Programmes keep shutting down (Norton)

[Jane]

Having upgraded to Win XP from Win ME, I've had problems
with my AV software and Firewall so I upgraded to Norton
Internet Security 2004. I've installed it and the
programme keeps just shutting down, by which I means it
just disappears from my screen.

I assumed it was a Norton problem and followed their
instructions to correct it, the implication from the
Symantec website was that Norton was missing something
vital. Unfortunately, the cure involves running MSCONFIG
and checking a few things and this keep vanishing on me
too.

Does anyone know what's going on? Several virus scans
imply my PC is clear of any nasty infections.

TIA
J

 

[Philip Herlihy]

It's suspicious that these two programs are being knocked out - my first
guess would be that the scans you've done are missing something. If you can
get a copy of McAfee's "stinger" on your machine you can run it in Safe Mode
(tap F8 repeatedly on reboot).
http://vil.nai.com/vil/stinger/
Doesn't catch everything, though. If you can run it, the Panda online scan
is very good:
http://www.pandasoftware.com/activescan/com/activescan_principal.htm

"Process Explorer" (www.sysinternals.com) is a great tool in experienced
hands for identifying what's happening on your machine - it can look inside
processes and identify which threads are most active. Not for beginners,
though.

Otherwise, one good way to clean a machine is to extract the hard disk,
connect it to a clean machine via a USB adapter:
http://www.ebuyer.com/customer/prod...2hvd19wcm9kdWN0X292ZXJ2aWV3&product_uid=43759

and clean the disk that way. It's getting harder and harder to deal with
malicious software, I'm afraid.

 

[Guest]

Panda found the sneaky little *******. W32/Gaobot.gen.worm
apparently. All is now fine and dandy.

Thanks!
J

 

[Philip Herlihy]

I've been impressed with Panda, which has found infections other well-known
AV systems didn't, including Gaobot. Pleased to hear things are ok now.