Hello,
I've been having an issue with Norton Internet Security 2011 wherein after installation the program seemed to run fine, however once I rebooted (and I did this multiple times with the same result) my OS would not open properly--all I got after Windows logged on was my desktop background. Eventually a window from IS would pop up informing me that there was one low-level security risk that had to be resolved manually, but no other programs were available as all of the icons were missing as was my task bar.
Though I consider myself a pretty logical person who's reasonable with computers, I'm not extremely tech saavy. I was able to fix the issue by rebooting in safe mode and uninstalling Norton. Then I logged on to Norton chat and agreed to remote access to try and get Norton running correctly.
I should also note that during the time Norton was installed and my computer was not functioning properly I was regularly getting popups asking me to insert the WinXP Pro SP3 cdrom, which I do not have as my computer is old enough that the packaged OS was before SP3--these popups were absent after the uninstall.
Anyway, back to the topic at hand, in spite of my belief that the issue was not related to an infection on my pc (a serious set of infections was what prompted my purchase of Norton, the infections were removed and the pc thoroughly cleaned $130 later...) the Norton analyst insisted on dl'ing Power Eraser and scanning my computer, which I assumed couldn't do any harm. PE identified winlogon.exe as a suspicious file, and the analyst opted to scan it further. As I said before, I'm not an expert in IT, but even I know enough to be able to guess that a file with that name is important. The further scan/info lookup determined that the file was not a risk. I got up to grab a glass of water and returned just in time to see the analyst delete the file.
I was surprised, but assumed the analyst knew what he/she was doing and so we then went through the process of setting up the computer for an automatic reboot/windows logon so that the analyst could continue. In what I'm sure is not a surprising event to anyone on here who is versed in windows, instead my computer became stuck in a permanent restart loop because windows will now no longer open, either regularly or in safe mode. I tried to repair the OS from my OEM recovery disk twice, but was unsuccessful both times--after the repair/reinstall process windows froze and would not open on reboot.
The only option left is a reformat followed by OS reinstallation. A rather upsetting turn of events considering the original problem I was trying to get fixed. I don't suppose there's much I can do about it since the damage is done, and Norton is such a large company I doubt there's much they could do to help me though this problem is entirely the result of their inept tech support analyst. It's actually a little troubling that they'd employ somebody who would make such a grievious error. Regardless, I don't want to turn this into a rant. Mostly I was wondering if anybody had any ideas about the original issue I was having in case it persists after the OS install, and whether there actually is something I can do or some way to contact Norton and let them know about this, if only so they can make sure not to employ such analysts.
I apologize for the novella I've just written, but if anyone has any advice it would be greatly appreciated.
Best,
Peter