BSOD when uninstalling Norton

[Guest]

When I tried to uninstall Norton by going to the Control Panel, Vista
wouldn't let me do it.

I downloaded the Remove Norton Tool from the Symantec site, ran it and ended
up with a BSOD. I then had to reboot into Safe Mode and do a Restore. (I
tried this twice with the same results both times).

If anyone knows how to get rid of Norton, I would be most appreciative.

 

[C.Skaggs]

Norton AV 7.2 works just fine.

Norton support site can help you with this. You cannot use Norton with
Vista,
as you have found out. You need to wait for the Vista version, or better
yet,
skip Norton altogether. Vista has builtin utilities for everything except
anti virus. For that you can use AVG's freebie.

 

[Zim Babwe]

Run - Don't walk fron Norton on any PC. I know you need to get it removed,
but once you do, install AVG Free or Avast which both work with Vista.
Norton is bloated, has memory problems and will bog down your system.

 

[Guest]

Norton came pre-installed on this Dell computer (1 month old)! I have the AVG
installation file on the desktop already and as soon as I can get Norton off
the system, I'll install it.

I tried the Symantec site to no avail. I left a message in every area I
could find but was unable to contact anyone.

Mooser

 

[Guest]

Norton came PRE-INSTLALLED on this new Dell system! I was unable to find any
solutions on the Symantec site although I left a message in numerous areas.

Mooser

 

[Guest]

I have the AVG installation file already on the desktop! I just need to be
able to remove Norton (which was pre-installed) on this new Dell computer. I
have never used Norton in 17 years of computer use, due to its "history".

Mooser

 

[R. McCarty]

Usually, you have to click the "Change" button in Add/Remove prgms
to get the Symantec installer to load. From there it will have an option
to "Remove All". If however, you've ran the stand-alone uninstaller it's
probably a corrupted install. I've done literally hundreds of these type
uninstalls and it isn't easy or intuitive. What you may need to do is run
the factory recovery (Backup data first), once done then restart the
process of uninstalling Norton.
Manually removing Norton, Live Update, LiveReg, Non-Plug & Play
drivers and folders/files is a time consuming operation. I would let the
Dell folks know they need to stop adding all these sponsored apps to
their new PCs, especially now with them shipping with Vista.

 

[Guest]

re: > Usually, you have to click the "Change" button in Add/Remove prgms

to get the Symantec installer to load. From there it will have an option
to "Remove All"

I followed those steps above but Norton didn't un-install. Then I used the
Norton Remove Tool which resulted in the BSOD.

I'll run the factory recovery as you suggest and try again.

Thanks,

Mooser

 

[R. McCarty]

Good Luck with it, post back if you need additional help. Be sure to
backup whatever personal data you've accumulated before restoring.

 

[jonah]

When I tried to uninstall Norton by going to the Control Panel, Vista
wouldn't let me do it.

I downloaded the Remove Norton Tool from the Symantec site, ran it and ended
up with a BSOD. I then had to reboot into Safe Mode and do a Restore. (I
tried this twice with the same results both times).

If anyone knows how to get rid of Norton, I would be most appreciative.

There are a few ways of getting Norton out of XP, which may work or
not with Vista. You could try uninstalling in full admin mode (as
opposed to user admin mode) maybe that will work, To do this you need
to hack the registry a little but its not too difficult. The user
admin account does not have full admin rights as in XP, the real admin
account is hidden. But in all probability uninstalling the hopeless
Norton is buggering up vital system files and any sort of account
won't help but its worth a go.



Log in as Full Administrator

Click the Start orb and click on Run (or press the Windows key + R)
Type in regedit and press OK. If it asks you to open this via UAC,
then click OK.
In the Registry Editor, navigate to : -

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows
NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon.

In the right hand pane, right click the mouse and select "New" then
"Key".A new folder should appear in the left hand pane.
Name this new key SpecialAccounts and press Enter.
Right click the mouse on the new SpecialAccounts key in the left hand
pane, select "New" then "Key" again to make
a "sub-key".
Name this new key UserList and then press Enter.
In this new UserList key, right click in the right hand pane and
select "New" then DWORD (32-bit)
and name this Administrator then press Enter.
Double click on the new DWORD you just made, and set the value to 1
(Decimal) then press OK.
Close back down to desktop. Click the Start Orb then "Run".
In the Run box type: "control userpasswords2" (without the quotes)
then hit return.
Advanced -> Advanced (Local Users and Groups) -> Users
Double click Administrator and uncheck "Account is disabled".
OK back to desktop -> reboot, and Administrator will turn up as one of
the accounts. This is the full un-neutered admin account.

Do that then try getting rid of Norton again, if that fails its time
to get the sledgehammer out.

I would back up the personal files and format the thing then put a
clean copy of Vista in using the original CD key, I am not sure if
this works it probably does, so far I have wiped Vista from quite a
few assorted Dells and HPs and been asked (well begged in some cases
LOL) to put XP in instead, nobody has wanted Vista back yet so I have
not tried this with Vista.

I will try it myself tomorrow got another pre-installed heap with a
"die in 12 months and a day power supply" to wipe and put XP on but I
will try removing Norton first just for fun.

Jonah

 

[anonymous]

I removed it by editing the registry and removing all instances of Norton
and Symantec. You can also download a remove tool from the symantec web
site but I found that I still had to do some manual removal. Keep your
restore handy in case you remove the wrong things.

 

[Guest]

After trying to do an uninstall the normal way, I too tried to remove all the
references to Norton and Symantec using regedit. No luck.

 

[MICHAEL]

A poster said that he reinstalled and then uninstalled again.
Then used the removal tool.


-Michael

 

[Guest]

Thanks, Jonah. I'll try your solution. Your effort is much appreciated.

Mooser

 

[Leonard F Kiesling]

using new dell desktop windows home premium, with dell installed norton
internet security 2007, 30 day trial version. (i did not choose it). i had
planned to uninstall it after trial period, & install another AV. in reading
this, i fear the same consequences. my norton is operating fine.

would you be able to advise as to how to perform a factory recovery? is that
the same as a system restore?

has anyone been sucessful in removing norton? (along with poster michael
mentioned.)

thank you, len kiesling

 

[R. McCarty]

It (NIS-2007) should be removable from the Programs applet in the
Control Panel. I haven't worked with version 2007, but in previous
releases you uninstall the core product, then Live Update and LiveReg.
Do a full system search for Symantec. Likely 2 or more folders will
show in the listing - delete both of them. The problem is legacy or
Non-Plug & Play drivers and services that get orphaned. It's really
a shame that Dell let's Symantec buy their way onto new Vista PCs.

 

[jonah]

When I tried to uninstall Norton by going to the Control Panel, Vista
wouldn't let me do it.

I downloaded the Remove Norton Tool from the Symantec site, ran it and ended
up with a BSOD. I then had to reboot into Safe Mode and do a Restore. (I
tried this twice with the same results both times).

If anyone knows how to get rid of Norton, I would be most appreciative.

Tried uninstalling Norton 2007 from a Dell, tried all the tricks, reg
edits, uninstaller tools the lot, no good. The PC was unusable by the
time I had finished. Sometimes Norton comes out clean (ish) but it
always leaves crap all over the place.

Anyway I said I would try and I did, 3 hours farting about with it to
no avail, I am wiping the drive for the customer to put his origimal
XP Pro in as requested, that will get rid of Norton, time consuming (
don't care get paid by the hour) but effective and only known proper
cure for Norton I am afraid.

Jonah