I use win7 x64 HP, IE8. On Monday when I opened IE 8 sometimes I had a message from IE: a program tries to change my default search provider (bing -> goggle, and yesterday bing -> yahoo). I saw from the dialog and this site: http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows-vista/How-do-I-prevent-programs-from-changing-my-default-search-provider it can be legitimate. When I check "Prevent programs from suggesting changes to my default search provider" everyting seems OK. Norton 360 and malwarebytes doesn't find virus, the google and yahoo search don't seem to be corrupted, the results are real and result links are not redirected. I couldn't find illegitimate add-on or toolbar in IE8.
I suspect updating Norton 360 v4 to v5: it installed a new norton toolbar. (This causes it or this unchecked "Prevent programs from suggesting changes to my default search provider", and something other eg. the search provider itself tries to change?). I use Firefox for everyday use, so I don't know the exact time of starting of this. I installed win7 SP1, so I can't restore the system before I installed n360 v5 (oh, me fool!).
We had a blue screen too few weeks ago, but no other since (and before) that, and everything looks normal. There is a little much disk writing and CPU usage (not really much, max. 7%) of System (NT Kernel & System), in the first minutes after boot, but if I turn off readyboost, it's gone.
I like Norton, but I know "one antivirus is no antivirus". So I use N360 with full features, and few others (all freewares) without resident defense (against tech problems). Malwarebytes Antimalware, Spybot S&D, Lavasoft Ad-aware, Avira Free, Windows Defender, SuperAntispyware, and sometimes the online scanners of other providers (Eset, F-Secure, Trend Micro Housecall). I will check all of it if I would have enough time, but I think (I hope), there are no viruses, just something technical problems.
Actually, the "blue screen/blankscreen" preceded the installation, NOT by me, by the way, but by their own techs, ( I only found out about it afterwards, from Norton. ) The rest of it all occured AFTER the installation of Norton 5.0. Including the loss of Internet Explorer 8, and changes in my toolbar, and major ones operationally. Also ones I didn't make, nor would have approved of. Operationally speaking, it has been downhill from there.
I'm NOT going to uninstall it, either, as I'm not certain that what is left of my computer won't up-end completely Thank heavens I had Firefox on board for my 4-in-one printer, or I would have lost my capability to get on-line at all.
I'm not the most greatly gifted technically speaking, but I didn't do THIS, nor did I myself, install Norton 5.0 either. I assure you.
Unfortunately we don't know if the techs properly removed any security product that might have been on your machine previously. Whatever was causing the Blue screen/blank screen previously has obviously not been fixed and will interfere with the proper running of programson the machine, depending on the cause. If the machine had Windows errors, malware or an improperly removed antivirus component, you will have a great many problems that contributes to any problems you are having with N360. I would suggest a different tech if you are not comfortable making changes yourself.
Thank you for your answer. I talked to one of your techs just a bit ago, and we are in a wait-see at this point, as after looking it over remotely, without doing major changes on it, I will see if there are any more ensuing problems, as well as my going back to microsoft with some questions for them.
He was extremely nice, and helped me pare down at least a little of what may be happening here. Still not sure about everything, but have at least someone actually to go to concerning my problems of late.
I use win7 x64 HP, IE8. On Monday when I opened IE 8 sometimes I had a message from IE: a program tries to change my default search provider (bing -> goggle, and yesterday bing -> yahoo). I saw from the dialog and this site: http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows-vista/How-do-I-prevent-programs-from-changing-my-default-search-provider it can be legitimate. When I check "Prevent programs from suggesting changes to my default search provider" everyting seems OK. Norton 360 and malwarebytes doesn't find virus, the google and yahoo search don't seem to be corrupted, the results are real and result links are not redirected. I couldn't find illegitimate add-on or toolbar in IE8.
I suspect updating Norton 360 v4 to v5: it installed a new norton toolbar. (This causes it or this unchecked "Prevent programs from suggesting changes to my default search provider", and something other eg. the search provider itself tries to change?). I use Firefox for everyday use, so I don't know the exact time of starting of this. I installed win7 SP1, so I can't restore the system before I installed n360 v5 (oh, me fool!).
Fortunately my issue seems to be solved. It was very simple, just I had to think, not panic. I deleted the search addons and re-added them from MS's webpage. There are new versions of google and yahoo addons. After this, IE doesn't bother me with that dialog box. But it was only the beginning of a terrible night. I had to uninstall (with norton removal tool) and reinstall Norton 360 v5 about three times to work properely. I couldn't open the N360 window after the first minutes of boot and login, the widget was frozen in this period, too. The solution was installing N360 with readyboost turned off. After that I tried sync my WinMo PDA-phone with the PC, which opens the outlook automatically. Because of the new installation of N360, I got the welcome message from Antispam. In this moment Mobile device center was frozen, error in all USB connections. I uninstalled, reinstalled Mobile device center, repaired the USB connections. Uninstalling, reinstalling of Mobile device center means deleting partnership between PC and phone, so for perfect outlook sync (to prevent double contacts etc.) I had to make a hard reset to the phone (everything goes default). Then reinstalling the applications for the phone, set it, sync it). Now everything seems to be good. I hope for long.
I deleted the search addons and re-added them from MS's webpage. There are new versions of google and yahoo addons. After this, IE doesn't bother me with that dialog box. But it was only the beginning of a terrible night. I had to uninstall (with norton removal tool) and reinstall Norton 360 v5 about three times to work properely. I couldn't open the N360 window after the first minutes of boot and login, the widget was frozen in this period, too. The solution was installing N360 with readyboost turned off. After that I tried sync my WinMo PDA-phone with the PC, which opens the outlook automatically. Because of the new installation of N360, I got the welcome message from Antispam. In this moment Mobile device center was frozen, error in all USB connections. I uninstalled, reinstalled Mobile device center, repaired the USB connections. Uninstalling, reinstalling of Mobile device center means deleting partnership between PC and phone, so for perfect outlook sync (to prevent double contacts etc.) I had to make a hard reset to the phone (everything goes default). Then reinstalling the applications for the phone, set it, sync it). Now everything seems to be good. I hope for long.