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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."
Probably the best thing any user can have happen. The removal or norton anti-virus.
"Go into the hall of mirrors and have a bloody hard look at yourself" - HG Nelson
Norton could be described as spyware. Norton assumes your system is there to do nothing but run Norton.
Wait... Is not spyware? It's definitely malware.
MS Antispyware isn't useless after all!
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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.
ABSURDITY, n.: A statement or belief manifestly inconsistent with one's own opinion.
install DOJ's Anti-Trust© to remove the offending product. Of course, it has been a little buggy since the Jan 2001 release.
Arrogance is Confidence which lacks integrity. -- me
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.
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This also brings up some interesting possibilities. Is it possible to craft a virus to deliberately have similar signatures to a commercial product? An anti-virus company that doesn't have quite all commercial applications on hand to test against could be caught by that. Maybe not, but I'm sure someone will try now.
I'm glad I run Linux, and when things like this happen, I wish everyone did.
Bruce
Bruce Perens.
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.
The tool removes every trace of Norton from your system. It does a better job than the normal uninstaller.
Excuse me? NAV is a steaming heap of complete crap.
AVG does the job better, faster, and with far less resource consumption. Every time I have been called on to disinfect a machine which was running NAV, I recommned the owners switch to AVG. Without exception, they comment on how much more responsive their system is. I have little trouble convincing them to support Grisoft by getting the not-for-free version.
The machine I am on right now is running (probably unnecessarily) a full AVG install. It checks my email, it checks my downloads, it checks all of the crud running on the system, and it does this while burning some fraction of 1% of the CPU and a tiny bit of memory.
If you are currently running NAV, disable it (if you can) and try running AVG for a couple of days. I think you'll notice the difference.
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.