I have been trying to uninstall Norton 360 on my son's computer. Because Norton didn't block viruses on his computer I decided to go with another company when my license was over. But Norton won't uninstall??? I thought if I let it update it would let me uninstall it afterwards, but when it updates it says it can't go online because: C:\Program Files\Common Files\Symantec Shared\EENGINE\Epersist.Dat is corrupt. When I tried to run chdsk, all the porn I'd managed to delete from his computer was recovered but this file wasn't fixed. I'm just at my wits end trying to get rid of Norton so I can clean his computer. I don't know what to do. Nothing would be lost by wiping the hard drive, but since I haven't a clue how to do that, it isn't an option. Can anyone tell me how to rid his computer of this program?
Hi, kates7,
Sorry to hear of your bad experiences. Norton is generally rated at the top by independent labs in its effectiveness at keeping viruses off your computer--but a certain amount is always up to the user practicing safe browsing habits...and from the sound of your description that piece may have been missing in this case! I mention this because the empirical evidence would predict that you will not achieve better results for the trouble of changing products!
That said, it is definitely your right to do so--and the most effective way to do this is going to be to download and run the Norton Removal Tool.
Thanks, you are absolutely correct. My son is developementally delayed and this is nothing new. However, with Adware I never had this problem. It held these viruses at bay and I am returning to it. Norton came with a couple of our new computers and we decided to try it. I haven't been happy and already decided to not renew. Thanks I will try the removal tool. I hope it works!
Good luck! Hopefully, Adaware--which doesn't tend to perform nearly as well (in my quarter-century of experience as an IT leader)--wasn't just failing to tell you about all of the malware he was picking up!
But don't worry--it doesn't take being developmentally delayed for folks to end up in these circumstances! I was just assuming you had a typical teenage male! LOL
Keep us posted! If you run into more trouble with the Removal Tool, we're here to help.
Sorry about your problems .... nothing I know of will really protect you against malware that gets invited in, whether deliberately or accidentally and blocking pornography seems to be a very difficult task because it requires personal judgement of an image for example ...
I've no experience of it but have you checked out what Norton can do via Parental Control settings.
There's a Forum here -- OnLine Family -- that I think deals with that.
If you find you have a continuing problem of having to clean up from time to time you might consider using the technique of getting a clean system set up as normally used with the applications and personal data files installed and working and making an Image of the drive which can be saved onto an external drive.
Then if the system gets really fouled up all you have to do is to Restore that image and you are back with a clean system and it only takes a few minutes to restore compared to an hour or more to do it a step at a time.
If this interests you and you'd like some help just say so. It will help to know what version of Windows you are using and maybe one bit of technical information that is easy to get with a simple free utility .....
kates7 wrote:Because Norton didn't block viruses on his computer I decided to go with another company when my license was over.
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but when it updates it says it can't go online because: C:\Program Files\Common Files\Symantec Shared\EENGINE\Epersist.Dat is corrupt.
No security software on the planet blocks every piece of malicious logic. You have a far better chance of doing worse than by doing better.
And certainly no security software will stop viruses if the file system is corrupted.
kates7 wrote:I'm just at my wits end trying to get rid of Norton so I can clean his computer. I don't know what to do. Nothing would be lost by wiping the hard drive, but since I haven't a clue how to do that, it isn't an option. Can anyone tell me how to rid his computer of this program?
You're focused on Norton being the problem when it isn't. If you have malicious on that computer, focus on cleaning that first; Norton isn't preventing you from doing that.
Next, focus on repairing the damage done to files. (There's no real sure-fire way to do that besides a software rebuild.)
At this point, it is probably most effective and time-efficient to back up any data files (treat them as infected until you can scan them on a working machine), wipe the disk(s), reformat/reinstall Windows and rebuild the machine.
I highly recommend content filtering to prevent your son from corrupting his computer (and himself).