Just to post, again, the stupid tactic of Symantec to sell their products releasing their on demand scanning (Norton Security Scan) as a scareware. Any other antivirus running in the computer is marked as a security threat!
They could, at least, say your computer is running ok.
The button goes to a sell page of Symantec.
Shame!
Shame indeed.
Must have changed. I ran NSS as an on-demand scanner alongside avast for about a year with no problem, and no flagging from NSS.
I just tried it and it does not flag other security products at all. The only thing it flagged for me were 2 tracking cookies which while it said they were low risk threats,it gave no way to remove them. The Fix Now button just takes to a site to buy their full products. It also told me I had no Web protection which I can understand since I have no Firewall installed other than the XP one.
Calling it Scareware is a bit of an exaggeration. It’s simply an advertising tool that may pick up things that your current products have missed thereby giving you a reason to consider Norton instead.
It was also quickly and fully removed by just clicking on uninstall in the settings.
Sorry, I don’t think so.
Windows can recognize other antivirus. Norton could do it checking Windows repository.
Don’t call it a threat! You can ad your product, but, please, be intelligent not stupid like Symantec.
Cookies? I call this false ad. They know that, they just use the user lack of knowledge. Shame, shame, shame… Oh, how I hate Symantec techniques…
Revo did the last of the job with the files and registry keys lefts behind…
Unfortunately, it doesn’t seem to be the only security vendor doing it.
BitDefender Security Scan also reports “issues” with the AV installed, and then clicking Fix (I believe it was Fix… or some other word), I was taken to a web site where I could buy their products.
Shameful, indeed. Obviously, such tools do not fool me, but would they fool the same people that get fooled by rogue crap? Most likely, no?
It’s already concerning users need to watch their back because of the bad guys/girls, they also need to be aware with abusive security vendors!
Hopefully, we still can rely with non-abusive ones, such as avast!. avast! isn’t going rogue in any way, like other security vendors also bundling registry cleaners and all that crap, unrelated to security!
It didn’t give any issues at all with Avast. It didn’t even mention it. As I said , all it did was pick up tracking cookies and correctly term them as of low risk. SuperAntiSpyware will do the same thing unless you tell it not to. I see nothing wrong with the tactics employed here. It didn’t say any other security product was bad or a threat of any kind. The only registry key it left was one saying that it had been installed once. That’s totally harmless.
Other serious companies are just informing that the system is clean (not infected) while running on demand and do NOT say you’re not protected or there is a threat.
Shame also…
This is legit… (well, at least for cookie detection) but the one I received with the latest NSS is scareware.
At least we know cookies are inoffensive and they release an option. It’s a serious company.
Yes it is listed as a threat! i.e., the security program missing.
Revo detected more for me. Unfortunately I did not take a screenshot.
It’s always possible that it could detect more than just cookies. There’s always the chance that Norton’s signatures could be ahead of the ones from your installed product and pick up something that was missed. I think this is what they’re counting on.
Again, it does NOT report issues with other security products. In my case, it was pretty accurate in telling me I had normal protection but was missing web protection. I don’t have any firewall other than the XP one and they are talking about identity theft and phishing prevention. I suppose if you don’t have the identity chest they and others provide, they consider that a risk, and it may well be. Something can only be considered scareware if it gives false detections of threats that don’t exist. This program does not do that.
The window I got was very different from the one Tech posted. I guess I’ll have to install it again to get a screenshot.
Interesting, I got a different version this time that looks like the one Tech used. Just yesterday the window was totally different with the results on the right and no changing ad window. Now it says this.
Why didn’t it detect I have avast installed, fully updated and running?
I have AIS, so I have a firewall also…
Yes, it does in my case. The links go to their page also to buy their products.
They fail to detect the antivirus, warned the user that there is threat with all the letters…
It detected Avast for me–see my screenshot.
I can’t see your screenshot. Maybe some ad blocker on Firefox… Sorry.
I see no picture in any of your posts.
Your system must have problems then if you can’t see posted pics.
Anyway, it appears that there are two versions of the program available from the Norton site. The pic I posted is from an installation using a file called bin902-setup.exe. From a different link in my Google search, I got a different file (still from the Symantec site) named bin904-setup.exe. I’m assuming this is a newer version and it shows a different gui.
Not really. Now I can.
I can’t remember my version as I took it off immediately after I discovered it was a scareware.
Their online check does not detect avast either 
Hi Tech,
McAfee Security Scan Plus does not detect avast 6 either,
polonus
Is it a scareware too?
Wow… Now we have Symantec, Bitdefender and McAfee…
Thanks!
Rectifying the information.
The latest version of Norton Security Scan is NOT a scareware.
It just detect three false positives, but this is not being scareware.
I’ll change the thread title.
I tried it myself (I must have too much time on my hands ::))
I think “scareware” is too strong but it is scary.
Yellow alert! Tracking Cookies… which the linked page very well explains are not actually malicious.
http://securityresponse.symantec.com/security_response/writeup.jsp?docid=2006-080217-3524-99&tabid=3
Big Red alert! “High Risk” Trojan.ADH. However, the Norton info page again commendably tells the truth. http://securityresponse.symantec.com/security_response/writeup.jsp?docid=2006-080217-3524-99
“Risk Level 1: Very Low”
“Trojan.ADH is a detection technology designed to detect entirely new malware threats without traditional signatures. This technology is aimed at detecting malicious software that has been intentionally mutated or morphed by attackers.”
BTW, it’s an FP anyway.
I hate Symantec (Norton) >:( >:( >:( >:( >:( >:( >:(