I got my PC with Norton Internet Security/Anti Virus 2004 already installed on a 3 month trial. Don’t like Norton so much, and recently uninstalled it using Windows Add/Remove. That went fine.
Avast is installed and running perfectly - I love it.
I’ve read quite a few posts where others are, or have had, trouble with not completely getting the roots out from Norton and being recommended to get Symantec’s removal tool.
If I’m having no problems right now, how necessary do you think that tool would be for me??
I don’t want a land mine on my computer waiting for me to trip it one day, but I also don’t fancy the idea of getting something else from Norton to run on my machine and possibly messing things up (maybe best to let sleeping dogs lie).
What’s the general consensus out there among the forum for this situation? I’m on XPHome/SP2
I am sure if you were going to have a conflict with Norton, it would have made its presence felt by now.
Many people have had problems with NAV not fully removing itself and avast wouldn’t install, they knew right away. You may be OK.
I would advise looking for the NAV removal tool on the Norton site and downloading it just in case. Because the last thing you want is to experience a problem that conflicts with avast (so it doesn’t function properly) and have to go on-line to download it without adequate protection.
I suppose it can’t hurt to download it for now, but I sure hope I don’t need to use it. The Symantec webpage emphasizes to only use it if Windows uninstall failed, and it seems like you need to reinstall “Windows Script 5.6” during the procedure…it sounds like a horror.
I get the impression that this is mainly for an instance where you would want to reinstall NAV/NIS again and the registry settings won’t let you.
I’ve searched my computer and there are only a couple of folders/files under either ‘Norton’ or ‘Symantec’ - they seem to be liveupdate folders and a couple of others in ApplicationData - I’m assuming there are lots of other entries still in the registry.
I would almost feel more comfortable going into regedit and getting rid of those manually. :-
In any case I’ll dl the removal tool(s) as you suggest, David - even though I hope not to use them
Garyb,
There is a utility you can download called “external control”. It has many useful functions, one of them being the abilty to completely uninstall nav 2004 from a machine using win xp.
I’m not sure if it has been updated for use with version 4.5 by the author - who is a member of this forum. Maybe someone else can confrim if it will work for this purpose. I mayself have not used it, but only know of its existence.
You can find it by doing a search on this board.
Garyb, I had to remove NAV a long time ago…
Well, I survived untill now… I’m avast since then 8)
I did not have to reinstall “Windows Script 5.6” or anything related.
You can delete folders/files under either ‘Norton’ or ‘Symantec’ folder, the others under Liveupdate folders and ApplicationData…
On Registry, well good Registry Cleaners could do some work.
But, for me, the only thing I would worry about is the VDD keys. You must have the following entry there:
Thanks to all for their responses…
guestja, I’ll do a search for that external control.
Technical, that’s very reassuring
I do indeed seem to have the correct dll in the Avast folders, and I also have that dll as the entry in the registry…
Under the name “VDD” the ‘type’ is “Reg_Multi_SZ”, and the data values are all “C:\Program Files\Alwil Software\Avast4\aswMonVd.dll”
Or at least the first 3 of them are- I don’t have any sign of there being a control set 003 or 004 on my machine…is that something I should worry about?
As I said in the earlier post I’m not having any problems at all so far, so there’s no rush or anything. I just want to make sure there’s no trouble down the road. It’s Avast all the way for me from now on ;D
Hello garyb, and WELCOME to the best forum on the WWW ! You are my neighbour, hehe… Etobicoke here…
If you are not experiencing any problems with avast! and everything seems to work great, just leave it that way. Why trying to heal something that doesn’t need to be healed ? No point… there is always great possibility to ruin some things.
If you experience any problems in the future, just post back and I’m sure someone will direct you properly what to do to fix that problem…
I’m glad you like avast! that much… we all pretty much came from Norton, but I am so happy that I can say that Norton never was installed on my new machine.
Thanks for the warm welcome! It’s very nice to be here - a forum’s much better than a ‘techsupport’ phone call.
We are indeed neighbours - west end of the city too - Eglinton/Dufferin.
Yeah, leaving it well enough alone is pretty much what I’d hoped to hear I could do…I don’t want to mess with it if not necessary.
I guess my biggest fear is that someday Avast will release an update and the Norton ‘residue’ will blow up in my face as a result.
If all the registry values seem ok, and there are no problems so far then I’m quite happy ;D
Yes, as I said before, it would be better not to touch anything for now. Don’t worry, it will not blow in your face… and if you start to experience some issues, it will be pretty much easy to solve them. If nothing helps, there is always well known way… uninstall avast! completely (there is also avast! uninstall tool), reboot, clean all registry keys avast! related… uninstall Norton completely, using Norton Uninstall tool, reboot, clean all registry keys Norton related of course…
Then just to be sure, reboot once again… perform clean avast! installl and everything should work without any problems…
Don’t worry, there is always someone in these forums to help you in case you’re stuck somewhere… we have some great members in here, and above all, they are great friends as well… that means something
We work as one great family, so everybody happy, right ?
Very nice job on the skins…you’ve put tons of work into them and it shows. I’m looking forward to the new one you’ve submitted to vlk. Very cool indeed.
I’m new to this forum and to avast!.
Installed avast! Free Home edition on 12/13/2004.
I had both McAfee Corp. Edition and AVG installed. Removed both – I thought.
Now, when I boot up, I get error message:
“Incompatible AV software running.
avast! detected that the following program is running: Norton Antivirus / Symantec Antivirus. The on-access scanner module of this program and the on-access scanner module of avast! CANNOT be active at the same time. As a result, the avast! main on access scanners – Standard Shield, P2P Shield and Instant Messaging Shield – were disabled.”
And subsequently Windows Security Center reports:
“avast! antivirus 4.5.549 [VPS 0451-0] reports that it is turned off.”
Do you have a solution?
THANKS!! Orley.
And I also believe that this thread clearly tells about it… uninstalling NAV is crucial thing to do, if you wanna install another antivirus… in this case Norton.
So, b4 posting, I read this entire thread and looked for related ones. I had already uninstalled the referenced programs and removed all related files/folders. But, I still get the problem reported earlier:
“Incompatible AV software running.”
My attempts at the Control Panel/Add or Remove Programs/remove Symantec AV Client have failed. I’m looking for assisstance at removing it and ensuring avast! runs correctly. THANKS!
Whilst add remove programs gets rid of the majority of the elements of a program some AV are notorious for leaving Registry entries behind these need to be removed also.
A visit to the McAfee website and see if they have a removal tool for their program. The same goes for AVG, but I think that McAfee is more likely to be the culprit. AVG does leave stuff behind in the registry but it doesn’t seem to conflict (didn’t for me when I switched from AVG6).
You didn’t mention Symantec AV (NAV ?) in your first post, did you have that as well ? If so that is the one AV that seems to cause the majority of these problems and there is a removal tool available on their website.
Orley
Click on the link in my signature and follow the instructions for uninstalling NAV. then Completely uninstall avast! (link to the program can be found in the same place)
Reboot after uninstalling each program. Then re-install avast! and SMILE. ;D
And speaking about fixes… I don’t know who you’re refering to, but we don’t use that stuff. Because you mentioned that, it looks like you are more familiar with it than we are…
It’s well explained how important is to completely uninstall one antivirus prior installing the new one. And sometimes it’s not enough just to uninstall it, you need to reboot your system and clean all registry keys pointing to antivirus that you are trying to uninstall. After that, you can proceed with installation of new antivirus.
If you had more antiviruses installed and runing on the same system, you have to repeat uninstalling procedure for each one of them, untill your system is completely clean…
Thank you guys for this info. I was able to get the program working properly by reading this thread and the other one posted by bob3160. The RNav2003 program fixed the problem completely and I was finally able to get Avast working. You guys were a big help.
Hi Digga’
Welcome to the Forums.
It’s always nice to hear that a problem has been solved. I mean’s that you’ve got a smile on your face. ;D
Come back often and if you’re able to help some one, that would also be nice.
