Norton Utilities Premium improvement

Hey @Krusty13,

Time flies ! I have been meaning for at least a week to retun some posts.

I thought since you kindly took your time to offer some constructive information to me, I would clarify my observations on uninstalls. When I say "authentically" it refers to the literal definition of the term "uninstall." When I, as the user, see fit to remove a program for any reason, I have choices. I can remove it manually, which most often requires registry key modifications, and operating in safe mode to delete every file left by the offending program. A dangeous and time consuming task. Or, a couple of mouse clicks to execute the official uninstaller and take my chances.

I understand that in most cases, a complex application uninstaller may leave some breadcrumbs behind. Those are typically empty directories, or non-excecutable text and .ini files. Very innocuous stuff. I also knew that the NRnR tool does not act like a "permanent" uninstaller for multiple reasons. I am a skeptic, and I looked at every known directory that Norton uses to manage its software components. The complex applications that require a running service(s), like NAV, are concerning to me for a couple of reasons. First, leaving a running service after an uninstall while keeping the admin in the dark is bad faith. I am referring to a couple of Norton .dll files left over from a "formal" uninstall that are static in the %r00t%:/ProgramData/Norton directory and restart the service after each reboot. I don't recall the filenames as it was a year or so ago, and for all I know the uninstaller has been updated to be more diligent. I must believe others have found the same Norton services using a tool such as Sysinternals ProcessExplorer. Or maybe, I am on Mars with a broken ground wire breathing from an Ozone tank. I am compelled to wonder. Either way, it took 45 minutes to surgically remove the binaries and correct the registry.

It's one thing to be lazy and not want to add code to terminate a service, then mop up leftover binaries after a forced reboot, but it is another thing when these services "touch base" with the mothership, interfere with other applications, and report the presence of an AV system that is not active per se. I ran a cool little program from Nirsoft called SecuritySoftView v1.00, and it told me that NAV was still registered as a security provider on my system, even though it had been uninstalled. Again, a simple tweak of a few registry keys could have made things the way I expected them to be. This is the part of my frustration that I own personally: my expectations. If I did not expect good faith when I executed a piece of code on hardware that I own, I would be a happy individual. If I walked through life not caring that the charlatans who sold me some things I don't need failed to tell me that I bought a POS and not think that it was going to do what the box it came in told me it was (whew), then hooray for me.

My question revolved around an awareness that many things are not what they appear. We all know that antivirus vendors do not play well together. Registry entries left from a distantly removed program, which we can call "McAfee," can interfere with operation of another known AV package, replacing McAfee, por exemplo, we can call "Norton." Memory hogging, CPU toasting, disk caching, slow scanning performance and a general hatred of all AV products by the admin occur simultaneously. Is it by accident, or design? My generalized experience tells me that there is a probability that the leftover .dll files and running services are not "authentically" benign. That troubles me and I hope it troubles others who might have a couple of hours to read this.

Cheers to all you gurus. FWIW I read what you have to say on every post I read. There is alot one can tell from your collective responses. Fight the good fight - in honesty.

In Peace

<>