Microsoft Anti-Spyware Removes Norton Anti-Virus

An anonymous reader writes "According to a story over at Washingtonpost.com, the latest definitions file for Microsoft's Anti-Spyware beta flags Symantec's Norton Antivirus products as a password-stealing trojan and prompts users to delete portions of the program. Users who follow the instructions hose their installation of Norton, requiring delicate Windows registry edits and a complete removal/reinstall of Norton. Microsoft's support forum is quickly filling up with complaints about this problem, many from businesses that have been pretty hard hit. This should be a cautionary tale about deploying beta products in production environments."

Comments

Discussion Link

[Mz6]

Here's a link to the actual discussion. Looks like this has been corrected with the latest definitions.

Re:What problem?

[dynamo52]

Seriously. Considering how good NAV is at sucking up memory and CPU cycles, the only way anyone probably noticed was when their computer suddenly seemed much smoother and more responsive.

I agree. I am a computer services provider for mostly home users and I often find NAV and internet tools to be single greatest contributor to draining system resources. I usually recommend disabling NAV, using safe internet practices, and scanning weekly or if there appears to be a problem.

Re:What do you really expect it to do?

[Baricom]

I would wager that if you took two identical PC's, installed Norton Internet Security on one, and AVG Free Edition, Sygate Personal Firewall (R.I.P.), and Ad-Aware on the other, you'd find that the latter computer is just as protected and runs substantially faster than the Norton-infected one.

The first step I take when I'm working on somebody's computer is to remove Norton and install these replacements. Most people are shocked that their computer runs as fast as it does, especially considering that many of these people have always had Norton installed because it came with their computer.

Just because these products must use continuous system resources doesn't mean they need all of them. That would kind of defeat the purpose of having a computer.

Faster way to clean up Norton

[TheGSRGuy]

If MS Antispyware wipes out your Norton install, the fastest and easiest way to clean out Norton to prepare for a reinstall is with Symantec's Norton Removal Tool, aka SymNRT. It's available for free from their website and is designed for situations like this where the install gets corrupted and you can't remove it.

The tool removes every trace of Norton from your system. It does a better job than the normal uninstaller.

Re:What do you really expect it to do?

[Baricom]

The first problem I see with your experiment is that you're comparing software that offers vastly different capabilities. Some do more than others, for instance. Like I said, some include email scanning, while others don't. Some include firewall capabilities, while others don't.

I'm sorry that I wasn't clear. I meant that running all of those products in memory simultaneously is better for performance than running Norton in memory.

Second, you're trying to give a quantitative value to something that is qualitative. What metric do you use to measure the vulnerability of a particular PC? Sure, you can throw a certain amount of malicious software at it, but that's not a realistic test.

The measure is simple - which computer protected with its respective packages and attached directly to the network will be infected by a worm or hacked by a malicious user first? If you re-read my comment, you'll find that I said that both computers will be "just as protected." If both computers will be equally difficult to penetrate, why waste the extra memory and CPU on Norton?

But it's not really a beta...

[vudufixit]

This was a full product called Giant Anti-spyware that MS acquired.
"Beta" is their term.

75% of my private client calls involve removing malware, and the MS product
is a champ at this task.

MS antispyware gives you a summary screen that breaks down each item it found,
assigns it a perceived threat rating, and gives you the choice to "Remove, Ignore, Quarantine."

So, anyone watching with any degree of care should notice that Norton was one of the choices
and simply select the "ignore" option.

Personally, I haven't seen this happen myself.

I agree with many other posters that Norton isn't that great of a product.
I've noticed their firewall suddenly,without provocation, start blocking
all websites.

I've also noticed their antivirus turn itself off for no reason, never
to be turned on again. Reinstalling is often interesting, since even the
least little trace of the product prevents an install/reinstall, but it
almost never uninstalls cleanly.

Re:What problem?

[spectre_240sx]

Well that's not surprising considering NAV runs at least 14 processes. I think it might be 15 including that glorified advertisement they call Norton Protection Center.

We're still selling it at the shop that I work at. I'm not sure why... We recommend AVG Free for most people, but for business users we sell NAV.

Re:What problem?

[The Snowman]

We recommend AVG Free for most people, but for business users we sell NAV.

AVG is an excellent product. I have been using it for a couple of weeks now with zero problems, minimal performance/CPU/RAM impact, etc. I am so impressed with it that I am actually going to pay for it, despite the free version working "good enough" for me.

At work, NAV sucks my computer dry. Sure, it works well enough, but the cure is worse than the disease. Too bad my employer is in bed with MS and Norton, no room for AVG...