The following message is referenced by my posts from 1st June 2010 in the forums and are subject to this statement. It is not posted for comment, so if you feel you must comment please kindly send me a Private Message (PM). If a post in the forums refers you to this thread, then please read it through to the end. If you have not posted your Operating System (e.g. not just WinXP but say WinXP SP3 Professional 32 bit) and/or the version of Norton product being used (e.g. not just NIS but NIS 2010 17.5.0.127) then please do so in your next post in the original thread.
I am not a Symantec employee and in this context I am a volunteer. My posts represent my own views, opinions and advice and given without reward. I am 58 years old and have been involved with computers for 47 years. At the age of 11, I was running the mainframes at Hatfield Polytechnic over the weekends. Symantec have designated me a "Guru" status.
The user who has a problem, whether the Original Poster (OP) or subsequent contributors, is entirely at liberty to take or reject my advice. The user is solely responsible for establishing the applicability of the advice and deciding upon its use. If the advice taken, requires a modification to your system you must ensure you are satisfied that it is the correct course of action and be responsible for having full system backups should you wish to restore your system or the action proposed results in any loss of data or operability whether intentional or unintentional.
This statement does not seek to alter, amend or take precedence over the forum’s Terms of Service or Participation Guidelines. Rather it seeks to clarify my own involvement.
When I respond in a thread, I do not take ownership of that thread and any other contributor is entitled to make posts and provide their own advice. For this reason you may receive alternative and sometimes contradictory advice, even from Gurus. The decision as to which course of action you then follow is entirely yours. There may be different approaches to problem solving so one approach is not necessarily wrong and one right.
Be advised though, if you decide to follow my advice you should NOT make further changes to your computer (install/uninstall programs, use special fix tools, delete files, edit the registry, etc) unless I advise. Doing so can result in system changes which may not show in the log you may already have posted or can affect the proposed course of action. Further, any modifications you make on your own may cause confusion and could complicate the process which could extend the time it takes to resolve your issue.
My response to a thread may be followed up with further comments but I am under no obligation to do so. Neither do I undertake to do so within a particular time frame. As I may respond to many threads at the same time, it is entirely conceivable that I may not have noticed a user’s response to my post. If you feel I have not responded after 5 days or the response was not as you would have liked or if you wish to ask for assistance you may PM me but please do not abuse the PM system and stream multiple PM’s. Again I may or may not respond but usually do so.
Lastly, unless otherwise directed, if I PM the user for information or clarification or for uploading or downloading of fixes, files or logs, the user is requested to respond by PM and not post responses in the forum which could cause confusion to others not having regard to the initiating PM.
If you take objection to the tone of my responses - perhaps because they are necessarily short or you feel I am being condescending because you have 60 years experience as an IT professional - please bear in mind that this is an unpaid job and has to be accommodated in between busy work and home life. Of necessity responses cannot always be lengthy and detailed. If I direct you to download a file, say Autoruns from Microsoft , I presume that you could do so by using Google and finding the appropriate Microsoft url. If I presume too much simply ask. I find it more effective this way as it allows more threads to be responded to than otherwise would be possible. Before writing any objection I ask you to consider if an alternative interpretation could be had to what I write that would not give you cause for consternation.
o0o