Norton 360

[David9001]

Could someone please provide details on the MS Office integration that requires a separate installation process? What does this do? How does it differ from 360 v3 optional file scanning of MS Office files, for instance? Any info would be greatly appreciated!

Last night I uninstalled 360 v3. I was very happy with it. I tried installing 360 v4 and so far it is great! However, I do not understand this separate installation process that started up each time I tried to run an MS Office program. Could someone explain to me what that is all about (or refer me to an online document that explains all the details? Many thanks.

[BlitzXor]

The office scanning is a setting that you turn on and off, it should not prompt for any additional installation. Can you describe specifically what you are seeing?

I'm imagining that you're seeing the Windows Installer load whenever you open Office, which would indicate some sort of problem with your Office installation, but let's cross that bridge when we come to it. Does the problem still happen when you turn off scanning of office files?

[David9001]

I have been running a full suite of MS Office 2007 for years and have never had a problem with it.

Immemdiately after installing 360 v4, a second Norton installation procedure began each time I tried to run an MS Office program. The first few times this happened, I kept clicking on the "cancel" icon in the installation window until the installation procedure gave up and stopped. This continued to happen when trying to run Outlook and Word, for instance. Finally, I let the installation procedure go through when trying to to open a Word file. The installation did not take more than a minute or two, and I notice no difference in the MS Office programs after the installation. The MS Office programs all work now after the extra Norton installation. However, I do understand what the installation did or why it was necessary. Anyone have any ideas?

I could imagine that Norton AntiSpam now requires a separate (and seemingly forced) separate installation procedure. However, I have Norton AntiSpam turned off. In addition, Norton insisted on this second installation procedure whenever I tried to run MS Word. I do remember clicking on or choosing an option for MS Office functionality somewhere within 360 v4 settings, though I do not understand the separate installation process for MS Word, for instance. Any info on this matter would be greatly appreciated.

[BlitzXor]

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David9001 wrote (in another thread):

Thanks to you (and the other forum participant) who answered by question. Yes, in ignorance, I was going by the tray icons. Thank you for informing me. Problem solved!

However, could you please take a look at my MS Office post? What is this business about requiring a separate installation process for 360 v4 with MS Office? Somewhere I remembering checking or turning on MS Office integration/functionality. However, whenever I tried to run an MS Office program, 360 v4 tried to initiate a new installation process. Many times I repeatedly canceled the process until it gave up. Finally, I let the installation go through. All is fine, though I do not see any explicit 360 features now in my MS Office programs. It is true that I have Norton AntiSpam turned off, so I do not expect anything from Outlook. However, 360 v4 insisted on an installation process when I tried to run MS Word. I not recall any Norton products prior to 2010 requiring a separate installation process for MS Office. Could someone please explain? Thanks.

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The Windows Installer tracks changes to MSI  packages that have been installed on the system (of which MS Office is one). Sometimes if a file has been changed or damaged, the Windows Installer will automatically run to replace/repair the files affected. This can also happen if registry settings for the Windows Installer have been modified or are corrupted. That said, Norton 360's install process shouldn't do anything to affect this. I just installed 360v4 on an XP machine with Office installed, turned on the feature, and I had no change in the behavior of MS office.

If everything is working fine after running the Windows Installer, there is probably nothing else you need to do. I would just chalk it up to a weird coincidence and keep an eye on it to make sure everything is working okay. However, if you continue to have problems we can talk about other possible options, likely to include uninstall of Office, running the MSI cleanup tool, and reinstalling... that sort of thing. Again, we'll cross that bridge when we come to it. You can also see what others think of this analysis of the situation.

[BlitzXor]

Thanks to you (and the other forum participant) who answered by question. Yes, in ignorance, I was going by the tray icons. Thank you for informing me. Problem solved!

However, could you please take a look at my MS Office post? What is this business about requiring a separate installation process for 360 v4 with MS Office? Somewhere I remembering checking or turning on MS Office integration/functionality. However, whenever I tried to run an MS Office program, 360 v4 tried to initiate a new installation process. Many times I repeatedly canceled the process until it gave up. Finally, I let the installation go through. All is fine, though I do not see any explicit 360 features now in my MS Office programs. It is true that I have Norton AntiSpam turned off, so I do not expect anything from Outlook. However, 360 v4 insisted on an installation process when I tried to run MS Word. I not recall any Norton products prior to 2010 requiring a separate installation process for MS Office. Could someone please explain? Thanks.

[David9001]

Thank you for your comments. Since there are no problems so far, it seems wise to leave it go for now and chalk it up to an unexplained weird computer thing. However, I keep my system/programs clean and running clean/properly. (I only install well established software, never do anything risky with my computer, etc.) So I wonder what is going on and whether I should try to address this mystery now so as to preempt a problem arising in the future. But I have no idea exactly what to do - other than following very specific instructions you might be kind enough to provide to me. But I agree with you not to try that unless any problems arise. Thank you again.

Still, if you or anyone else encounters this issue and/or have an (further) ideas/insight about it, could you please post them here?

Remember, immediately after installing 360 v4, Norton insisted on running another (brief) installation process whenever I tried to run an MS Office program. At first I kept canceling this extra Norton installation process, but I finally let it go through when opening an MS Word file. I see no difference in MS Word. That's the situation. Anyone who can explain it or come up with any ideas on what is going on with it, please share in a post here. Many thanks again. Otherwise, 360 v4 is awesome!

[BlitzXor]

Well, the thing is that popup installation dialog that you got had nothing to do with Norton. It's a function built into the Windows Installer that runs automatically to try to remediate problems that may arise with an installation. For example, here is a link to a similar problem discussed on the Microsoft forums:

http://social.answers.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/vistainstall/thread/d9fc4467-be9a-4ce5-a86d-676c340...

If the problem occurs over and over again, it is usually a good idea to uninstall the program, run the MSI cleanup tool to get rid of any traces of the program, and reinstall it in a clean environment. However, if running the installer works, which seems to be the case in your situation, it's likely that the Windows Installer functioned as designed and resolved a potential issue before it began (which is what that feature is designed to do). So keep an eye on it, and if everything seems okay, just be glad that everything worked as it was supposed to. If it starts to behave erratically, it's probably worth going through a procedure like the one listed above.

Note that the procedure is different for Office 2007, if that is what you are using: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/971179/