What the F@#$%

So I'm surfin the web, when all of a sudden, Norton anti-virus pops up "A trojan has been found, sorry couldnt stop it" 5 times back to back, I try and fix it, for 3 days, all it does is find more trojans. so I do a full restore, install Norton again, and.... found 47 trojans and worms. I go to House call virus check on-line, same thing, so within 3 days I did 5 full restores until I talked with a friend of mine who's a programer, he says " Take norton out of your system" so I do. since then not one F'n problem. It was norton all a long. it was almost like it was sucking in viruses instead of taking them out.

So I have done a full restore, installed spybot, ad-aware and pop-up stopper, but I'm left with no anti virus. any1 have any suggestions to a good one I could DL? I dont want to use Shareazaa until I have at leased some kind of protection.

reinstall Norton


Norton isnt spreading viruses, trojans, worms or the like. If you downloaded the copy of NAV that you have, I would recommend purchasing a copy. If you did pay for it, call tech support, I haven't heard of this problem yet. They also have an extensive knowledge base here:

http://www.symantec.com/techsupp/

I don't pay for software except for two things, I download it. The two I do pay for are OS's and anti-viruses. It's well worth the money.

So because Norton found all those nasties, and an online scan did the same, you think Norton put them there? I would imagine that when Norton's definitions were updated, they were then recognised and highlighted.

If you think Norton's handling of them is bad, let me tell you I've seen worse; a friend called in an professional because she didn't want to bother me again (a month after I last went there!) and was charged £50 for him to install MacAfee, reboot a couple of times and declare the need for reformat and re-install. That's when I went round to find that he'd left MacAfee on there and every time Windows booted it found an infected file, then demanded the system was rebooted before anything else. MacAfee wanted to do this one file at a time.

Whatever the reason, if you're after a top notch AV you could do worse than Kaspersky or NOD32.

yeah, shouldn't blame norton antivirus for those files

the reason u get all those msgs is because u did not turn off System Restore.
believe it or not, those viruses could very well be residing in the system restore files, which is why u keep getting warning messages all the time.

U have to turn it off so that norton can do its job.
once it has clean them all off, u can turn System Restore back on.


gildan2020

I did shut off system restore and I formatd the HD and restored from disk, and it was all coming back. I dont understand it

No anti-virus application (especially one as high up on the food chain as NAV) actually "places" maliscious content within and purposely infects a host system. NAV is designed and/or set by default to attempt to "repair" any infected files it comes across. If it cannot do so, it will quarantine the file, saving it in the process and then re-attempt to repair the file(s) after each subsequent "LiveUpdate" session. Thereby bringing everything back to your immediate attention.

There are roughly "a million and a half" threads running rampant on these forums already with users comparing/contrasting his and her preferences, declaring which AV protection is superior over the other and so forth... They are lengthy and sometimes redundant reads however there is alot of good information within them if you take the time to search them out. You will get an idea of what is best suited for your needs.

So far as your system is concerned though... with having that many "nasties" (I like that wording) plaguing you, I would not even bother with removing anything. Reformat and start fresh. Odds are that your system is so far taken over by this stage, that for every one "nasty" you kill, five more will take their place. Find a suitable AV program. Reformat and reinstall your operating system, and then put that AV application in place while making certain that it is up-to-date weekly with the latest virus definitions.

Backing off on all the pr0n sites may also save you alittle grief as well... j/k. :D

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Originally Posted by Skizo

reinstall Norton


Norton isnt spreading viruses, trojans, worms or the like. If you downloaded the copy of NAV that you have, I would recommend purchasing a copy. If you did pay for it, call tech support, I haven't heard of this problem yet. They also have an extensive knowledge base here:

http://www.symantec.com/techsupp/

I don't pay for software except for two things, I download it. The two I do pay for are OS's and anti-viruses. It's well worth the money.

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I was an official paid for copy, I just didnt think it would cause so many problems

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Originally Posted by Izagaia

No anti-virus application (especially one as high up on the food chain as NAV) actually "places" maliscious content within and purposely infects a host system. NAV is designed and/or set by default to attempt to "repair" any infected files it comes across. If it cannot do so, it will quarantine the file, saving it in the process and then re-attempt to repair the file(s) after each subsequent "LiveUpdate" session. Thereby bringing everything back to your immediate attention.

There are roughly "a million and a half" threads running rampant on these forums already with users comparing/contrasting his and her preferences, declaring which AV protection is superior over the other and so forth... They are lengthy and sometimes redundant reads however there is alot of good information within them if you take the time to search them out. You will get an idea of what is best suited for your needs.

So far as your system is concerned though... with having that many "nasties" (I like that wording) plaguing you, I would not even bother with removing anything. Reformat and start fresh. Odds are that your system is so far taken over by this stage, that for every one "nasty" you kill, five more will take their place. Find a suitable AV program. Reformat and reinstall your operating system, and then put that AV application in place while making certain that it is up-to-date weekly with the latest virus definitions.

Backing off on all the pr0n sites may also save you alittle grief as well... j/k. :D

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WELL STATED :cheers:

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Originally Posted by Draconos

I was an official paid for copy, I just didnt think it would cause so many problems

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Whether you actually paid for the software or not has no bearing on it's actual performance. Using an AV that you obtained through P2P or bought at your local Walmart does not change anything.

Taking a wild stab as to what or where you may attempt to alleviate your problem: I have heard of alot of instances (even experienced one myself) where a user would reformat his/her system and then pick up a gazillion "nasties" the very moment they tried updating through Windows Update or attempted to register the OS product key through Microsoft's site. In which case they were using an early version of the operating system (one that did not have have any of the service packs or critical updates slipstreamed in). So if anything at all, so long as you are using Shareazza, you may as well see if you can obtain an updated version of XP (sounds like you are referring to XP). One that at the very least, contains SP1 already integrated into it. :)

Yes that's one of the reasons i hate norton...lack of being able to remove viruses. :rolleyes:

NOD32 is my favorite but i haven't been able to crack latest version so i'm now using AVG which isn't too bad.

kaspersky is good too.



in teh future you should make your title a little more descriptive of the problem...

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Originally Posted by Izagaia

Whether you actually paid for the software or not has no bearing on it's actual performance. Using an AV that you obtained through P2P or bought at your local Walmart does not change anything.

Taking a wild stab as to what or where you may attempt to alleviate your problem: I have heard of alot of instances (even experienced one myself) where a user would reformat his/her system and then pick up a gazillion "nasties" the very moment they tried updating through Windows Update or attempted to register the OS product key through Microsoft's site. In which case they were using an early version of the operating system (one that did not have have any of the service packs or critical updates slipstreamed in). So if anything at all, so long as you are using Shareazza, you may as well see if you can obtain an updated version of XP (sounds like you are referring to XP). One that at the very least, contains SP1 already integrated into it. :)

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Good call! Rossco2004 And I were laffing sometime back , about a guide for using a older version of XP and the internet for the first time ! :)

It is exactly as Izagaia states. "I have heard of alot of instances (even experienced one myself) where a user would reformat his/her system and then pick up a gazillion "nasties" the very moment they tried updating through Windows Update or attempted to register the OS product key through Microsoft's site. In which case they were using an early version of the operating system (one that did not have have any of the service packs or critical updates slipstreamed in)."

This is the problem. Not Norton.

My brother in law mentioned my problem to a friend of his and he said that it might be that a virus entered my registry and is pretty much activated by installing antivirus software. if this is the case does anyone know how to scann the registry for this? I've done the on-line scan and it says that my system is clean, but Spybot always comes up with a "DSO Exploit" that it doesnt seem to be able to remove

I use Kav

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Originally Posted by Draconos

My brother in law mentioned my problem to a friend of his and he said that it might be that a virus entered my registry and is pretty much activated by installing antivirus software. if this is the case does anyone know how to scann the registry for this? I've done the on-line scan and it says that my system is clean, but Spybot always comes up with a "DSO Exploit" that it doesnt seem to be able to remove

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"A friend of a friend..."? Now you're clutching at straws.
The DSO exploit problem that Spybot can't fix is not a virus, and is probably not any sort of malware - if it's to do with security settings in Internet Properties, it's a false-negative that Spybot is known to be prissy about and can't fix.
If your system is clean, disable System Restore and install an antivirus.

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Originally Posted by Draconos

My brother in law mentioned my problem to a friend of his and he said that it might be that a virus entered my registry and is pretty much activated by installing antivirus software. if this is the case does anyone know how to scann the registry for this? I've done the on-line scan and it says that my system is clean, but Spybot always comes up with a "DSO Exploit" that it doesnt seem to be able to remove

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Well... the thing is that once you wipe your harddrive clean and reformat (re-installing a fresh copy of your OS in the process) you are doing just that; "erasing all data on the current partition, including your registry, and replacing it with new code".

I do not know exactly how many partitions your system has or if it is possible for malware to actually "jump" from one to the other, but if you are installing an anti-virus application IMMEDIATELY after reformatting (even before registering the key with Microsoft, then I do not possibly see how your system could become infected like you are describing to reject that AV application. I just do not think it is possible for your system to become infected if you have taken every step to stay offline before you can put up a solid defense.

I suppose at this point, I would have to wonder if you are using a "true" copy of Windows XP or one of those bloated OEM versions (usually the case if you bought your system from a local retailer such as Walmart, Best Buy, Circuit City...etc) which contain the OS and every crap piece of third-party trial, partial and half-assed versions of other worthless softwares bundled in on the planet? In which case, did you actually perform a "reformat" using the Windows CD or merely one of those "Quick Restorations" using a disk that came with your system which restore it to the factory settings?


Big difference between the two in terms of what you are actually placing within your system.

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Originally Posted by Izagaia

Well... the thing is that once you wipe your harddrive clean and reformat (re-installing a fresh copy of your OS in the process) you are doing just that; "erasing all data on the current partition, including your registry, and replacing it with new code".

I do not know exactly how many partitions your system has or if it is possible for malware to actually "jump" from one to the other, but if you are installing an anti-virus application IMMEDIATELY after reformatting (even before registering the key with Microsoft, then I do not possibly see how your system could become infected like you are describing to reject that AV application. I just do not think it is possible for your system to become infected if you have taken every step to stay offline before you can put up a solid defense.

I suppose at this point, I would have to wonder if you are using a "true" copy of Windows XP or one of those bloated OEM versions (usually the case if you bought your system from a local retailer such as Walmart, Best Buy, Circuit City...etc) which contain the OS and every crap piece of third-party trial, partial and half-assed versions of other worthless softwares bundled in on the planet? In which case, did you actually perform a "reformat" using the Windows CD or merely one of those "Quick Restorations" using a disk that came with your system which restore it to the factory settings?


Big difference between the two in terms of what you are actually placing within your system.

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My ssytem was bundled with all the crap on the planet, I got it Compucenter here in canada. The norton is an official copy, I didnt DL it. My system didnt come with a disk at all, I had to make a restore copy, but I did it when my cpu was new. I actualy just went onto the symantec website and did a virus check with their on-line system, and I came out clean.

I have to believe from what you are describing that the Norton application is 100% fine.

Just guessing, because I have one of those systems myself that included bundled OEM software, but the problems you are encountering are from elements within one of the applications that came as part of your package of pre-installed software. Each time you use your restoration disk to restore your system back to factory condition, you are merely placing the infected file(s) back within your system. I have an HP/Compaq system bundle that included a DVD+RW/CD+RW combo drive. Instead of coming with one of those "Quick Restore" disks which revert your system and the software back to the factory shipped condition, I was prompted to use the my combo drive and create my own. Even so, my system tested positive for malicsious wares right-out-of-the-box due to the additional third-party crap they bundled in! :sick:

Software that comes bundled-in with new retail purchased system packages, are not there because the software vendor decided to do you a favor or provide you with an extra service. They were packaged in primarily to sell you an ADDITIONAL product sometime down the road. Whether it be for a subscription service for a Symantec product or supposably "free" music downloads through iTunes or even an internet-based game. They track your movements and preferences and then attempt to make an additional sell. IMO, the logic is that you have just purchased a $400-$1200 PC setup, so they want to make you think that you need to spend more $$$ for an additional service/element that might appeal to you. You've spent the money once... you are likely to do so again.

These "nasties" are really nothing more than advertising wares and other elements used to direct you towards their products. And it is quite possible that these are what NAV, Spybot or any of the other scanning applications you have already used, is pointing out to you.



I would quite literally guarantee that if you obtained a retail copy of XP with SP1 or SP2 already integrated into it and used the CD you burned it onto to perform a "reformat" of your current C:\ partition... your problems would solve themselves. After which your biggest diliema would be locating the proper drivers for your hardware. Which you are likely to find easily on the PC manufacturer's website anyway. :)

I just wanted to state that I too have run across a problem with a frsh reformat and install, the getting a virus as I was downloading ( or trying) my updates from windows update. I have learned to install my AV before connecting back to the web, also I activate windows default firewall. That keeps me from getting nailed by the blaster virus that still seems to be hanging around ;)

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Originally Posted by RPerry

I just wanted to state that I too have run across a problem with a frsh reformat and install, the getting a virus as I was downloading ( or trying) my updates from windows update. I have learned to install my AV before connecting back to the web, also I activate windows default firewall. That keeps me from getting nailed by the blaster virus that still seems to be hanging around ;)

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I would see if slipstreaming the latest service pack with your copy of Windows (create a new Windows CD in the process) would solve the problem. Or perhaps locating a copy of the OS with it already tacked on though P2P. :)

If say in XP's case, when you are reformatting using the Windows CD, I would assume that by "reformatting" that one is wiping/deleting all current partitions (or the partition the current OS is installed onto), reformatting and then creating a new partition for installation. Otherwise all you are doing is installing one copy of the OS directly onto the previous. Which just makes for "wasted time", IMO.

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Originally Posted by JPaul

Once again I read of people formating their HDD and thinking that it clears everything from the disk. As far as I am aware it does not. Doing an fdisk, wiping all the partitions etc, then formatting, then creating new partitinbs should do a better job of cleaning a drive.

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If this is true, then it would explain why this Windows XP setup is better and faster than all the previous reformats of the XP partition I did.
This time, I know Im getting a new HD soon so I am dedicating this 80 GB one solely to XP and its programs. I did delete all partitions, formatted and created one big instead.

BOT: I use Symantec AV Corp, and I managed to dload Windows updates, Java, Azureus, WinRAR and THEN this without getting any nasties. It is probs worth mentioning I have an SP2 slipstreamed copy, activating firewall at install. I know this is not the best firewall but hey this firewall + router is more secure than neither, ya? ;)
I fing SAV Corp the best because it is basically Norton without the fat. Its fast, and the golden key is that it can override programs accessing the file.
Back on NAV2k3, I found it useless because Kazaa viruses would infect my system just fine, all Norton did was give me endless (!) popups of it not being able to delete/quarantine the file, because another program was using it. Closing Kaz did not work, because NAV hogged focus and gave me the dreaded "beep" whenever I tried to alter this focus. And by the time the dload was done, the virus was in and NAV would continue its reign of hell, while the virus was having a snack at my explorer.exe :p

Please note I have not tried 2004/2005, so I cannot say anything about them. All I can say that 2003 scared me away from the Norton branch of Symantec.


//peace

I love reading these kind of posts .They change topics so fast ,but it's all related. At the end I read that you use Kazaa , part of the problem? :) But I like Jpaul, like fdisk or a program such as killdisk to completely clean a drive.