Thinkpads Forum

Can anyone tell me how to completely remove Norton AV from my system. It came pre-loaded and I know from past experience that Norton seems to be the worst offender with regard to slowing the system. I've read that this may require some registry tweaks to fully purge. Also, any recommendations for AV software that doesn't completely hijack the system and slow things down so much?
Much thanks.

Welcome to the Thinkpad Forums

First, make a backup in case anything goes wrong. Next, try to uninstall all Norton components through the Add/Remove Programs CPL in the control panel.

If that doesn't work, use this to remove the remainder. There are more to choose from depending on your version.

HTH

Try AVG Free, works and doesn't hijack your system.

As for removing, if those tools that were given above don't work, just "Add/Remove Programs" then go to Start --> Run --> 'regedit' and look for Symantec or Norton and delete.

From what I remember, I just removed anything that said Symantec, Norton, or Live Update from Add or Remove Programs. Then I went to C:\Programs\ and deleted the Symantec folder. Then under C:\Documents and Settings\<each user account>\Application Data\ I deleted all Symantec and Live Update folders. [Under Start > Control Panel > Folder Options, you need to select Show hidden files and folders]. It seemed to work well enough.

It does work fine on the older versions. The newer ones don't always come off cleanly. Sometimes they leave a few processes running after norton is supposedly gone.

I had a rough time uninstalling Norton AV. It seems you can never get rid of all the components. Editing the registry to remove keys that had "Symantec" or "Norton" in them I believe caused some problems that were hard to pin down.
The only real way to get rid of Norton; reformat your hard drive. My PC boot drive failed, reinstalled the OS and went with a different AV, happy days are here again.

AVAST is also a small memory footprint antivirus scanner, which i prefer over the others mentioned above...

www.avast.com


I have an Lenovo T42 (2373-K5H) that came preinstalled with Norton AV 2004. Actually had to phone IBM tech support to get it removed. But guess it would be different machine & program for you...

Hate to badmouth, but I am SO over my love of Norton software.
In upgrading my system I wanted to reload some files. They wouldn't work without my calling support. Their response was that I had to mail in my disks so they could send them back in "working order"... Dumped Norton and I am now using other brands.
Then my copy of "Ghost" gave up the ghost, so from the board's recommendation I bought a copy of Acronis True Image. It is GREAT!!! Sorry Peter, but no more Norton for me.

In a test awhile ago, I heard that F-Secure had the largest breadth, clearing all sorts of different viruses.

i don't yet own a laptop (which is why i'm here - i'm researching), so i don't know how feasible this may be because of proprietary s/w, but the best way to clean something that embeds it self as deep as Norton is probably to start fresh. If all you have is a back-up partition though, i don't know that will do any good.

If you're able to remove it and you want a light, free, open source (FOSS) A/V program, i'd highly suggest ClamWin. Just keep in mind that this is not a real-time, background scanner - it is on-demand only (though can be invoked automatically for downloads with a script or browser add-on). It's a very good program IMO and updates are rolled out faster than some major vendors. If you want to auto-scan email, there's ClamMail

Hi

That shoul help you..EasyCleaner is a small software but it works
To completely remove Norton AV just do that:
1.install EasyCleaner
2.uninstall Norton AV using EasyCleaner
3.Delete all folders connected to Norton AV
4.Delete all registry keys,values connected to NAV by EasyCleaner

For me it always works
Sometimes but very rarely EasyCleaner doesn't clean everything..
so just in case you can you RegCleaner..

Note to Admin: all software I suggest is freeware and I use that for long time(over 5years)

Regards

I have a program called Remove Norton and it works. Send me your
address and I'll send it to you.