mrv3000: made by elismor (asshats)
mrv3000 ([personal profile] mrv3000) wrote2010-01-06 06:25 pm

(no subject)

I've had my first "I AM VERY CRANKY" incident with my laptop. It came pre-installed with Norton. Well, I don't want to use Norton since I get McAfee free with my ISP. So I uninstalled Norton.

WINDOWS 7: *CRASHES AND BURNS*

Me: Wut?

It wouldn't even load - had to go into Safe Mode and recover. Only thing...it didn't really recover Norton. Not really. So it's not on my computer but it is, I can't uninstall it and I can't install McAfee. I've even got a Norton Uninstall Program from their website, which works, but the second I reboot my computer, Windows CRASHES AND BURNS.

I hate you.

[identity profile] larissa-j.livejournal.com 2010-01-07 02:38 am (UTC)(link)
Try here for manual removal instructions or use the Win7 DVD and run startup repair. Which may or may not fix the problem.

Can you check in C:\Windows for a MEMORY.DMP file with the date and time of the crash? I can either analyze it or walk you through the debugging if you can't removal all the norton bits.
Edited 2010-01-07 02:39 (UTC)

[identity profile] kalleah.livejournal.com 2010-01-07 02:38 am (UTC)(link)
That sucks. Love the angry icon though. Very appropriate.

I upgraded the hard drive on my laptop and did a fresh install of Windows 7 from an OEM version ... so nice to have an empty slate system, free of anything I didn't intentionally install myself.

[identity profile] kalleah.livejournal.com 2010-01-07 02:39 am (UTC)(link)
I love having geek friends. :)

[identity profile] mrv3000.livejournal.com 2010-01-07 02:54 am (UTC)(link)
*SMOOOOOCH*

I kind of threw up my hands and am doing the "REDO FROM START" DVD that I have. (I don't have a Win 7 DVD - just a restore DVD.) Drastic, yeah, but I really didn't have much on there yet.

If that doesn't work, I'll be crying to you. :D

[identity profile] outforawalk.livejournal.com 2010-01-07 02:55 am (UTC)(link)
I hate Norton, but I love your icon.

[identity profile] mrv3000.livejournal.com 2010-01-07 02:55 am (UTC)(link)
*pets the angry kitty*

And I can't wait to get a new desktop computer to do that. All nice and clean...

[identity profile] mrv3000.livejournal.com 2010-01-07 02:56 am (UTC)(link)
:D

I don't like Norton either. We had it for a while at work, but it was so incredibly slow it would take minutes for my computer to boot up.

[identity profile] fiona-conn.livejournal.com 2010-01-07 03:01 am (UTC)(link)
Urk, I hate that about laptops. I have to say, I've never had the crash and burn when I've tried to uninstall Norton, so wow.

Chances are, the uninstall isn't completing correctly, and it's leaving processes resident in the registry.

Which can and will cause problems when it looks for the software that the registry is pointing it to and cannot find it.

I'm not sure how you'd even go about beginning to fix it, other than rooting around in the registry which can be risky if you don't know what you're doing.

Still, for anti-virus programs, I'd recommend trying Avast or AVG. Both are free, and I have good experiences of Avast Anti-virus. You can also rely on the Windows Firewall -- it's not as bad and evil as people make out.

Though nowadays, I don't worry so much about it since I run Linux. :3

[identity profile] goldy-dollar.livejournal.com 2010-01-07 03:04 am (UTC)(link)
OMG I HATE NORTON. *pets*
ext_23543: (Default)

[identity profile] starlightmoonla.livejournal.com 2010-01-07 03:11 am (UTC)(link)
I thought I had uninstalled Norton once but I don't think it worked because every now and then I get a message asking me to Activate and I just close it now.

Good luck getting rid of it.

[identity profile] mrv3000.livejournal.com 2010-01-07 03:24 am (UTC)(link)
Yeah, I'm sure it didn't uninstall correctly. Problem is that it completely messed up everything.

And I'd try out those programs if I didn't have McAfee!

[identity profile] mrv3000.livejournal.com 2010-01-07 03:25 am (UTC)(link)
HMPH.

[identity profile] mrv3000.livejournal.com 2010-01-07 03:25 am (UTC)(link)
I have now decided Norton is evil and I will never use it for the rest of my life.

[identity profile] larissa-j.livejournal.com 2010-01-07 03:29 am (UTC)(link)
If that doesn't work, I'll be crying to you. :D

It should work but if it doesn't, I'll be ready.

[identity profile] brilliantomega.livejournal.com 2010-01-07 03:37 am (UTC)(link)
MacAfee and me don't like each other. After letting a subscription expires - and not signing up for a renewal, I was fine for a year - then it auto renewed me for a service I didn't have, I called and fixed it. That was over 4 years ago - December's Amex bill? Renewal from MacAfee. Ugh. Pain in the ass.

Personally, on my pc I have Kaspersky. Love it.

[identity profile] mrv3000.livejournal.com 2010-01-07 03:40 am (UTC)(link)
It seems to be plugging along. I know it'll take a while. One thing's for sure, I'm NOT going to be clicking on Norton to activate it this time. There be dragons.

[identity profile] mrv3000.livejournal.com 2010-01-07 03:41 am (UTC)(link)
BAH! That is totally annoying. McAfee comes with my ISP, so I don't have do deal with their billing.

[identity profile] nel-ani.livejournal.com 2010-01-07 05:31 am (UTC)(link)
OMG NORTON IS *EVIL*! Back away slowly.

[identity profile] syokhan.livejournal.com 2010-01-07 09:27 am (UTC)(link)
I find this very useful when uninstalling things.

And I, too, hate Norton. The only Norton thing I will accept to use is Norton Ghost for backing up my HDD. Good luck with your computer :/

[identity profile] avoria.livejournal.com 2010-01-07 12:44 pm (UTC)(link)
Erk. Windows 7 fail, clearly :( I'd offer help, but we haven't worked with 7 much, we've been unable to crash it thus far.

How pants though. You seem to know what you're doing, so good luck D:

(And yes, Norton is *evil*. I think you should have a tag dedicated to their evilness ;))

[identity profile] mrv3000.livejournal.com 2010-01-07 03:40 pm (UTC)(link)
IT IS. BAH.

[identity profile] mrv3000.livejournal.com 2010-01-07 03:41 pm (UTC)(link)
I find this very useful when uninstalling things.

Oooh, shiny!

And I, too, hate Norton. The only Norton thing I will accept to use is Norton Ghost for backing up my HDD. Good luck with your computer :/

Thanks. Looks like the reformatting went well. Now I'm just loading things back on. :D

[identity profile] mrv3000.livejournal.com 2010-01-07 03:43 pm (UTC)(link)
I'm not sure if it's a Windows 7 fail or a Norton fail. I kind of want to blame this on Norton since Windows 7 is pretty and shiny and does everything else magnificently. :D

[identity profile] mrv3000.livejournal.com 2010-01-07 03:44 pm (UTC)(link)
Looks like it's back up and running. PHEW. And I managed to get Norton uninstalled after I recovered the computer. (After a bit of nail biting...)

[identity profile] olga-keepout.livejournal.com 2010-01-07 04:47 pm (UTC)(link)
The only memory I have of Norton that came pre-installed on my computer is this:

Me: *connects to the Internet for the first time YAY*
Virus: O HAI THERE. Your computer will restart in 5 minutes. You are allowed to save your files in the meantime because I'm so nice.
Norton: *gets DISABLED by the virus*
Virus: LOL.
Tech guys: Here, let's install another antivirus, say, Doctor WEB. That is bound to help with the situation.
Computer: *wouldn't start at all after rebooting*
Tech guys: *keep rebooting for 30 minutes without change* Yeah... we're gonna have to take the thing with us back to the service centre.

And that was pretty much it. Formatting was done, new OS was installed and any antivurs but Norton has been used ever since.

Tl;dr SCREW YOU, NORTON.

[identity profile] mrv3000.livejournal.com 2010-01-07 04:50 pm (UTC)(link)
O_O Wow.

[identity profile] olga-keepout.livejournal.com 2010-01-07 04:54 pm (UTC)(link)
Tell me about it!

[identity profile] poohmusings.livejournal.com 2010-01-08 07:44 pm (UTC)(link)
I always forget how PC-savvy you are. If I ever have any problems with my netbook, I'm TOTALLY CALLING YOU IN FULL-ON FLAIL MODE. Just thought I'd warn you. ;) *liiiiiick*

Edited 'cause prepositions are our friends. :)
Edited 2010-01-08 19:45 (UTC)

[identity profile] mrv3000.livejournal.com 2010-01-08 08:21 pm (UTC)(link)
Well, my solution was to completely format my hard drive and start over, so... XD

[identity profile] acciochocolate.livejournal.com 2010-01-10 08:29 pm (UTC)(link)
What did Norton and your laptop's tech support say?

Try as we might, we never could get Norton Systemworks (without the anti-virus) to work with our F-Secure anti-virus program. Even spend hours on phone with tech support.

And there's nothing else out there as good as Systemworks for fixing up things.

[identity profile] acciochocolate.livejournal.com 2010-01-10 08:34 pm (UTC)(link)
Have now read all comments.

Norton wasn't bad when Peter owned it, but once he sold it, it was never the same. Sort of like Brad selling LJ. :(

And demand your Win 7 disc now! Don't know who your laptop maker is, but there should have been one in the box.

[identity profile] mrv3000.livejournal.com 2010-01-10 08:43 pm (UTC)(link)
I wound up formatting my hard drive and starting over. :D

[identity profile] mrv3000.livejournal.com 2010-01-10 08:44 pm (UTC)(link)
I should look into that. It's a Sony.