Norton Internet Security / Norton AntiVirus

[Panzer-88]

Hello;

(This is somewhat of a repost since one of my questions in my original post was never answered)

I am running Norton Internet Security 2010 on my computer v17.8.0.5. I just received a message on my desktop saying that “The new Norton Internet Security 2011 has been downloaded and is ready to be installed on your computer. It’s free with your current subscription. Click start to experience the dramatically improved performance and protection”.

How dare Norton download anything onto my computer without my explicit permission. I don’t care if this is the next best thing to sliced bread, a program should NEVER download anything without warning a user first that it is about to do so.

My question:

1) Where can I find the temporary file where this thing was downloaded to my computer?? Will deleting this file delete all traces of whatever it is that Norton downloaded?

I am running Windows 7 32-bit.

Thanks as always to those who take the time to reply and offer help.

Kind regards,

Tonia

[floplot Norton Fighter]

Hello Tonia

Going back to the other part of your question which I have been trying to answer. NIS 2011 was actually made to install over the top of NIS 2010 if it is running in good condition. NIs 2011 will delete NIS 2010 except for the saved settings if you want them saved. We only recommend removing NIS 2010 now before installation of NIS 2011 if there was a problem with NIS 2010.

NIS 2010 is good at catching malware, but no one product will catch everything all the time. Sometimes malware might still creep thru since malware is constantly mutating. That is why many of us use the free version of Malwarebytes and/or the free version of SUPERAntiSpyware as 2nd on demand scanner. Thanks.

[lmacri Super Phishing Phryer]

Hi Panzer-88:

Look for a folder in C:\Users\Public\Downloads\Norton\ and see if you can find a subfolder with the string "18.5.0.125" in the folder name.

I upgraded from NIS 2010 (v. 17.7.0.12) to NIS 2011 (v. 18.1.0.37) back in September of 2010 by selecting New Version Check from the Support menu on the main NIS 2010 interface (i.e., the upgrade was not delivered automatically via LiveUpdate).  Performing the upgrade this way created a subfolder in my Start menu called Norton Installation (Start | All Programs | Norton | Norton Installation).  If I click on that Norton Installation subfolder, a window opens to show five files in a folder located at C:\Users\Public\Downloads\Norton\{NIS_prod_UPG_1.5.30_18.1.0.37}, including two named NISDownload.exe and NIS-UPGRADE-ESD-NoDefs-18-1-0-37-EN.exe, so I assume this is where the old installation files for a previous release of Norton 2011 (v. 18.1.0.37) are now located on my hard drive.

My NIS 2011 v. 18.5.0.125 upgrade was automatically installed yesterday morning via LiveUpdate without warning, so I'm assuming that the updated NIS engine and other files were simply installed into the hidden folder C:\ProgramData\Norton and that there's nothing I can do to remove these files short of uninstalling NIS 2011 v. 18.5.0.125 and re-installing an older version.

I hope that at least points you in the right direction.  If you do find the downloaded installation files, I have no clue if deleting them from your hard drive would prevent NIS from prompting you to install the upgrade.

_________

MS Windows Vista Home Premium SP2 (32-bit) * IE 8 * NIS 2011 v. 18.5.0.125 * NU v. 14.5.0.120
HP Pavilion dv6835ca, Intel Core2Duo CPU T5550 @ 1.83 GHz, 3.0 GB RAM, NVIDIA GeForce 8400 GS

[Panzer-88]

Hello Floplot and Imacri;

Floplot, I was always under the impression that having more than one anitivirus program caused problems. Can I install a second program (Malwarebytes or SUPERAntiSpyware as you suggested) while I have NIS on my computer? Will this cause any conflicts?

Imacri, thank for your help in pointing me in the right direction. I did not find anything in the folder you suggested (C:\Users\Public\Downloads\Norton\) but I think I found the files in C:\ProgramData\Norton\{NIS_prod_1.6.18_18.5.0.125}. This location contains 3 files: 2011Plugin.dll (153 kb), NIS-UPGRADE-ESD-NoDefs-18-5-0-125-EN.exe (40 MB), and symcdefs (extension unknown, 92 MB). These were all created Jan 5 2011, which coincides with the time when I started receiving the upgrade message.

(I am posting these details here in case they help anyone else with a similar query).

One last question: I guess I have no choice but to install NIS 2011 over NIS 2010. Is the file version of NIS 2011 (I guess it is 18-5-0-125) the latest version without trouble or bugs? If it still has bugs that folks are reporting I would rather wait until these get all sorted.

Thanks again to you both (and all who take the time to respond) for your continued support and help in answering my questions. Much appreciated.

Kind regards,

Tonia

[floplot Norton Fighter]

Hello Tonia

You can safely install the free versions of Malwarebytes and SUPERAntiSpyware with NIS 2011 or with any Norton product. They will not conflict with your product.

The best place to find out if there are any major complaints about any update would be these Forums. When the first version of 18.5 came out, this Forum had a lot of complaints about the patch. The patch has passed the phazed in manner of distribution and is now being given out to all English language computers. As with any software program or feature, there will always be some computers which may have a problem, but I don't think there has been any widespread complaints about the patch itself or very few if any. Thanks.

[lmacri Super Phishing Phryer]

Hi Panzer-88:

Please see my response here to tetley74's post about installing a second anti-virus program on your PC when you already have NIS.  I have both NIS 2011 and Malwarebytes' Anti-Malware Pro 1.50 installed on my computer, but I disabled the real-time protection mode in MBAM Pro and I let NIS handle all my real-time protection.  The general consensus is that you should only have one anti-virus program running in real-time protection mode on your PC to prevent any conflict over which anti-virus software should delete or quarantine any malware if your PC is ever infected.

The free version of MBAM doesn't allow real-time protection so I agree with floplot that the free version shouldn't cause any problems with NIS.  I can't comment about SUPERAntiSpyware since I've never used it.

I've been using NIS v. 18.5.0.125 for two days now since its general public release with no problems, but I'd follow floplot's advice and keep an eye on other posts in the forum.  Some users are still reporting the odd problem with the v. 18.5.0.125 update/upgrade.

_________

MS Windows Vista Home Premium SP2 (32-bit) * IE 8 * NIS 2011 v. 18.5.0.125 * MBAM Pro v. 1.50.1.1100

HP Pavilion dv6835ca, Intel Core2Duo CPU T5550 @ 1.83 GHz, 3.0 GB RAM, NVIDIA GeForce 8400 GS

[lmacri Super Phishing Phryer · Accepted solution]

Hi Panzer-88:

Just in case you decide to keep NIS 2010 and still want to remove the NIS 2011 installation files from your computer:

I just came across a post by Norton Forum Administrator Tim Lopez here with instructions on how to use the Norton Update Agent (NUA.exe) to permanently remove the downloaded installation files for NIS 2011 18.5.0.125 from your hard drive.

_________

MS Windows Vista Home Premium SP2 (32-bit) * IE 8 * NIS 2011 v. 18.5.0.125 * NU v. 14.5.0.120
HP Pavilion dv6835ca, Intel Core2Duo CPU T5550 @ 1.83 GHz, 3.0 GB RAM, NVIDIA GeForce 8400 GS

[Panzer-88]

Wonderful. Thank you both for your superlative help in this. Hugely appreciated, and I think you are both a credit to the community.

I will post again if I have any more questions.

With best wishes,

Tonia

[jmancine]

I also received, have downloaded and am very disappointed with 2011, how can I revert back to 2010 without backup?