Hello. I install and used a trial version of Norton Internet Security. Then I deleted (uninstall) Norton Internet Security and I install other antivirus (DrWeb). There is a problem. The program causes the conflict. Norton Internet Security wasn't deleted completely. By means of the utility of Norton_Removal_Tool it isn't possible to delete an antivirus completely. There was a C:\Windows\system32\drivers\symafr.sys file. This file actively works. Therefore there are failures and the conflict to other antivirus. In advance I thank for the help.
What version of Windows are you running on your computer? When you removed NIS from your system did you uninstall from the Control Panel (Add/ Remove Programs or Programs and Features) before running the Norton Removal Tool?
I believe the symafr.sys driver you are referring to is the Symantec AFR Mini Filter Driver. There have been some recent posts in the forum regarding problems with remnants of the pre-loaded trial version of NIS that cannot be removed with the Norton Removal Tool. Please see DaveH's post here and max221's post here about files in a SymSilent folder located at C:\Program Files (x86)\SymSilent\ (or C:\Program Files\SymSilent\ , depending on your Windows OS) that could be the cause of your problem. There might also be remnants of the installation at C:\Program Files (x86)\Norton\ (or C:\Program Files\Norton\).
Just to be certain, you should re-boot your computer and run the Norton Removal Tool (NRT) again. It sometimes takes two or even three cycles of re-booting and re-running the NRT to wipe a Norton product off your computer. If that doesn't solve the problem then we might have to manually remove files left behind by the NRT - see RichD's post here.
If you view your Windows Services (search for "services" from the Windows Start menu), can you see any service running with a name starting with "Norton" or "Symantec"? If you can, we can provide instructions on how to stop these service(s) and then change the startup type to Disabled so that they don't load at your next boot-up. Any Norton-related services should be permanently disabled before you attempt to manually remove remnants of the trial NIS software off your hard drive.
EDIT:
If you know what version of NIS you had on your computer (e.g., v. 20.x vs. v. 21.x, it might be safer to simply re-install NIS and try uninstalling again from the Control Panel, followed by a few re-boots and wipes with the NRT. Let us know if you'd like to try this and we can provide detailed instructions.
------------ MS Windows Vista Home Premium 32-bit SP2 * Firefox 25.0 * IE 9.0 * NIS 2013 v. 20.4.0.40 HP Pavilion dv6835ca, Intel Core2Duo CPU T5550 @ 1.83 GHz, 3.0 GB RAM, NVIDIA GeForce 8400M GS
If you view your Windows Services (search for "services" from the Windows Start menu), can you see any service running with a name starting with "Norton" or "Symantec"? If you can, we can provide instructions on how to stop these service(s) and then change the startup type to Disabled so that they don't load at your next boot-up. Any Norton-related services should be permanently disabled before you attempt to manually remove remnants of the trial NIS software off your hard drive.
Did the extra re-boots and wipes with the Norton Removal Tool solve the problem? If not, can you provide any additional details about :
The URL where the trial version of NIS was downloaded and the language (if non-English US) and version number of the NIS software
If NIS was uninstalled from the Control Panel | Programs and Features before you initially ran the Norton Removal Tool
If you can see any evidence of installed Norton/Symantec software in the Windows Services (see message # 2) or Control Panel | Programs and Features
My understanding is that the SymSilent folder is only created for the OEM trial version of NIS (i.e., when a trial version of NIS is pre-loaded onto a new computer by the manufacturer). Since you are running 64-bit Vista I will assume that you recently downloaded and installed a 30-day trial version of NIS 21.x from the official Norton website and installed it on an older computer unless you inform us otherwise.
I was unable to find C:\Windows\system32\drivers\symafr.sys (the Symantec AFR Mini Filter Driver) on my computer, but I am using NIS v. 20.4.0.40 (NIS 2013) on a 32-bit Vista machine so my system configuration is slightly different than yours. Can you provide further information as to why you believe that symafr.sys is active on your machine and is conflicting with your Dr. Web antivirus software? If you see a warning or error message related to your problem with Dr. Web, it would be helpful if you could post a screenshot as instructed here in Yaso_Kuuhl's forum tip. ------------ MS Windows Vista Home Premium 32-bit SP2 * Firefox 25.0 * IE 9.0 * NIS 2013 v. 20.4.0.40 HP Pavilion dv6835ca, Intel Core2Duo CPU T5550 @ 1.83 GHz, 3.0 GB RAM, NVIDIA GeForce 8400M GS
>> If you view your Windows Services (search for "services" from the Windows Start menu), can you see any service running with a name starting with "Norton" or "Symantec"?
No. These services aren't present in the list.
>> sc delete servicename where service name is the remnant(s) Symantec service(s).
