Not really sure if this is all related and it is a bit of a saga, I'm looking for a solution or pointers to help me resolve the problem. First I'm accessing the problem machine remotely and I don't have direct hands on access.
About a week ago I was checking the machine over because the owner (my Father in Law) had some browser plugins installed that he didn't want, he is in his 80's so little issues like this are quite common which is why I feel it is even more important that I can get NIS working properly.
I uninstalled several toolbars and search providers (DELTA, WAJAM to name 2) and also noticed Microsoft defender and a McAfee virus tool had been installed, all are removed. I then updated Norton IS 2012 to 2013 (licence is good to Sep 2013). Before the update there were no apparent issues with NIS 2012. The update seemed to execute without issue. After the update I noticed that the NIS icon was missing from the system tray and trying to activate the GUI appeared to do nothing. After several uninstalls and re-installs, including using the NRT I decided to re-instate NIS2012. Just before re-installing NIS 2012 I noticed that Windows security centre was reporting a problem with firewall and virus protection, and despite several attempts to 'allow' it would not accept that Norton was installed. I can't remember the exact details.
Re-installing NIS2012 (after uninstall of 2013 and using NRT) seemed to work but I got the same problem, no icon in System tray and unable to fire up the GUI. After a few more attempts at removing and re-installing I was confident Norton was running but I couldn't get to check live-updates. Then I got an error from Norton: 8504, 106. I followed a solution to resolve this: Disable User Account Control, run live update, re-instate UAC. This worked, but as soon as the UAC is switched back on NIS has the same problems. I've even tried using 'run as administrator' but with no success.
So I can confirm NIS 2012 is installed and functioning and as of last night upto date, but to carry out updates or access the GUI or simply to get the icon in the system tray I need to turn off UAC, which isn't really an option for the safety of the owner.
The machine is running Win7 64bit with all latest updates. As far as I can tell no other security software is installed, nor can I readily detect any malware.
I'm running NIS 2013 on several other machines all with Win7 64bit and similar hardware but I have never encountered this issue between NIS and UAC.
I'm a little limited in what I can do because I can't run up in safe mode as I then lose remote access.
Any pointers, suggestions greatly appreciated.