A workaround for the user interface of N360 V20.xxx not responding

Problem symptoms on some Windows 7 computers: After recent install or update, N360 V20 taskbar icon does not respond and LiveUpdate from Start menu displays an error. This problem does not affect all Windows 7 computers. I do not know about XP

Solution on Windows 7:

1- Restart computer in "safe mode with networking"

2- Go to Computer > Program Files (x86) > Norton 360 > Engine > 20.3.0.36 (this is the version on my computer)

3- Locate symhtmdx.dll and change the name to symhtmdx.dll.old

4- Restart computer in normal mode

5- The Norton 360 taskbar icon should now respond

 

The net effect of the name change is to default the graphics interface of N360 to that of Windows 7

New versions updates will likely nullify this workaround by deleting symhtmdx.dll.old and restoring symhtmdx.dll and therefore the problem may reappear

In such a case, you need to redo the steps above until a fix is included in a future release.

One of the additional side effects of the problem mentionned above is that the anti-SPAM plug-in of N360 V 20 may cause problems for Outlook 2007.

The fix described in my post above will alo take care of this problem.

NB- One recent post mentioned the anti-SPAM plug-in problem with Windows 8 and Outlook 2013.

Problem symptoms on some Windows 7 computers: After recent install or update, N360 V20 taskbar icon does not respond and LiveUpdate from Start menu displays an error. This problem does not affect all Windows 7 computers. I do not know about XP

Solution on Windows 7:

1- Restart computer in "safe mode with networking"

2- Go to Computer > Program Files (x86) > Norton 360 > Engine > 20.3.0.36 (this is the version on my computer)

3- Locate symhtmdx.dll and change the name to symhtmdx.dll.old

4- Restart computer in normal mode

5- The Norton 360 taskbar icon should now respond

 

The net effect of the name change is to default the graphics interface of N360 to that of Windows 7

New versions updates will likely nullify this workaround by deleting symhtmdx.dll.old and restoring symhtmdx.dll and therefore the problem may reappear

In such a case, you need to redo the steps above until a fix is included in a future release.