This problem started on Dec. 9th on 3 of our 5 computers running Windows 7 64 bit. When the computer boots in the morning, it locks up about a minute or two after the windows 7 startup is completed. A control - Alt -delete will not bring up the task manager. The only way to shut off the computer is to hold the on-off button down until it shuts off. Then, we reboot in safe mode and everything is fine. We can go back to a restore point and reboot with everything working, but NIS is then disabled. To work around this, we have used the Norton removal tool and reinstalled NIS (can only get version 22.5.4.24 online). Everything will be fine for the day. Next morning when we start the computer, it is the same thing again, the computer locks up. The two computers that are working fine have NIS version 22.5.5.15. We have tried running live update after installing the NIS 22.5.4.24, but the computer will usually lock up after installing the first patch on restart. We had one computer install the first patch, but then locked up on the second patch restart. We have also tried just shutting the computer down normally after running live update with the first patch ready to install, but it still locks up the computer after booting up.
We have also run Norton Power Eraser on the affected machines and it found no problems. Running a virus scan after installing NIS 22.5.4.24 also shows the machines are clean. We have been running one machine with just Windows Defender for a couple of days and we can reboot as many times as we want with no problems. As soon as we put NIS on the machine, it locks up after reboot. All Windows 7 updates have been installed on all three affected machines. Also, the computers are not networked together.
Any ideas on what to try next would be greatly appreciated. I don't want to drop Norton, but I need virus protection on those machines beyond Windows Defender and we are tired of going to a restore point in safe mode, uninstall NIS and then reinstall NIS everyday.