Norton Internet Security / Norton AntiVirus

[reese_anschultz]

As with other updates, I'm pretty sure that there will be notice on this forum when the next product update is released.

[Stikkids]

I am an independent computer consultant. I manage many networks. I have been using Norton AntiVirus as the only protective software on my networks for years.

This year... When I upgraded my networks to Norton AV 2009... Four of my networks began to freeze and lock up. One of these networks has only Windows Vista on all the computers, one had only Windows XP, and two has a mix of Windows Vista and Windows XP.

The software that has caused these lock ups is Peachtree (one network), ATX Tax Software (two networks), and PCLaw (one network).

As others have said... To resolve the problem of the networks locking... I've replaced 3 hard drives... I've re-installed programs and even Windows on many of these computers... I've replaced one router... I've reconstructed and re-mapped all these Networks. None of these solutions resolved the problem.

So... How have I resolved this problem???

Easy... I've un-installed Norton AntiVirus!

[peryite]

We have the same problem using Norton Internet Security 2009 with the server freezing. We have had this problem on computers using Windows XP Professional SP2 and SP3. We know it is Auto-Protect freezing the server. It would seem that Auto-protect is treating our modification of files as a threat.

You can easily simulate this problem using two computers, server and client. We simulated this problem on Windows XP professional SP2 and SP3.

1. Create a folder called ‘test’ on any available (test use) pc in a network.

2.  Share the above folder with read and write privileges.

3. In the above folder create a text file with the name ‘test1.txt’.

4. Now open the .txt file from any remote PC (client) and insert a continuous string of text into the file. Do not include any spaces. For fastest results we recommend that you paste in blocks of data that exceed the length of one line.

 5. Copy the above continuous string of text into your clipboard. Save and exit. 

6. Reopen ‘test1.txt’ and paste the contents of the clipboard into the document. Take care that no spaces are included. The final document should resemble one continuous string of random characters. It is essential that the document consists of several lines. (We suspect that the absence or presence of the CR/LF characters is highly relevant to the problem.)

7. Repeat the above operation RAPIDLY so that the file contents grow until server freezes.

[kreativekai]

I'm having the exact same problems with Internet Security 2009 locking up two of my client's networks, both all on XP.  The lockups are occuring with Drake Tax Software and Arborsoft lanscaping software.  My clients are starting to lose their patience.  I need an update.  Is the update ready yet, and if not when?!

[kreativekai]

I have clients on peer to peer networks with this problem with all XP Pro workstations, some on SP2 and some on SP3.  None of my clients experiencing this problem have Vista workstations yet.  Is there a patch for XP in the works?

[kreativekai]

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mavevyo wrote:

Although this problem still exists, I did discover a small "workaround" so you don't need to completely disable Auto-Protect and SONAR.

If you go into your NAV 2009 settings: Computer > Exclusions/Low Risks > Scan Exclusions > Configure[+] and put your shared drives/folders that you need network access to in NAV's "Auto-Protect Exclusions" List (no need to put it under "Scan Exclusions" List), then you can still have Auto-Protect enabled for the rest of your computer... it just will ignore what goes on in the shared drives/folders you excluded AND WON'T BLOCK ACCESS TO THEM EVERY 1-2 HOURS!!! 

This still doesn't "solve" the problem though... but it's better than disabling Auto-Protect entirely... 

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I made this change on two of the client networks and it hasn't helped.  Does anyone else have a workaround?  Basically my next step is to uninstall Norton entirely on both of these clients networks and install another companies antivirus solution. 

[servsol]

The only solution I've found to work is reverting to 2008 on the file-serving computer.  The other computers can use 2009, as long as the 'host' computer isn't.

Given the 'definite maybe' that Norton keeps giving us about fixing the problem, it may be time to get another product anyway.  I know I will not be upgrading to 2010 when it comes out.

[peryite]

We had to remove Norton Internet Security 2009 and reinstall 2008. Unfortunatly this is a waste of both our time and our licenses. I certainly hope a update of 2009 is imminent.

[iantaxguy]

It was great to find this discussion.  We just had the same problem.  Went through the tech support and allowed them to change some of the intursion settings and now it seems to be working.  We will see!

[Fred]

Good luck - no matter what gyrations tech support led me through, after a few hours, computers startted dropping off the network again.  The only "fix" I found was to uninstall NAV 2009 & reinstall 2008.  This was after keeping me on the phone for five hours with tech support before anyone there admitted they have a problem with NAV 2009. 

Note the earlier post back in December where they say they're working on a patch, should be out in a few weeks, but as of Groundhog Day, nothing yet.

I got an extension on my 2008 license through May, but what do I do if it isn't fixed by then?  Can't wait for 2010, so will probably go back to another vender.  Thanks for all your help, Symantec!