Just a word of caution about NSW. I really like it and use WinDoctor all the time, however I never, ever, ever, ever let it make the decision about fixes. If NSW has a weakness, it is in its recommended fixes.
One example: NSW WinDoctor discovers that an application invokes setup.exe at C:\program files\somewhere and doesn't find setup.exe at that location. It then searches for all other incidents of setup.exe on your computer and provides a list of recommendations something like the following:
Replace with c:\program files\gloopgloop\setup.exe
...
Replace with c:\msoffice2007\setup.exe
...
Replace with c:\documents and settings\all users\downloads\adobe\acrobat\setup.exe
and so on.
Can you imagine the damage that might result by linking an invoke instruction to the wrong setup file?!
Auuggh!
My choice is always to delete the reference. Since I use WinDoctor as a wellness tool rather than a treatment, that means my computer is already running okay. A missing referent is not causing any noticeable symptoms. Deleting the reference should not cause a problem. Of course, after making such a deletion, I pay extra special attention to the behavior of my computer for the next several days. If I were to have any misfunctioning, I would restore the deleted entries and see it the behavior is fixed.
In particular, MS seems extra careless with their Framework security updates. I notice after a patching that WinDoctor discovers a number of broken links in the original Framework files. WinDoctor's assumption seems to be that these OLDER links should now point to the NEWER files. My assumption is that MS, for security reasons, no longer wants those references at all, but with their usual hasty coding forgot to delete those entries from the registry. I go for the deletion route. Has worked every time.
So, other than just handing on good advice and rambling, is there any point to all this.
Yes, there is. It has occurred to me that you like myself might be a dedicated WinDoctor user; but unlike myself you might be a bit more trusting of WinDoctor's recommendations. Since there is an overlap between NSW and NIS in the area of AV and a seeming overlap in the area of Live Update, it is not impossible that WinDoctor identified some links that were broken by NIS in its installation (it kills Live Update for NSW and removes all AV components from NSW, to put it rather simply), and that WinDoctor might have tried to restore some of these broken links by pointing in the wrong direction. Given the age of your NSW, this is not at all unlikely. The things that could have happened:
1. wrong program components invoked.
2. incomplete NSW removal.
3. incorrect Live Update behavior on the part of NSW.
All of this is hypothetical, but apparantly possible if you used WinDoctor. Additionally, they might even be possible simply from the installation of NIS 2009 over NIS 2008 while NSW 2005 was present.
For me, this merely reinforces what you already decided. Go bite that bullet.
And, if you have already browsed these boards, you may have noticed that there is a ritual we recommend with regard to using the removal tool.
Make sure you have a copy of your activation code and your installation programs for all Norton/Symantec products.
Run the Removal Tool.
Reboot.
Run the Removal Tool again.
Reboot.
Run a file and folder search on your main drive for incidents of Norton and/or Symantec folders and delete those. (Yes, the removal tool doesn't always remove everything).
Reboot.
[And when I do this, I run my NSW CD WinDoctor and look for any remaining Norton/Symantec links now identified as broken and remove them, too. However, be aware that once removed, these cannot be undone as running WinDoctor from a disk does not save original registry entries. If you do this and want to be safer, you should backup your registry using RegEdit first.]
Good luck.
Message Edited by mijcar on 05-01-2009 04:08 PM
