Hello,
I recently had some work done on my laptop, which resulted in the technician repartitioning my hard drives and re-installing Windows 8.1.
Everything was reset to (MSI) default manufacturer settings. This included a trial of old Norton Internet Security, which should be protecting my computer at this point. The first thing I did was download Google Chrome, and signed in to get my extensions. Then I searched for the Norton website from Google (typed in "Norton"), clicked the first non-ad, signed into my account, and re-downloaded Norton Security with Backup. The installer found the old Norton Internet Security, removed it, and installed Norton Security with Backup. So far so good.
Then comes the weird part. I open up Norton Security with Backup for the first time, and there is an advertisement for Staples in the bottom right corner (Staples is a Canadian office supply store, possibly where I originally bought Norton Security with Backup). It shows the Staples logo with a slogan "Make More Happen" beside it.
I do not remember seeing this before I brought my computer in to be serviced.
I thought that maybe since I had logged into Chrome and downloaded my extensions first, maybe some malware had sneaked in with my extensions. So I downloaded AdwCleaner, Junkware Removal Tool (JRT), Malwarebytes Anti-Malware (with Premium trial, set it up to also look for Rootkits), and HitmanPro. Ran all of these, they found some stuff as expected with my extensions, but I know most if not all of what they found were false-positives (which is why I don't use these tools unless I am desperate). It broke a couple extensions, but when I opened up Norton, lo-and-behold, the advertisement is still there. Great. Then ran Norton, even though I doubted it could fix itself. Nothing.
Now I went for the nuclear option and reformatted all hard drives and re-installed Windows using USB drive from MSI's burn recovery tool (my computer manufacturer's backup tool).
The first thing I did this time was download all Windows Updates for my Win 8.1. Over 150. Then ran it again, found more updates. Ran it again, until no more updates were left (except the upgrade to Windows 10). Then I opened up Internet Explorer, and TYPED in https://norton.com/setup. Downloaded Norton Security with Backup, it found the manufacturer default trial of NIS again, deleted it and installed Norton Security with Backup.
I opened up Norton, the **** advertisement is STILL there.
My question: Am I somehow infected with a rootkit? Or some malware akin to OpenCandy? Or did Symantec just decide to insert ads into their paid products?
Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks,
Vague
