Symantec Revises their Norton removal tool

User: inactive Posts:

Norton continues to be the worse program (or virus) I ever have to remove from customers PC's. Again, last week a customer was begging me to help him with a Norton 2006 install that was driving him nuts. It was reporting a virus and then refusing to remove it. And, his computer was running so slow he couldn't stand it any more. Total frustration!!!!!

WELL, the old Norton Killer I had said it was out of date and refused to work. It had just worked the previous day. Crying or Very sad

Norton also would not uninstall itself. So I did what I have had to do so often and I physically ripped it out by the roots. (manually deleting the files and folders and running the old Norton registry cleanup routine to remove the registry entries)

Then I installed both AVG 7.1 FREE and Trojan Hunter and AdAware SE/Personal and Spybot S&D and got his computer completely clean of all malware.

I had to remove over 200 pieces of spyware. Some were pre-installed by the computer's manufacturer. (Dell)

After I got home, I did some Googling and found that indeed there is a new Norton Removal Tool available from Symantec. It comes in three parts now, not just two.

So, I packaged them up (zipped) and uploaded them to my Rented Site where others can easily download them.

From:
http://tools.house-tech.net

In the "Computer Tools" section,

Download:
NortonKiller.exe

Put it in a Desktop folder and run it to unpack it.
There will be three files, each one numbered consecutively.
Run file #1, then file #2 and then (guess what) file #3.

When you're done running the three files, Norton will be GONE!

I hope this will help those who are as sick of Norton as I am.

Bartender! Beers all around!
The Shadow Cool

zlim · Joined: Mar 11, 2005 Posts: 2636

There is also a free crap remover, designed by someone for his Dell but now he is adding things to it so that anyone with a new PC can wipe out all the "value Added" programs (aka trash) that comes with most new computers.
Grab a copy here http://www.yorkspace.com/pc-de-crapifier?

pcrattail · Joined: Jun 11, 2004 Posts: 406

Hey.. TheShadow,

I had stated the other day that I had fixed a computer that
had a "rootkit" on it.

Well....... It also had Norton's on it.
I downloaded the "NortonKiller" from your site,
Used it on the "infected" PC, but I ran into a snag.....
The .. 1_NSIFIX.bat file wouldn't work. ....well I didn't think much
about it, till you did this post.

I went to Norton's web site and found the 3 files (included in your NortonKill.exe). I downloaded the .bat file. YOURS looks different... got EXTRA stuff in it. WHY?
You may want to check the contents of your version versus their version.

User: inactive Posts:

The term "yours" is in error!

None of it is 'mine'.
I didn't write the files, nor did I edit them in any way, except that I added the numbers 1 thru 3 to the file name so they would be run in the correct order.

If the files from Symantec are different it's only because they have changed them, AGAIN.

When I've run the files myself, they all ran just fine.
Some screwed up computers can't run batch files.
That requires a FIX.

I'll download the latest files (again) from Symantec and see if there are indeed differences.
Thanks,
Shadow Cool

User: inactive Posts:

OK, I think I've got a handle on it now. Embarassed

I looked at the batch file as I downloaded it from Symantec.
It appeared in binary format, or was it Russian?. Crying or Very sad

I'm not sure why this happens, but I've seen it before and it sure is frustrating.

Sometimes batch files don't download or translate from place to place properly. The .reg file from Symantec did the same thing to me once before. Since there were 1891 lines to the file, I had to use the Replace command in Wordpad to make the corrections to every line.
The double slashes (\\) had to be changed to a single slash and the "\par" had to be removed from every line in the file.

When edited into real batch language and corrected, it looks like this:

@Echo off
cls
attrib -r -s -h %WINDIR%\SYSTEM32\dllcache\*.*
ren %WINDIR%\SYSTEM32\dllcache\msi.dll msi.ddd
ren %WINDIR%\SYSTEM32\dllcache\msiexec.exe msiexec.old
ren %WINDIR%\SYSTEM32\dllcache\msihnd.dll msihnd.ddd

I've made the change to the master file on my HD and I'm going now to create a new zip file and copy it to the Download Site.

Thank you for calling this to my attention.

Shadow Cool

Edit: The batch file is being converted to a bin file in the zipping process.
I can fix this by compiling the batch file into an ".com" file.
I'll do this later today and get the corrected zip file uploaded.
Again, thanks for your keen eye and your dilligence.

2nd Edit: Embarassed

The batch file is compiled into a .com file and a new zip file has been created. As near as I can tell, everything is OK now. Feel free to download the Revised Norton Killer.
Shadow Wink

pcrattail · Joined: Jun 11, 2004 Posts: 406

'

' No Prob ! ' Wink

'

That's what fellow "techies" are for ! ' Cool

'
We watch each others back.......

Besides.... I have a "few" new tools in my "bag-o-goodies"
for fixing peoples PC. .......All Thanks To You !!!!.....

User: inactive Posts:

In other circles, I'd be called a "developemental engineer".
In this realm, I'm just a "Tinker". That use to mean pot fixer, or some such. Laughing

Since I've retired and I'm not out drumming up business, I've got lots more time to try to pass on my 40+ years of technical experience to others who will carry on the trade.

It really buggs me that some day I'm going to die and take so much knowledge to the grave with me. I wish I could just do a memory dump to DVD or some such. Actually, it would take quite a stack of DVD's.

Oh well, I'll do what I can for as long as I can.

PC Rat,
How long have you been in the 'puter repair business?

pcrattail · Joined: Jun 11, 2004 Posts: 406

Well, I don't have that MUCH time invested yet (10+), but I have seen
my fair share. I still get amazed when I "tinker" with a electronic device, figure out what is wrong, and someone (watching me) says, "God you've got a lot of talent". I want to stop, look at them, and say.. "NO, it's just common sense!. LOL

pcrattail · Joined: Jun 11, 2004 Posts: 406

I am "Jack" of LOTS with computers....
- A User
- A Tweeker
- A Tinkerer
- A Repairer
- A Refurbisher
and a Builder
..............My Nickname (given to me by my friends grandchild 7 or so years ago).................... PUTERMAN

--- But NEVER a TRUE
Programer
Web Master
MS Certified
(or any Certified).

I am "self-taught",
Community College "schooled",
and Life Experience "educated".

Well..................enought about me !! LOL

User: inactive Posts:

I'm 99% self taught,
but, I had a good teacher. Twisted Evil

The important thing is NOT how many certifications you have, but can you fix a computer and get it right the first time? That's what separates the Geeks from the real Technicians.
I'm now a Senior Tech and I do know the difference.

I just wish I could find a teaching position somewhere.
Maybe I should start my own school, or write my own book.
Something like, "All the things your mother never told you about computers" Laughing

It's getting late and I've got two new Compaq laptops to install tomorrow morning.
I may get a chance to try out the, "DECrapifier" I downloaded this week.

Nite all!
The Shadow Cool

patio · Joined: Feb 03, 2004 Posts: 5598

Let us know how the "DeCrapifier" runs...i've read mixed reviews.
Is it exclusive for Dells ?

Thanx Again.
patio. Cool

User: inactive Posts:

Job done....two new Compaq Laptops added to the worlds running PC's and the internet. Laughing

It was funny.....one of the little laptops could see the neighbors Wireless Network and the other one, sitting right next to it, didn't. Go Figure!

The DeCrapifier began listing things that were not on the Compaq, so I stopped it and went on with my manual file UN-Install, and there were a ton of them. Games, up the ying-yang.

I had the owner running one laptop while I ran the other one, side by side.
It went well, and she learned a whole bunch about her little pc's in the process. She's a school teacher and no dummy, so together we got the job done in record time.

Doing the DVD system restore disks (two DVD's per laptop) took the longest time......about an hour.
I spent that time tweaking up and updating her other two desktop computers.

So I've really not had a Dell to try the DeCrapifier on. Yet!

Norton 2006, was installed on the laptops along with Office 2003 Trial and MS Money and Works along with a ton of games. All came out without any trouble. PTL!!

I maybe should have run the registry cleaning portion of the "Norton Killer" but time was short, so I didn't.

When I got done, with all the cleaning and registry tweaks, the little computers were running like little "scalded dogs".

I'll be seeing both laptops again during Christmas vacation and at that time, I'll partition both HD's and make Ghost Images, saved to the new partitions. Then burn those images to DVD's, for permanent backups.

I hope y'all here in the States had a very nice Labor Day weekend.

The Shadow Cool

User: inactive Posts:

Downloaded the three part program file#1 just ran no results showed worrisome , file#2 said it removed all of Norton programs but whats up with file#3 it just wanted to change Icons whats up with that?

User: inactive Posts:

The .bat file:

@Echo off
cls
attrib -r -s -h %WINDIR%\SYSTEM32\dllcache\*.*
ren %WINDIR%\SYSTEM32\dllcache\msi.dll msi.ddd
ren %WINDIR%\SYSTEM32\dllcache\msiexec.exe msiexec.old
ren %WINDIR%\SYSTEM32\dllcache\msihnd.dll msihnd.ddd

as you see, does nothing but rename some files so that they can be deleted.
It does that with Echo Off so you won't see anything on the screen. That's just the way it works. If you want, you can search out the files and see if they are still there.

The .exe file, does have operator interaction so you'll see stuff on your screen there.

The .reg file as we've talked about before can be corrupted during compressing, uncompressing and transmission over the internet.

I can eMail it to you if you'd like. Just PM me.
It's however the least important of the files. The lines it removes from the registry may or may not have been removed by SymNRT.exe.
They create a bit of "Bloat" to the registry, but are not a security problem if left in place.

Good Luck,
Shadow Cool

Edit: Some time later.

I just made a new folder on my desktop and then downloaded the compressed Norton Killer program from the download site.
I put the downloaded file in the new folder and clicked on it to decompress it. I then ran all three numbered files. They all ran just fine.
I looked at the batch file and reg file in notepad and they are OK. No file corruption at all.

Originally, I used WinZip for the file compression and it seemed to be corrupting the files in the process. I've since changed to "7-Zip" and it does NOT seem to mess with the files like WinZip did.

So, if anyone has downloaded "Norton Killer.exe" from my site before and had a problem with it.....try it now.