Norton 360 has two icon in sytem tray and two instanses in taskmanager

hi,

 

the last several days i noticed that two icons of n360 appear in the system tray, after reading and trying the provided solutions

i haven't found a cure yet (i tried the icons history reset method through the regedit)

 

I get 2 identical icons and 2 seperate instances (1st is under my username and 2nd under system)

 

1. OS: windows 7 ultimate 64bit (no SP)

2. Norton 360 ver: 21.1.0.18

 

What i wan't to know is if the 2 instances is normal behaviour (because i cant remember if that was the case before!)

and 2nd how to get rid of the second icon (NOT HIDE IT).

Check out the print screen provided.

 

 

Thank you

 

 

hi,

 

the last several days i noticed that two icons of n360 appear in the system tray, after reading and trying the provided solutions

i haven't found a cure yet (i tried the icons history reset method through the regedit)

 

I get 2 identical icons and 2 seperate instances (1st is under my username and 2nd under system)

 

1. OS: windows 7 ultimate 64bit (no SP)

2. Norton 360 ver: 21.1.0.18

 

What i wan't to know is if the 2 instances is normal behaviour (because i cant remember if that was the case before!)

and 2nd how to get rid of the second icon (NOT HIDE IT).

Check out the print screen provided.

 

 

Thank you

 

 

cheers intesec for the reply,

if I’m getting this right, ur saying either you do a clean install or wait for Symantec’s guys to finally sort it out though a future update. because
regedit trick to reset the system tray icons history, doesn’t work.

can you please clarify that this behaviour is abnormal

regards.

Hi aiolos81 

It is abnormal to have more than one Norton icon in the system tray there is one thread recently that reports three Norton icons in the system tray.  It has recently had a larger volume of reports about this issue but in the past it has been reported with various versions of Norton.

The solution can be different for different computers but Norton employees say that if Norton.exe with system for the version you have is running in the task manager then the computer is protected.

 

There’s a couple of options below you may like to try or as you say wait a while for updates to deal with it and you can always later if it is not resolved repost.

 

You might like to try setting boot time protection to aggressive, then click apply, click ok, close all programmes and restart the computer.

 

Download and run the Norton remove and reinstall tool, which will remove the old copy and install a fresh copy of the Norton product.

 

You might like to backup the personal data and you’ll need to backup or export in both formats your identity safe and any other users identity safe if it is used, before doing the below.

 

Norton remove and reinstall tool download link below.

 

www.Norton.com/nrnr

 

After running the Norton removal and reinstall tool, run live updates as many times as it takes to get, no more live updates, restarting as requested.

 

Check your identity safe for data if its not there import it.

 

 

ATB

 

intesec

 

EDITED

I’d just thought I’d add this.

 

Conflict in security software can be the cause of various issues even if the security software has been uninstalled the debris left on the system may not have caused problems until a Norton update has been installed.

 

Have you or have you ever had any other security software including any trial security software on the computer including Norton?  If so what is it?  

Can you check in windows add/remove programmes, programme data and programme files for any security software that may have been bundled in a download?

 

What trial security software came with the computer?

 

Hi Intesec,

 

Thanks again for the reply...

O.K i'm not worried that i am not protected, it's just that the added instance of n360.exe*32 is using extra memory (i don't have any noticable decrease to my computer's performance)... for example as we speak my taskmanager shows 1. n360.exe*32  username: SYSTEM Memory: 5.672 K and 2. n360.exe*32 username: SPIROS memory: 5.072 K. And to be frank it's just a case that i'm a neat freak and i like my pc to run perfectly.

 

As for your comment that the solution can be different for each computer, i can relate and agree to that since i am in the tech support business 15 years now and i've seen my share of weird behaviors that change from pc to pc. what i cant explain is that after all these years of experience and the re-occurance of this problem i would expect that the symantec techs would have found a solution to that...

 

Anyway just to let you know, the setup is quite new, since i formated and installed a fresh copy of windows just a month ago, so no other security software was ever been installed. the only added protection is MalwareBytes that is NOT running its resident shield or in the background (i uninstalled it just to be sure).

 

1. I tried activating the boot time protection to max and restarted but with no luck (it just slowed down my boot up time)

2. I installed all windows updates.

3. tried the autofix tool and updating norton.

4. Restored all norton settings to defaults.

5. checked services.msc / msconfig --> nothing there.

6. checked add/remove --> nothing out of the ordinary.

7. tune-up utilities 1click maintenance to clean up any registry trash

 

The only thing left to do is to run NRT and re-install the product, i let you know how this goes.

 

Regards

 

O.K I Think I'm on to something!!!!!

 

i created a new user profile... and voila... ONLY ONE NORTON ICON!!!

 

I don't know what u can make of this??

 

Hi aiolos81

You wrote.

The only thing left to do is to run NRT and re-install the product, i let you know how this goes.

 

On post 4 of this thread is the process to run the NRnR tool, which is different to the NRT.  Personally I would if having any issues would run the NRT, as it will give a clean reinstallation of the Norton product.  The advantage of using the NRnR tool is that it allows the settings to be kept and the local vault/identity safe to be kept local rather than online, as it can be more work to get the local vault back after running the NRT.

 

Process to run the NRT is below.

 

Log into Norton management on the link below using your Norton account email address and password, click on my account, click on product details.

Click on the yellow download button and save the download.  You can use a recent download of the Norton product if you have one.  You can use your disc if you have got one but you’ll have a large amount of downloading to get up to date as the disc is frozen with the version at the time of its manufacture. 

 

Make a note of your current Norton product key from this page.

 

https://manage.norton.com/

 

If you use ACT! or WinFax, back up those databases before you proceed.

Download Norton removal tool link below.  Running the Norton removal tool will remove other Norton products that are on the computer.

 

www.Norton.com/nrt

 

You’ll need to backup or export in both formats your identity safe and any other users identity safe if it is used, before doing the below.

 

Physically disconnect from the internet (unplug the internet cable or disable the wifi).

 

Uninstall Norton using the windows add/remove programme.

Restart the computer.

Run the Norton removal tool.

Restart the computer.

Norton will automatically request an internet connection when it has failed to connect to the server, connect to the internet and click retry at this point norton is active connecting to the internet at an earlier time may have the computer unprotected and connected to the internet.

 

Install Norton and follow the prompts to activate it, run live updates as many times as it takes to get, no more live updates, restarting as requested.

 

Check your identity safe has data if not import the data.

 

If you have any questions please ask before starting.

 

 

One Norton icon in the new user profile has me thinking that there may be something in the other user profile that is not in the new one.  If the new user account does not have administrator rights try setting it to have administrator rights or create another new user account with administrator rights.  Having said that this issue can be intermittent so in time the new user account may begin to show more than one Norton icon. 

 

 

ATB

 

intesec

Having the same problem however I noticed there is a delay in the system tashbar loading during sytem boot after I installed the 2014 version some time agoI did some tweaking of  MSCONFIG and deleted the Icon database all to no avail.  I even change the default Icon load times.  It help a little only took 15 seconds for the desktop to completely load instead of 30 seconds. oh well.... I will wait on the fix.

 

2 instances of N360.exe running
N360.exe   User Account

N360.exe  System Account

 

 

Windows XP Professional Service Pack 3

 

After a long time browsing the registry, and comparing the user profile with the double icon and the new one that had one icon...  and trying to make a blueprint of how norton works, i discovered the following that i believe is the answer:

 

SOLUTION 1:

 

!!!!! Please be careful modifying the registry !!!!

 

1. backup the registry

2. create a restore point

3. disable norton tamper protection (otherwise it won't allow any changes made--- the keys are locked!)

4. GOTO HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Applications\N360.exe --> You find two keys named TaskbarGroupIcon that are identical... delete the second one. (DELETE THE KEY ONLY IF THERE ARE TWO KEYS- if you find only one key then goto 2nd solution)

5. GOTO HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Classes\Applications\N360.exe --> same as above.

 

----------=======================------------------====================----------------------=================----------------

 

SOLUTION 2:

 

OR... to be on the SAFE SIDE you can always backup your norton settings... then download and run Norton Removal Tool (don't bother unistalling from add/remove programs), run it, restart, re-install a fresh copy of your norton product.... that's it!

 

this works 100% but i can't tell if the 2nd icon won't re-appear in the future (mine is is working fine for 3-4 days now)

 

F.Y.I.  Never had the second Icon in the system tray...However there are still 2 instances of N360.exe running as before after completing most of what you mention.  Also The registry key you mention are (not) in my registry.

 

HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Applications\N360.exe

TaskbarGroupIcon  (Not in my registry.

 

N360.EXE    Sytem Account

N360.EXE    User Account

 

I will wait on hopefully a fix to occur.

 

Windows Xp Professional Service Pack 3.

 

 

Hi OldComputerGeek

Having two, as you have, instances of Norton in the task manager are normal.  If you have additional Norton products there will be additional instances of Norton in the task manger such as Norton ghost or Norton zone.

 

 

ATB

 

intesec

Thanks for the info intesec.

 

If this is normal it just became normal after the update to the 2014 version of Norton 360.  I am a person who strickly monitors what's running on my system (Startup Programs, ActiveX Controls, DLL's, Services Running, Hidden Files/Folders, host file, Registry Entries...etc.) before the update this was not occurring.  After uninstalling and then reinstalling Norton 360 my system seems to be stable again.   I am also a user of WinPatrol which in my opinion is one of the the Best Programs out there which allows me more control of what's happening on my system, which I paid for long ago. Support for Windows Xp will end in 2014 so I plan of moving to Windows 7 Professional soon anyway when I decide to build my new system from scratch so I will not concern myself with this anymore.

 

Again I appreciate your Help.

F.Y.I.: it's expected you won't find the registry keys that i gave, since winxp registry structure has many differences with win7 registry structure,

 

as for the two instances you are right that when norton runs normally(one icon) it has two seperate instances running at the same time (one for the user, and one for the system)... that;s normal behaviour.. what was not normal when two icons appear was the performance decrease, especially on boot time. 

 

and to sum it up.... since i cleaned up the norton installation with NRT and re-installed norton 360.. for 3 weeks now everything is back to normal (ONE ICON - NO BOOT-UP DELAY).

 

Regards,

Thanks for your input.