is this a Norton problem or Windows??

[Humpfries]

I have Norton SystemWorks 2003 that has Norton CleanSweep. Everytime I use
it to clean out my internet history, it can't clean out 3 files (combined
36kb). I manually opened the internet browser and look in the folder and I
don't see any files. This is a clean system because I just reinstalled
everything. When I did reinstall everything, Norton CleanSweep worked fine
for a few days, but now it can't clean out those 3 files. I also ran Adware
and Spy-bot, but no help.

Anyone encountered this? Is this a Norton problem or Windows? I'm
wondering if Windows has deep bedded files that can't be removed. Any
suggestions???

 

[Chad Harris]

This is probably related to Windows is my guess. Those little Norton
utilities in System Works are not the omniscient high powered apps that
Norton hypes them to be. You can easily do anything manually that they do
in a few seconds but they gui schmaltz it up. The main thing you're paying
for in Norton System Works is Auto Protect and the ability to get
definitions manually in the NAV--Dr. this and Dr. that are more like
hospital orderlies than MD's.

Also while you mention Norton--on it's gui interface that Norton calls the
Norton Integrator they have "script blocking" and "email blocking" and
that's all PR hype because even if you had them turned off any engineer from
Symantec will tell you autoprotect is already doing all those thing--they
are PR hype and redundant in the form of little boxes.

One thing that is important though is to keep your definitions updated as
often as you can from them manually every day. So go here--drag the little
"e" on the page in the upper left of the name bar to a folder or your
desktop, or quick start and click the top blue hyperlink and manually
download the definitions every day. If you rely on Live Update, it's going
to feed you new definitions every Wednesday only unless there is a major
event like Blaster.

Download Daily Defs Every Evening By Clicking the Top Blue Link under
Filename
http://securityresponse.symantec.com/avcenter/download/pages/US-N95.html

There are tons of internet history cleaners, temporary internet file
cleaners, cookie cleaners and combos that are free if you google, but one
thing I would simply do is to restart, tap F8 to Safe Mode and try to
manually go to Tools>Clear History and often you can delete from Safe Mode.

Sometimes when I want a particular clean environment for an install of
something known to be a buggy install, I'll use this to clear out some of my
%temp% (temporary files) that won't delete normally.

Best,

Chad Harris
__________________________________________________

 

[Humpfries]

Thanks for the suggestion. I loaded in Safe Mode and tried to clear it out
with no help. I'm also using some internet eraser software, but it's no
help either. When using the Web Cleanup option in Norton SystemsWorks 2003,
it does show 3 files in the "URL History," but Norton can't clean it out.

I hope others who experience with I'm experiencing came up with a solution.
Any other ideas?

 

[Wesley Vogel]

Norton is innocent this time. Windows is the culprit.

Smoke and mirrors.

The index.dat & desktop.ini files are the smoke generators.

You have got as far as you're going to go without deleting any index.dat
files. And index.dat files just get recreated anyway.

%homepath%\Local Settings\History
4 Files, 2 Folders
History.IE5
desktop.ini

%homepath%\Local Settings\History\History.IE5
3Files, 1 Folders
MSHist012005040920050410
desktop.ini
index.dat

%homepath%\Local Settings\History\History.IE5\MSHist012005040920050410
1Files, 0 Folders
index.dat

The Local Settings folder is a Hidden folder.

The History folder is a System folder.

The History.IE5 folder is a System folder.

The MSHist012005040920050410 folder is a System file.

The desktop.ini file is a Hidden, System file. The desktop.ini has info in
it that hides some of these folders from Windows Explorer and Search.
The desktop.ini signals that they are system files, hidden and if deleted,
they are recreated on the next boot. To find them, you have to discover
them by accident or know where to look.

The index.dat files cannot normally be deleted because they are in use.
There are ways around that.

--
Hope this helps. Let us know.

Wes
MS-MVP Windows Shell/User

In

 

[Humpfries]

I have two profiles set up using XP. On one profile, everything is cleaned
out. On the other profile, that's where it won't clean out. If it's
windows, shouldn't Norton have detected it in both profiles instead of just
one?

 

[Wesley Vogel]

Humpfries,

Try logging into the other profile and running Norton.

I know only enough about Norton to know that I don't want anything Norton on
my machine.

--
Hope this helps. Let us know.

Wes
MS-MVP Windows Shell/User

In

 

[Humpfries]

Norton works fine under the other profile.

Humpfries,

Try logging into the other profile and running Norton.

I know only enough about Norton to know that I don't want anything Norton
on
my machine.

--
Hope this helps. Let us know.

Wes
MS-MVP Windows Shell/User

In

 

[Chad Harris]

Humphries--

One thing I do find helpful from time to time in solving newsgroup or my own
problems with anything Norton is to go to http://www.norton.com/search/ and
put in some simple search terms. One of the heads of tech support I've
spoken with says not to be too concerned about checkng the boxes below--and
you may find some tips that way in the Norton KBs.

I did that using the search term "web cleanup history" (Don't bother too
much about the version in your search term unless you aren't
scoring--Norton's KB organization is erratic and byzantine but the MSKBs can
be at times although they are a lot better now).

A lot of times you'll get the right steps for fixing your problem but Norton
will only have the KB labled for an older or newer version but it will work.

I found this:

Fast & Safe Cleanup still shows Internet History after cleaning
http://service1.symantec.com/SUPPOR...85256ee500486544?OpenDocument&src=bar_sch_nam

"This problem is usually caused by a corrupted Internet Explorer index
file."

You might want to look up cleaning and reconstructing index.date file, and
this gives you instructions.

Best,

Chad Harris
________________________________________________

 

[Humpfries]

I was able to figure out how to delete them under XP. I simply went under
another profile and delete those .dat files while the first profile was
logged OFF. Now when I run Norton CleanSweep, there's nothing in those
files. I appreciate the help.