Can anyone help with this problem? I am running NIS 2013 (current version 20.3.1.22) on 3 Windows 7 machines, but only 1 (a Samsung Ultrabook) is affected. Since March this year on 5 occasions the NIS icon in the system tray has simply disappeared. The situation is resolved by rebooting, but on the last 2 occasions when I left the machine to see what happened it came up with a 8504, 104 error and performed an Auto-fix (which worked). Delving into the error I have tried all suggested corrective actions (Norton Remove & Reinstall, Power Eraser and even last night a Chkdsk). All these routines run properly and do not seem to come back with any problems, but still the icon disappears. Obviously this problem is this is pretty infrequent and also irregular, which make it hard to diagnose, but it does not seem to be caused by any common hardware or software event and nothing is reported in the Windows Action Centre Reliability History. It might not be a real showstopper, but I would still like to resolve the matter.
Yes, the icon is set to "show icon & notifications" and icon is normally there. When the icon disappears the setting remain the same, even though the icon does not show. Also, when the icon has disappeared, selecting NIS from the start menu does not open the NIS programme window. However, even when the icon has gone Windows is still reporting the NIS is turned on in the Security section of the Action Centre and Task Manager is reporting ccsvchst.exe *32 handling the Symantec Service Framework. (That is of course only during the 10 minutes or so until the 8504,104 error window opens.)
Can anyone help with this problem? I am running NIS 2013 (current version 20.3.1.22) on 3 Windows 7 machines, but only 1 (a Samsung Ultrabook) is affected. Since March this year on 5 occasions the NIS icon in the system tray has simply disappeared. The situation is resolved by rebooting, but on the last 2 occasions when I left the machine to see what happened it came up with a 8504, 104 error and performed an Auto-fix (which worked). Delving into the error I have tried all suggested corrective actions (Norton Remove & Reinstall, Power Eraser and even last night a Chkdsk). All these routines run properly and do not seem to come back with any problems, but still the icon disappears. Obviously this problem is this is pretty infrequent and also irregular, which make it hard to diagnose, but it does not seem to be caused by any common hardware or software event and nothing is reported in the Windows Action Centre Reliability History. It might not be a real showstopper, but I would still like to resolve the matter.
OK, the icon has disappeared again. Task Manager shows only one incidence of ccsvchst is now running with the Symantec Framework. That one is the "System" (i.e. the User version has stopped).
I did briefly use Bitdefender, but that was fully removed a year ago and this problem only began 3 months ago. 2. There is no other security software currently installed. 3. There is no hint of malware. Norton picks up nothing in full system scans & Norton Power Eraser didn’t either. 4. The system time is correct (& automatically syncs). The region & time zone are also correct & never changed since computer setup. 5. There is nothing in common I can recall that I was doing immediately before the icon disappears. Yesterday I was surfing, but that has not been the case previously.
Sorry that all that doesn’t sound helpful, but that is why I am frustrated. This late time, yesterday I got no error message and windows was still reporting Norton firewall & Anti-virus was operating. Incidentally the PC is still running version 20.3.1.22. And 2 other PCs With NIS that I look after at home have never suffered this problem. Thanks for the help & I look forward to any further lines of enquiry.
In your first post autofix had some affect, may I suggest when the icon disappears close all programmes and run autofix then restart and run autofix again immediately after the restart then restart the computer.
Phew! Done that! All up and running again and all seems well. However, now I have to wait to confirm it has solved the problem and assuming it has, it will be 2 to 3 weeks before I am confident about it. I shall come back to report, but in this case no news is good news.
Thanks for all the help and should (heaven forbid) the problem recur, I shall have a go at intesec's suggestion.
Thanks for the quick, helpful and understanding support.
Thanks for the suggestion. I have worked my way through Phil_D's process and I am hopeful. If, however, the problem has not been fixed I shall have a go with Autofix, as you suggest.
Thanks for the help and I shall be back with news, one way or the other, but it will be some time, as this has always been an infrequent and unpredictable problem.
Thanks for the suggestion. I have worked my way through Phil_D's process and I am hopeful. If, however, the problem has not been fixed I shall have a go with Autofix, as you suggest.
Thanks for the help and I shall be back with news, one way or the other, but it will be some time, as this has always been an infrequent and unpredictable problem.
Rob
Hi Rob,
Norton Autofix runs in just moments and checks your Norton installation internally. You can run it at any time .. from Norton application .. Support > Get Support, or from the tray icon .. right click the Norton icon by the clock and select Get Support. If it finds and fixes something, it won't give you any kind of report .. just that it repaired 1 or more items.
Well, everything has been fine since my last posting nearly three weeks ago and I was just getting confident, but the icon has vanished again! In the intervening period the PC has upgraded to version 20.4.0.40.
The disappearing icon has the same symptoms and when restarted everything came back up normally (although I notice I now have 6 instances of ccsvchst.exe running with a description of "Symantec Services Framework" (3 system and 3 user). I have not been able to run the Autofix, as suggested before, as the system tray icon has gone and Norton cannot be restarted by the desktop icon which is not responsive.
Any further suggestions (other than going back to Bitdefender!)
As you have six instances of ccsvchst.exe and there should only be two this could mean that you have more than one installation of Norton. I can remember reading something but as there are so many posts I thought it would be easier to ask you to check in your add/remove windows programme to check for Norton and Symantec programme installations.
You mentioned 6 instances of ccsvhst.exe running - if you have checked all users in WindowsTask Manager and do in fact have Norton Zone and Norton Management, as well as a Norton product installed - that is what you should have.
Sorry the image is not too clear - perhaps using Ctrl and the + may help make it bigger so you can see it.
In addition to what has already been said by intersec and yank, I just wanted to add that all the "ccsvchst" processes running on your machine, should be considered correct only if you are using other Norton products in addition to NIS.
The picture provided by yank, in fact it shows the presence of other Norton products.
While if you are only NIS as Norton product, you should check that the paths of these processes are associated and related to NIS.
To check this, open the task manager, right click on each of these processes to see if they all come from the same location:
C :/Program files (X86) /Norton Internet Security/Engine/20.4.0.40/ccSvcHst.exe
If you're experiencing different paths, the problem should be addressed in another way.
First and foremost can I thank everyone for the help and advice on this forum, but I have decided to call it a day on this issue, principally because there does not seem to be a prospect of finding a solution to the problem in the foreseeable future as its occurrence is erratic and unpredictable. Although the reboot resolves the problem that is sometimes a complete pain in the backside if you are in the middle of something and Autofix kicks in an attempt to resolve the 8504,104 error registered a couple of minutes after the icon goes walkabout.
As it happens I have a couple of months of BitDefender subscription remaining and I have uninstalled NIS and put BIS in its place. So again thanks for the help and apologies for what some will see as "chickening out", but life is too short!
I am, at least for the time being, leaving NIS on the two other machines in the household using it without problem.
That problem has been happening since NIS 2013 first came out. And it still continues. They cannot fix it or know the cause. They just let it slide on by. I have had it happen to me several times personally. Not constant. Only once in a while. Windows 8 64 bit. You are certainly not the only one and many others suffer from it as well. I don't blame you for leaving either. I will be doing the same and not renewing once my subscription is up.
