I thanked Norton was when I got a "returned" mail from [e-mail] - now just why would I e-mail myself telling me I could not deliver an email I never sent? The attachment was missing - Norton had removed it & I was not aware which e-mail it had dealt with. Since then I open no attachment. save and look at the name. if it has two extensions with loads of spaces - trash immediately. DLL, SCN, PIF, LNK ditto. YEa Yea - exe & com too.

Subject: RE: BS: The dangers of Norton Security
From: Clinton Hammond
Date: 27 Oct 05 - 03:49 PM

Norton is a piece of garbage....