How to Uninstall Norton Anti-Virus?

[chew]

Hi Folks

I need your advice on how to Uninstall Norton AV. I am just trying to help a friend to uninstall his Norton AV because for no apparent reason his Norton AV just refused to switch On. So practically he has no AV at all.

I have searched all over his pc for the Unistaller but to no avail.

I tried to uninstall via Add/Remove Software in Control Panel. It wouldn't let me.

I tried to uninstall via Ccleaner and it too did not allow me.

Prior to the above he told me his PC was slow and his Norton AV never been able to switch on, so I installed Ad-aware Personal SE to scan his pc and found 153 Critical Objects of which about 25 were worms and two possible Browser Hijacks and tonnes of Data Miner. So I just deleted them all using Ad-aware Personal SE. EVerything become faster again ... then I cleaned his pc using Ccleaner.

But still couldn't uninstall his Norton AV ... his Norton AV does't not expire until Dec 2004. We couldn't even log into Norton User ... because the button just went grey.

So any advice on how to uninstall Norton AV?

I am recommending him to go either Kaspersky, McAfee or NOD32 ...

Cheers

Chew ;D

[rdsu]

Hi chew,

See this site How to uninstall Norton AntiVirus 2003 or earlier by using the Rnav2003.exe removal utility (http://service1.symantec.com/SUPPORT/nav.nsf/docid/2001092114452606) ;)

[iceni60]

im sorry chew, but i read this (http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;Q290301) earlier today. but i cant remember anything about it, and im too lazy to reread it :-\ :D :o, so i dont know how helpful it will be sorry

[chew]

Thanks VaMPiRiC_CRoW & iceni60.

Please keep all the advice coming.

I will read all of them one by one or even test them out one by one to unistall Norton AV.

I will read them all later on. Need to sleep now.

Cheers

Chew

[nod32_9]

If the OS is W9.x, then you're much better off to format the HD and reload Windows. I'd do the same even with WNT. Sounds like this person has been running without a working AV for a long time. NAV's Liveupdate has a nasty habit of going down without any warning.

And teach him how to surf safely!

[chew]

nod32_9

Yes, that's the best option but his pc is now with his girlfriend who needs to use it for her work projects urgently and he has no clue what to do.

He has so much weird softwares on it. I mean junks.

I had to install SpywareGuard and SpywareBlaster for him and Firefox didn't even work on his pc.

I will advice him to reformat if he can. Let's see ...

But if I can reinstall the Norton AV for him I guess he doesn't have to go through the pain of reformating.

:)

[mercurie]

Chew,
Does he have a CD disk (if it was purchased that way). When I tried to unload my NAV 2004. using Add/Remove it constantly rebooted. Is this your problem? I noted Symantec's Knowledge base suggested manual uninstall as last resort. So just before I went that way. I thought wait a minute maybe there is some uninstall on the disk? I am not sure but using the disk I think under install it saw that it was already installed and showed up as uninstall. :-\ . Not sure about that, but you will be able to figure it out IF you have a/the disk. Maybe you could get a hold of one if you do not have his. Of course if it was bought online you can not do this.

You are correct there is no uninstall feature on the PC that I could find from the initial install. Hope this was of help. :-\

[chew]

Mercurie

Yes, we got the original CD and all the registration code.

I also tried running the CD to find the Uninstaller but it kept asking for Admin Code (we got Admin Rights or were using the Admin user profile to the pc btw).

We tried to install over it (same version and same copy really) but it wouldn't let us. Didn't shut down but keep denying us and asking for Admin User Code ... hmmm ...

Chew

[mercurie]

Chew,
Is it NAV 2004? Don't know if tha makes a difference?

Sorry, I am stumped? I remember putting the CD in and clicking around and it just poped up "unistall..." click... worked almost instantly. Good luck, I will watch the thread to see, what happens. :(

[nod32_9]

With all the crapware in the computer, it would be best to disable NAV, and rely on the firewall for protection. Can't be worst than before. Reformat/reload ASAP.

You may want to remove NAV in Safe mode. Also remove LiveUpdate and LiveReg. There should be a utility at the Symantec website to remove NAV. This crapware has anti-copy protection (2004 and 2005), so it can be a pain to unload from the hard drive.

If the PC is not in working order, then it would be no use to his GF. How hard is it to reload Windows? The process takes about 1 hour and he will have a fully functional PC. Not sure why people want to take the hard way out.

Once Windows is loaded, install a free firewall (Zone Alarm) and AV software (Avast Home).

[iceni60]

have you tried updating the drivers? (http://service1.symantec.com/SUPPORT/sharedtech.nsf/docid/1998081213371213?Open&src=bar_sch_nam&docid=1997112417922&nsf=nav.nsf&view=df0a595864594c86852567ac0063608c&dtype=&prod=&ver=&osv=&osv_lvl=)
you could also run stinger, avast and e-scan standalones

[chew]

Mercurie

I think he got Norton AV Version 2004 and yes, I put the CD in and started clicking around but found nothing. I will try to click more later on.

nod32_9

It would be nice if we could disable it. But we couldn't. However, it is not being switch on at the moment. It just turn itself off.

Iceni60

Have not tried any of those you suggested. Will take a close look at it later.


D'oh! I will never use Norton AV for sure and will not recommend to anyone unless there is no choice. The downside really is that once it has been installed it will refuse to be uninstalled. What a pain.>:(

Nevermind, once I have messed around with his pc for while I would suggest reformating ... or I will suggest reformating if he wants.



:o

[Don Pelotas]

Hi Chew

Perhaps this is what you are looking for: Removing Norton AntiVirus 2004 from Windows 98/Me after Add/Remove Programs does not work
Here (http://service1.symantec.com/SUPPORT/nav.nsf/docid/2004020915570606?Open&src=&docid=2001092114452606&nsf=nav.nsf&view=docid&dtype=&prod=&ver=&osv=&osv_lvl=), Or if it is XP/2000 Here (http://service1.symantec.com/SUPPORT/nav.nsf/docid/2004020909040706?Open&src=&docid=2001092114452606&nsf=nav.nsf&view=docid&dtype=&prod=&ver=&osv=&osv_lvl=). Hope this helps. :)

[mercurie]

{QUOTE-> Hi Chew

Perhaps this is what you are looking for: Removing Norton AntiVirus 2004 from Windows 98/Me after Add/Remove Programs does not work
Here (http://service1.symantec.com/SUPPORT/nav.nsf/docid/2004020915570606?Open&src=&docid=2001092114452606&nsf=nav.nsf&view=docid&dtype=&prod=&ver=&osv=&osv_lvl=), Or if it is XP/2000 Here (http://service1.symantec.com/SUPPORT/nav.nsf/docid/2004020909040706?Open&src=&docid=2001092114452606&nsf=nav.nsf&view=docid&dtype=&prod=&ver=&osv=&osv_lvl=). Hope this helps. :) <-QUOTE}Yep, that would be the one, but I think that is the one to use "as last resort". That was what I almost did.
:( I never intend to go back to NAV either.

[techlady]

Dear forum,

I had an even worse experience with Norton. When I tried to run the Antivirus scan as usual, it stopped in C:\Windows\Temp and said that it couldn't go on because some files or folders of Norton wer missing. It told me to uninstall and reinstall Norton. When I did that, it also removed my CD-ROM/DVD controller. So I couldn't reinstall my Norton and, because I can't even run the Windows 98 disk, I can't reinstall a CD-ROM controller!
Technical support at Symantec says they never heard of such a problem and can't help me, though they tried to sound sympathetic.
Anyone have any ideas?

Techlady

[snowbound]

Hi techlady. :)

I see u have have started a thread over here,

http://www.wilderssecurity.com/showthread.php?p=294356

with your NAV concern.

As to avoid confusion all replies to techlady's problem should be posted in that thread.

Thanks.



snowbound