Phantom Programs (Vista Ultimate)

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I uninstalled the Norton anti virus program that came as trial-ware on my HP computer. Because there still seemed to be vestiges of it around, I also downloaded and ran the Norton Removal Tool. However, Vista Security Center still thinks that Norton AV is installed (see attachment), as is Norton anti spyware.

Any thoughts on how I might rectify this situation?

Cheers,

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Did you get the Norton removal tool from Download and run the Norton Removal Tool?

Joe

--Joe

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Yes, I did download it from this Symantec site. After running it, there are still quite a few references to “Norton” in the registry.

Cheers,

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Did you make sure you had the correct version for the software installed on your PC? You can manually go through the registry and remove any references to Norton or Symantec as long as you don’t have any other products from Symantec. You could also try a cleaner such as CCleaner – Home. BE SURE to have a backup before messing with the registry or any registry cleaner.

Joe

--Joe

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Hi Joe,

There appears to be only two versions of the removal tool, one for Windows 9x and another for Vista/XP/2000 etc. I used the one for Vista. Some of the entries in the registry for Norton/Symantec appear to be within hives set up by/for HP. I don’t have much experience with CCleaner, but I’ll give it a look-see.

I guess the questions that need to be answered are how does Security Center determine which malware protection software is installed and, if it has been uninstalled, how does it determine that it is out of date?

Cheers,

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Paul, if I can add a comment here. I really don’t know if I’d put too much stock in what Security Center is reporting. I have 2 computers running Vista Ultimate. Earlier in the year I had NIS 2007 installed on both computers and Security Center recognized this. I upgraded to NIS 2008 on both computers a few months ago. Security Center on one computer reports NIS 2008 correctly and Security Center on the other computer tells me that I have no firewall and no malware protection.

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You should maybe clean up the registry.
Then I think Security Center will know that Norton is uninstalled.

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May I suggest using a Reg Cleaner program. Scan your registry and it will clean the Norton out……..

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