Norton Removal Tool (SymNRT) 1.01.3

Is this an update to the tool? I have previously used it on my kid's PCs and my new Dell laptop and it broke Windows autoupdate - apparently a common problem.

Dangerous tool that is.

 

Very dangerous...

Can't update through Windows Update

 

I used this special removal tool only the once as I wanted a "complete" removal of a trial version of Norton Internet Security before I installed KAV 5 on a brand new laptop.

But it did hose my BITS service and so broke the Windows autoupdate. However, reinstalling SP2 only took a few minutes and solved the problem.

Since then, on a number of other new machines, I have found that uninstalling Norton AV/IS 2004/2005 via Add/Remove together with the use of a non-Norton registry cleaner is more than adequate. Even when trying to install KAV afterwards!!!!!

 

Since you guys were probably not going to try symNRT again.

I Don Pelotas, software-daredevil extraordinaire proceeded to install the mother of all evil Norton2005 on my beloved pc, i installed everything Liveupdate threw at me, played around with it for some hours and rebooted a couple of times expecting a computermeltdown, but actually it behaved quite well.

Now in the name of science i downloaded the latest version of symNRT 1.01.3, booted into safemode and uninstalled Nav2005, then in normalmode i ran symNRT and rebooted. Went to Windowsupdate and without trouble downloaded the last couple updates i have missed.

So maybe they have solved the issue's with Windowsupdate, who knows, it worked flawlessly on my pc.

 

ROFLOL, that is "the mother of all daredevil software experiments"! You put Big Yellow's "Big Bad NAV" on your Virgin Box .. heh. That "Classic Symantec Yellow" is sooooo Purty! It just Glares and Snarls mean yellow pecking-order male-dominance vibes at its competitors, the "McAfee Big Red Machine" and the "ESET All-Seeing Green Eye"! Yet it wants nothing to do with the "Mean Moscow Machine" with the "KL" Logo.

WTG Don! You Da Man, you win the DareDevil Prize for today, indeed for the Century!

 

Thanks for the update, Don.

But don't tell the Kaspersky folks you had Norton installed on your computer

 

Yes, think i'm safe now, so i have removed the salt i placed around the pc-case.

Anyway i was a little surpriced because it was lighter than i expected (2003 was the last i tried) and Liveupdate you hear things about was in fact very fast, i had to reboot twice to update everything, but this is to be expected with an almost 1 year old AV and it was all done fast.

 

Shh...It'll be our little secret ........

 

published on Symantec's own website. Unbelievable.
Nothing surprises me anymore. I'm rolling on floor, laughing my ... off. Never Norton again.

 

That's just plain silly -- KAV has such a tool that they publish, for KAV removal -- probably McAfee and others have such a tool. There's nothing unique nor particularly funny about the existence of such a removal tool, it's quite common.

 

That doesn't change my opinion.
Each software has an uninstaller, that is supposed to remove the software COMPLETELY.
When these uninstallers do their work properly, you won't need another program to do the job.

 

ErikAlbert,

It probably more along the line of "when these uninstallers do their work properly and/or the uninstall process is not corrupted by some other process/event/untoward cleaning/corrupted update process/ill-onsidered system tweak/you get the idea..., you won't need another program to do the job.

Until that time, these applications solve a problem that users experience. Exactly where is the downside here or am I missing something?

Blue

 

BlueZanetti,
What makes you think that an additional program like SymNRT will remove a corrupted Symantic software COMPLETELY ?
There is no guarantee, that these tools are any better.

Why is such a tool as SymNRT not integrated in the uninstaller of each Symantec software ?
Firstly, each software knows exacty what has been installed during the first installation, so there is no problem to remove the original installation.
Secondly, the uninstaller could check the computer a second time to remove what an extra program like SymNRT would do.

Sorry, but I still don't understand the necessity of an additional uninstaller.
As a company, I would be very embarrassed to publish such a second uninstaller.

What common is, most companies seem to do that as Randy_Bell already mentioned, doesn't mean it's correct.
Just make the uninstallers a little bit smarter and you won't need these second uninstallers anymore.

(Sorry about my translations, but I have a hard time in English and I don't mean to be rude. Like everybody else at WSF, I'm looking for the best.)

 

ErikAlbert,

No worries, your English is fine and you're certainly not being rude

I look at this at two levels. The standard add/remove operation occasionally fails to completely remove the Norton product. That's just an observation. I do know that in a few cases I've reached the same unfortunate final state (not with Norton) by performing some badly planned and executed system cleaning.

When I used NAV, and then removed it, there were lots of bits remaining. In my case they were probably totally benign and I assume were left behind to preserve configuration and license information in the event I reinstalled. As a safety measure I performed the manual cleaning. Now, as I was doing that on 4 machines, it was pretty clear that the instructions could have been automated into an executable to facilitate the job for anyone. I assume this is pretty much what the program in question does.

I also agree with you that there shouldn't be a need for this type of program, but since unanticipated events such as user error or system stability problems could necessitate it use due to a partial or failed uninstall, I think any (former) user should be thankful that it is available from the respective vendor. It's a lot easier than the manual route.

Blue

 

BlueZanetti,
OK, I guess we both understand eachother now and I certainly agree with you that programs like SymNRT are a better solution than removing it manually, but nothing more than that.
As far as I remember WSF had the same discussion about the MSAS uninstaller.
So the quality of uninstallers in general has to be improved.
Unfortunately we users are quite powerless to change anything about that, except complaining.

 

In a perfect world when you clicked on uninstall within a program it would do a complete uninstall. But since this world isn't perfect and software doesn't always uninstall correctly I am appreciative that some of these companies do supply an uninstaller utility such as the one symantec offers to their customers for these situations, because they don't have to.

 

Yep, we're on the same page

Blue

 

I use TotalUninstall 3.40 and i can tell you that virtually no programs uninstaller removes everything or even close, some are very close in achieving the "perfect", but they are few (& usually small utilities) and most leaves upto several hundreds reg-entries, files & folders behind, so most vendors make these tools and when you contact their support with a problem which can be traced to this, they will send you a copy. Norton is being honest enough to make their tools available to download on their site, as a forum helper i appreciate this, since Norton remnants and Kaspersky almost always clashes in some way, sometimes so little the user don't notice, sometimes to the point of ditching the Kaspersky, because as the one installed last, the user naturally thinks Kaspersky is ........

Anyway if someone is interested in a uninstaller program you should take a look at TotalUninstall it is at $29 probably some of the most well spent money, well for me and my needs at least (several installs/uninstalls every week), there is actually a free version 2.35, but it is getting harder & harder to find since it was removed from the official site and 3.40 is much more thorough IME. A tip, always remove via add/remove and do a reboot first, then use TotalUninstall.

 

I think it's a good thing that some software companies such as Symantec provide special removal tools for their software. The basic Windows Installer service sometimes (yes...believe it or not) doesn't, or can't because of some sort of corruption, do the job. Have you ever had to dig up a support document from Symantec or Mcafee to manually clean out their products from a semi-hosed machine? I have...quite a few times over the years...and it just plain sucks. Not to mention racks up an insane amount of time which ends up in a pricey bill to the client.