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  #1  
Old 08-29-2006, 04:24 PM
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Angry Norton Anti-Virus and viruses?

It was rainy over the weekend, so on Sunday I went surfing for some free internet porn. One of the links that I clicked on took me to a site that installed a Trojan virus on my computer and Norton has been fighting with it ever since. I keep getting these message boxes that pop up and tell me that Norton has detected a virus on my computer, gives me the name, location, and what action it took. Usually it just says that it deleted the virus and I have to click OK to get rid of the box. Once I do that, within 1-10 seconds another pops up and I have to click it again. I can use my computer while this is going on, either clicking the boxes or just leaving them in the background, but if I walk away from the computer it freezes up after a while. I've tried to do what Norton tells me to do to get rid of the virus, but it didn't really work. So.........with that limited background info, is there anything that can be done in this situation besides just babysitting the computer and hoping that Norton will finally kill the virus? Or would taking the computer to a technician be beneficial? Is there anything that they could do that I can't do myself? Or is there a way that I can get Norton to fight the virus without the annoying (and unnecessary) pop-ups?
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  #2  
Old 08-29-2006, 04:30 PM
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Default Re: Norton Anti-Virus and viruses?

What's the name of the trojan? You can often find manual removal instructions out there when Norton doesn't work. Maybe you also need to update your Norton anti-virus definitions.

And don't click links unless you know where they go.
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Old 08-29-2006, 04:44 PM
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Default Re: Norton Anti-Virus and viruses?

You may want to disconnect your internet access while Norton deals with this trojan.
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Old 08-29-2006, 04:44 PM
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Default Re: Norton Anti-Virus and viruses?

Do what Chuck says, but when you're done, get rid of Norton. It does more to fuck up your computer than it does to protect it.

t can be a nightmare trying to completely remove that crap, but it's worth it.
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Old 08-29-2006, 05:02 PM
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Default Re: Norton Anti-Virus and viruses?

It's called Trojan.Downloader and I've got the computer turned off right now. I've used Norton for over a year now, and when I renewed it back in July it also installed Norton Internet Security, and that seemed to put a big strain on my memory. I had 256k and added another 256k and that seemed to speed things up, but not to where they were before the renewal. Because of that and a couple of other issues, I'm not all that happy with Norton right now. What other anti-viral software would you recommend?
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Old 08-29-2006, 05:13 PM
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Default Re: Norton Anti-Virus and viruses?

There are several Trojan downloaders out there, and they're all a bitch to get rid of.

Some random guy on the internet recommends this. I have no idea if it will work or not, but it's out there and free for 30 days.

If that fails, what version of Windows are you running? You can do a system restore to a point before you were infected, assuming you haven't done any really important work since then.

As for replacing Norton (if it will allow you to uninstall it!): if you haven't already done so, ditch Internet Explorer in favor of Firefox, Opera, or other more secure browser. Get Adaware, Spybot Search & Destroy, and whatever new malware tools have come out since I last checked.

Then, develop safe browsing habits. Don't trust anyone on the internet, especially if they're naked.

And always remember: it's not a big truck.
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Old 08-29-2006, 05:30 PM
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Default Re: Norton Anti-Virus and viruses?

Quote:
Originally Posted by JackDog
It's called Trojan.Downloader and I've got the computer turned off right now. I've used Norton for over a year now, and when I renewed it back in July it also installed Norton Internet Security, and that seemed to put a big strain on my memory. I had 256k and added another 256k and that seemed to speed things up, but not to where they were before the renewal. Because of that and a couple of other issues, I'm not all that happy with Norton right now. What other anti-viral software would you recommend?
I'm using Avast! (freeware) for my antivirus, and ZoneAlarm (freeware) for my firewall. They are serving as a replacement for my Norton products, and they've worked as well as Norton has.

Also, in addition to Chuck's recommendation, if using Firefox use the NoScript extension.
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  #8  
Old 08-29-2006, 05:40 PM
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Default Re: Norton Anti-Virus and viruses?

A trojan downloader is really a category, not a specific instance. Could you find the filenames or something?

I'm not on Windows myself, but IIRC, I had my kid use Avast after Norton munged his computer up. He'd been having issues with false positives with Norton Antivirus, then it installed NIS, too, which was the last straw. It slowed his system to a crawl, it started reporting Windows private IP addresses as intrusion attempts or something, and made his whole system virtually unusable for a while. It was a while ago, and I have some of the repressed memories from it, I think, so I would probably have to get some kind of traumatic regression therapy to remember all the details, but it was bad.

Try what Chuck and TomJoe say. The only thing I really have to add is that, if you cannot get rid of Norton right away, I'd personally suggest backing up your data and doing a clean install if at all possible. Some people seem to be able to uninstall pretty easily, but if it's not working at first, it will eat your soul.
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  #9  
Old 08-29-2006, 07:03 PM
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Default Re: Norton Anti-Virus and viruses?

One problem that I might encounter is the fact that I've never been able to install Service Pack 2 for Windows XP. I've downloaded it a few times, but when I try to install it, it says permission denied (or something like that). And I don't think that I've ever backed-up my system, so unless the computer does it by itself, it hasn't been done for a very long time. The main thing on my computer is downloaded music and porn, so if I have to wipe the drive clean (if that's possible with a virus) it won't be that big of a deal. I've never re-installed an operating system (if that's what you're talking about) and I don't think that I've got a back-up or reboot disc.

On a related note, if I were to buy an external HD and copy all of my music onto it (it's on partition D, the virus seems to be on C) would the virus get copied too? Also, are external HD's just plug'n'play?
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Old 08-29-2006, 08:20 PM
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Default Re: Norton Anti-Virus and viruses?

I am going to concur with everyone's assesment of dumping Norton.

As a computer support person I have to work with that crap piece of software everyday and I loathe it. Norton was ok (not great but passable) until v7.5

Now it uses so many system resources and has half a dozen services running continually that greatly impacts system performance (as you have seen).

To remove NAV/SAV I reccomend NoNav. I use this almost exclusively in my work to remove NAV, forget about add/remove programs.

Or if you really want to :whup: NAV you can remove it manually, but unless you are familiar with and comfortable working in the windows registry I do not reccomend that.
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  #11  
Old 08-29-2006, 11:06 PM
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Default Re: Norton Anti-Virus and viruses?

You can also try using Mcafee's 'stinger' utility. It is a standalone program designed to get rid of several viruses. Download it here:

http://vil.nai.com/vil/stinger/

and then run it. If you want, download it and burn it to a cd on your working system and then run it directly from the CD on the infected computer. It will probably take an hour or so to run but it might help. Good luck.
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  #12  
Old 08-29-2006, 11:07 PM
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Default Re: Norton Anti-Virus and viruses?

I like webroot's Spy Sweeper myself
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  #13  
Old 08-29-2006, 11:37 PM
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Default Re: Norton Anti-Virus and viruses?

Hmm... I've had Symantec Antivirus Corporate Edition for years, and it's never given me any shit. I heard that CE was better than the regular variety, though, so perhaps that's why.
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  #14  
Old 08-30-2006, 12:00 AM
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Default Re: Norton Anti-Virus and viruses?

That's true, AFAIK, Joshua. My workplace provides us CE for home use and I used it for awhile. It never gave me any of the headaches that I experienced previously with the home version. If I ever had trouble with AVG, I might just switch back. I'm not sure how much the CE version costs for a single license, though. I suppose I could find out, huh?
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Old 08-30-2006, 12:27 PM
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Default Re: Norton Anti-Virus and viruses?

I doubt the corporate edition is offered to residential or single users.
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  #16  
Old 08-30-2006, 02:28 PM
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Default Re: Norton Anti-Virus and viruses?

Symantec CE 10.1 is available at several places for pretty cheap according to froogle.
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Old 08-30-2006, 10:06 PM
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Default Re: Norton Anti-Virus and viruses?

You can buy it at the Symantec page for less than $50 but I don't know if you'd then have to pay for a minimum of 10 licenses. I must apologize but I got bored while looking at the web page. I'll give it another shot...

I did look at the froogle prices first but I saw that the legit versions (non-maintenance agreement only) looked to be about $280 on average so I got thrown off by what the main symantec page showed.

Edit: Yeah, looks like $47/license with a 10-license minimum. What's weird is that I couldn't even see if you needed to pay for the software itself. Ah, well. I think $477 is a bit much for antivirus software for the home user.
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Old 08-31-2006, 04:52 AM
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Default Re: Norton Anti-Virus and viruses?

Avast work quite well. It sounds like you have a trojan generator. Download Avast and do a boottime scan. It should help. However, after you download it, disconnect your computer from your network and delete Norton before you run Avast. Norton interferes with it. You will have to register Avast once in a while, but it doesn't cost anything for home use.
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  #19  
Old 09-06-2006, 10:24 PM
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Default Re: Norton Anti-Virus and viruses?

Thanks for the suggestions so far everyone! I've been too frustrated with the situation to actually try any of 'em, but I'm gonna force myself to work on it tonight.
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  #20  
Old 09-13-2006, 03:48 PM
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Default Re: Norton Anti-Virus and viruses?

:( I've barely touched my home computer for the past month, and I think that that decision has come back to bite me. Ever since this virus began I haven't been able to do a normal shut-down, so when I turn it on it always has to check the hard-drive or I can opt out of it. After that point in the start-up it would normally go to the log-in screen, but now I get a message that says "Insufficient system resources exist to complete the API" and after I click OK, the computer restarts and it continues on that loop. Before this began I had around 8.6GB free on my C: drive, so it looks like I do have a trojan generator and Norton couldn't stop it. I tried the McAfee Stinger utility, but it didn't seem to do anything. Am I screwed?
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Old 09-13-2006, 05:00 PM
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Default Re: Norton Anti-Virus and viruses?

Looks like you are. I might as well pass you some lube. Is there a way for you to reformat the harddrive and try a clean reinstall?
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Old 09-13-2006, 05:15 PM
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Default Re: Norton Anti-Virus and viruses?

Do you have an emergency boot disk? I'd try that first if I were you.
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Old 09-13-2006, 05:15 PM
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Default Re: Norton Anti-Virus and viruses?

I've never reformatted a hard-drive or done a re-install, so I wouldn't know where to begin (I don't think that I have the discs that came with the computer, either). The last time that I turned it on last night I had the choice to start in safe mode and a couple of other choices (I'm not describing it well, but I'm sure you know what I mean) and I went with normal, and it restarted before it got a chance to go to the log-in screen. I don't know much about safe mode or last known good configuration or that kinda stuff, so I'm hesitant to screw with 'em...but things couldn't get any worse, so I'd might as well, I guess.

I don't think that I've got an emergency boot disc. This was a hand-me-down computer, so I don't think that I have everything that came with it.
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