I think there a virus pretending to be norton NIS

therd3 · ‎03-23-2011

When My computer sit for a very short time a message pops up on the bottom right and said norton did not find any problems during idle check or something like that and the computer freezes. I have to push the power to restart. I thought it might be norton I.S, But I turned it all off and it still does it. I'm running windows XP.

Any Ideas?

lmacri · ‎05-05-2009

Hi therd3:

This sounds like a problem with one of the automatic background Norton tasks that run when your system is in idle mode. Click on Performance | Norton Tasks to see a list of these tasks and their Last Run date. Could you please post back and let us know the amount of RAM on your computer, since these system freezes often occur when the Symantec Service Framework (ccSvcHst.exe) loads into memory to run one of these tasks and causes the system to slow to a crawl or crash.

Please read the post here in Jerry20's thread Disabling All Idletime Activity for tips on how to use the Norton Tasks window to determine which background task could be causing the problem. Some of the advice here in Patrick McCabe's thread Is Norton Slowing Down My Computer? about disabling and/or reconfiguring some of these tasks to improve system performance should also be helpful. The Idle Time Optimizer (a disk defragger that comes with NIS) and Norton Community Watch are two resource-intensive NIS tasks mentioned in that post that can be disabled without decreasing your system protection.

When you say "I turned it all off", I'm assuming that this is a temporary measure and that NIS is reactivating itself every time you re-start your computer. If you think I'm wrong please let us know how you went about turning off NIS, since disabling the Antivirus Auto-Protect and Smart Firewall will not prevent all these background tasks from continuing to run during system idles. You have to right click on the Norton icon in the system tray and select Turn on Silent Mode in order to temporarily suspend these background idletime Norton tasks.

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Windows Vista Home Premium 32-bit SP2 * NIS 2011 v. 18.6.0.29 * IE 9.0 * Firefox 8.0.0
HP Pavilion dv6835ca, Intel Core2Duo CPU T5550 @ 1.83 GHz, 3.0 GB RAM, NVIDIA GeForce 8400M GS

therd3 · ‎03-23-2011

I have 4 mb of ram. I went to performance and it never went above 50% CPU usage. I turned off Norton by going to advanced and switched all the sliders to off permanently. I down loaded windows internet security and it found 4 viruses that norton could not find! Removed viruses and set norton to silent mode will see what happens.

Its taken 7 times to get the *Word verification by reCAPTCHA" right make it simpler!

Bombastus · ‎11-16-2009

What is "windows internet security"? That, if anything, sounds like malware.

lmacri · ‎05-05-2009

Hi therd3:

I agree with Bombastus. It sounds like you're now infected with a Fake-AV virus similar to the Win 7 Internet Security 2012 virus described here yesterday in Jeff4R's thread Can't Complete Subscription. There are several variants of these Fake-AV viruses so if you tell us the exact name that appears on the pop-up (or even better, post a screenshot using the instructions here in the post Forum Tip - How to Post Screenshots in the Forum) we should be able to point you to the correct malware removal instructions. In any case, I would advise that you immediately re-enable your NIS protection.

If you think you downloaded legitimate Windows security software digitally signed by Microsoft, please post the name and version number so that we can double-check its validity. If you don't believe that you've been infected by a Fake-AV virus after reading Jeff4R's thread I would still advise that run a full system scan using the free Malwarebytes Anti-Malware (MBAM) scanner. If you accept the 15-day trial period to test the Pro features of MBAM, make sure you disable the real-time protection mode in MBAM, since running more than one security program in real-time protection mode can create conflicts and allow malware to "sneak" past your NIS anti-virus protection.

MBAM RT Protection.jpg

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Windows Vista Home Premium 32-bit SP2 * NIS 2011 v. 18.6.0.29 * IE 9.0 * Firefox 8.0.0
HP Pavilion dv6835ca, Intel Core2Duo CPU T5550 @ 1.83 GHz, 3.0 GB RAM, NVIDIA GeForce 8400M GS

therd3 · ‎03-23-2011

I load microsoft security essentials only after NIS 2012 started killing my computer. After putting NIS on silent mode it quit. I'm removing it now and installing NIS 2011 ansd see what happens.

Again *Word verification by reCAPTCHA - Try number 4

Atomic_Blast · ‎09-05-2011

Hi therd3:

The only realtime security software that you want on your computer right now is NIS.

Please remove MSE.

As Imacri posted above, you can have MBAM on-demand at no cost to you.

I would suggest running a full MBAM scan first, after you update their definitions and

disconnecting from the internet. If prompted to repair/remove anything, please do so.

By default MBAM will save a text log when the scan completes.

When that is done, reconnect and use the NRT found here (first read all the instructions.)

When complete, update to NIS 2012 from this link at no charge. You will need to backup

Identity Safe data (if any) and your NIS Product Key for the reinstall.

Use Live Update to fully update the program, then run a Full System Scan and let it complete.

Kindly report back on your progress and the functionality of your system.

The reCAPTCHA will disappear when you try to post a few more times.

Let us know how you do.

Thanks,

Atomic_Blast :)

"Every day is just another increment on the bell curve of life."

lmacri · ‎05-05-2009

Hi therd3:

Sorry, I just remembered that new users in the forum are prompted for a CAPTCHA. This will go away when you've made a few more posts (see No_Toolbar's post here titled Getting Tired of CAPTCHA).

There definitely seems to be something wrong with your NIS 2012 installation. IF MBAM reports your system is clean and you'd like to re-install NIS 2012 or downgrade to NIS 2011 I would recommend that you use the Norton Removal Tool and follow the instructions here to make sure you get a clean re-install.

Once NIS is back on your system make sure that you disable the real-time protection mode in Microsoft Security Essentials, since running more than one security program in real-time protection mode can create conflicts and allow malware to "sneak" past your Norton anti-virus protection.

Edit:

Sorry Atomic_Blast. I didn't realize you'd already posted a response. I'm going to have to invest in a Mavis Beacon CD and learn to type a bit faster.

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Windows Vista Home Premium 32-bit SP2 * NIS 2011 v. 18.6.0.29 * IE 9.0 * Firefox 8.0.0
HP Pavilion dv6835ca, Intel Core2Duo CPU T5550 @ 1.83 GHz, 3.0 GB RAM, NVIDIA GeForce 8400M GS

woolph58 · ‎12-23-2011

On a related note.

I recently received an email that looked like it was from Norton warning about a powerful new virus called "ThinkPoint" and urging me to follow a link to update my definitions. When I checked the senders email address it was: emsvc@42pxa.net.

I came over to the Norton website looking for someone to report this to, a security page or email address I could forward this to and came up empty. It would be helpful if there were an easier way to report problems like this.