EraserUtilDrv - Non-Plug and Play Drivers

While cleaning up unused devices on my computer in the device manager (Win XP), I came across the following set of drivers that are not being used.  An internet search for what they were brought me to Symantec.  The Symantec product I own is Norton AntiVirus.  I am wondering if these drivers are old, and can they be uninstalled.

 

EraserUtilDrv10741

EraserUtilDrv10820

EraserUtilDrv10822

EraserUtilDrv10910

EraserUtilDrv10920

EraserUtilDrv11010

EraserUtilDrvi10

EraserUtilDrvi7

EraserUtilDrvi9

 

I also have the following driver that is connected.

EraserUtilRebootDrv

 

While cleaning up unused devices on my computer in the device manager (Win XP), I came across the following set of drivers that are not being used.  An internet search for what they were brought me to Symantec.  The Symantec product I own is Norton AntiVirus.  I am wondering if these drivers are old, and can they be uninstalled.

 

EraserUtilDrv10741

EraserUtilDrv10820

EraserUtilDrv10822

EraserUtilDrv10910

EraserUtilDrv10920

EraserUtilDrv11010

EraserUtilDrvi10

EraserUtilDrvi7

EraserUtilDrvi9

 

I also have the following driver that is connected.

EraserUtilRebootDrv

 

What google search terms did you use that linked these to Symantec?  How do I find them too?

Hello shooshoousa,

 

While i look into your question, i just want to make sure you are only asking this as a cleanup possibility and not as a stability/performance issue.

 

Also can you give me the version number or year of your product? examples: NIS 2008, NAV 17.5, etc...

 

-makoto

Hello shooshoousa,

 

You can manually remove the entries in your first list.  The drivers should be cleaning up after themselves so i would like to continue investigating this with you.  I suggest you take a System Restore snapshot just in case.  DO NOT remove "EraserUtilRebootDrv" entry.

 

These left over entries will not have any effect on your system stability or Norton protection.  I have sent you a PM with followup questions.  Thank you

 

-makoto

I also have EraserUtilDrv11010 and EraserUtilRebootDrv. I'm running NIS 2011 on Windows 7 64 bit.  These entries show up in Device Manager under Non Plug and Play Drivers (have to view hidden devices).  They are grayed out.

 

The entries (which are really registry keys, as far as I know) have not been cleaned up properly by neither the NIS/NAV default uninstaller nor by the Norton Removal Tool (which cleans more of them then the default uninstaller, but not all) ever since at least the 2008 Norton line

 

I have pointed out this 'issue'' (which does not cause any observable problems as far as I'm aware) in a couple of my posts , but nobody has paid any attention so far. You don't even usually see these things unless you add and enable  DEVMGR_SHOW_NONPRESENT_DEVICES as outlined here.

 


ablatt wrote:

I also have EraserUtilDrv11010 and EraserUtilRebootDrv. I'm running NIS 2011 on Windows 7 64 bit.  These entries show up in Device Manager under Non Plug and Play Drivers (have to view hidden devices).  They are grayed out.


These are ''active'' driver entries, although some are greyed out. There should be two, as you described in your post. Only those entries left after an uninstall should be 'safe to clean up' for anyone who hasn't been familiar with the intricacies of Norton AV/IS.

 

Hi TomiRed,

 

i just wanted to let you know that we are going to look into this so i may have to follow up with you on this unexpected behavior.  I talked to the team and this is the first time they have heard of this issue.  Hopefully we can get to the bottom of this very soon.

 

Regards,

-makoto

The greyed out ones are not loaded, However, I don't know whether under some particular circumstances NAV/NIS would load the corresponding service.. I would leave them alone.

 

For some only their Legacy keys at

 

 HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Enum\Root\

 

appear in the registry. and there is no corresponding entry in

 

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\

 

 

The ones that are not geyed out are active and must not be uninstalled.

 


makoto_sym wrote:

Hi TomiRed,

 

i just wanted to let you know that we are going to look into this so i may have to follow up with you on this unexpected behavior.  I talked to the team and this is the first time they have heard of this issue.  Hopefully we can get to the bottom of this very soon.

 

Regards,

-makoto


 

Thank you, I might add at this point that the default uninstaller (with remove everything checked) leaves, for example, the entry for IDSVix86 in tne Non-Plug and Play Drivers, as well as Symantec Data Store a bit lower in the list (and a couple more, these are just examples). The files that contain these drivers are at that point gone. A manual uninstall from the Device Manager prompts for a reboot. After the reboot, the entries are there no more.

 

Hope you've seen this already, but I just thought I add this as extra info.