Either Safer Networking Ltd. or Symantec leaving the Anti Spyware Coalition...

Should we follow ASCs definitions of Spyware/PUPS and add NIS to the detections?

  • Yes, detect NIS completely!

    Votes: 222 67.3%

  • Yes, but detect only some harmless files to wake up people.

    Votes: 26 7.9%

  • No, please waste our donations to go through legal channels, instead of using them to fight malware.

    Votes: 8 2.4%

  • None of the above.

    Votes: 74 22.4%
  • Total voters
    330
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Uninstall NIS

Like most of you, I was galvanised to register to post after reading the news.:mad:

My 3 PCs come with NIS preinstalled. I removed them sometime ago because it let in trojans (3 nos.) into one of my PC. I managed to install Avast! to remove the trojans and there was no looking back since.:bigthumb:

If you have NIS, do the same and get rid of this crap.

I have Spybot S & D, Zonealarm, Ad Aware and Avast on my systems now.

Keep up the good work Spybot team.:D: :yahoo:
 
Scrap Norton

I'm a 60-year-old woman with zero ties to the computing industry. I grind no axes. I bought the whole Norton Big Kahuna and was seriously annoyed at how many problems it caused with my computer. After 3 or 4 paid 'repairs' my techie had pity on me and told me that Norton was causing my problems. He removed it for me and sent me here. I made him my prize-winning Antique New York Cheesecake (with a card containing a less fattening token of my esteem...i.e. money) as a thank-you present.

Hi! [waves to everyone]

RA
 
Zenobia said:
You mean this page?
http://service1.symantec.com/SUPPOR...bd905ac77882571e0005e8f21?OpenDocument&seg=hm

Yes, that was the page that I looked at.

I also agree that the pop up screen should have more information, such as what seems to be the Symantec position regarding SS&D from the above link.

From the forum mentioned below in your message it seems to be talking about a beta or trial version, but I may be mistaken, being more an issue.

Since Symantec updated the first link within the past week, I would have to assume that it is the current position of Symantec regarding SS&D.

I have used their products for years and have used SS&D for years and it was very helpful a couple of years ago cleaning up some problems that I had in spite of Norton's protection. Yes, I have paid for Norton and yes, I have made a contribution for SS&D.
Click to expand...
 
Symantec: The Borg are ever present...

All this from the company that `assimilated' Sygate... originally to expand their complete line of coverage for Symantec Firewall products. Yeah, that got k/o'd real quick, save their Enterprise lineup.
 
No respect for Symantec any more

I swore by the corporate version of Symantec antivirus for years. My company would get renewals and I would update as they came out. It would get new definitions on a daily basis.

About 2 months ago, however, my computer became infected with some sort of trojan that actually used the Symantec email proxy as its method of spamming/spreading. My computer tried to send out THOUSANDS of emails, dozens at a time. Thankfully I was able to catch it before many went out by turning off my cablemodem. I did a complete scan with Symantec, it found nothing, but nowhere could I find where these emails were being stored in order to delete them from Symantec's queue. Every time I activated my modem, the emails would try to send.

Finally, I uninstalled all of Symantec, powered on my modem, and went to the free.grisoft.com site to download the free AVG antivirus. During the install it detected and removed 3 trojan programs that were running on my computer, one a "trojan proxy tool" that obviously was designed to use proxies like the Symantec.

I emailed Symantec support, even included the found files, but they denied that their product was being used by any malware (even though I sent them system logs which proved it was). They were far more concerned with anyone else finding out their product was actually being targeted and thus unsafe than in attempting to correct the problem.

I'm now a paid AVG antivirus user and will never, ever go back to Symantec products. And neither will my company, we've cancelled all Symantec product use.
 
Norton is simply not worth the trouble

Resource hogging software that is far worse to remove than malware! I despise the amount of time Symantec has cost me in "repairing" PCs both at work and privately, when the only fault was there garbage software.

Spybot has been a faithful friend for many years.
 
glush777

Re the Norton's versus Spybot issue, I have been using both for about five years. I experienced no problems until recently. The Computer Repair Shop advised me that the New Versions of Norton's are a nuisance - slowing computers down.

Considering their attitude, I cannot support Symantec or Norton in any way. I agree that anti-spyware should detect them completely.
 
IF statement needed in detection...

If you want to detect Norton, only do it if the following condition is true...

If there is a copy of NPROTECT.EXE on the hard drive, you can call the norton install hostile/malware. This program is the infamous Norton Rootkit (Aka Protected Recycle Bin). I found a Direct Connect++ p2p client running on my machine from inside the hidden (from the API) directory.

***ADVANCED USERS ONLY***

To neuter it, rename NPROTECT.EXE to XNPROTECTX.EXE and reboot. Then prowl your recycle bin via CMD prompt, and INSIDE (not at recycler root) every directory of your recycl~1 type in these 2 commands.

attrib *.* -S -H -A -R
attrib *. -S -H -A -R

Then go about deleting all the files you find therein. Don't delete the directories, unless you are sure you can. Never ever delete the root recycler directory.

As long as NPROTECT.EXE cannot be found at boot, then the rootkit cannot run.

(I of course take no responsibility for what you may injure following above setps)

Zap
 
Personally i make every effort to remove any norton product i can.
I then replace em with proper AV and spyware removal programs.
The less people whom are infected with norton the better in my opinion..
The **only** usefull norton product is ghost, on a boot disk.
 
"What goes around, comes around..."

Symantec doesn't believe that, I'm sure. Let -us- not forget that. It's their shame. Really too bad for them.

I hope Peter Norton has taken what they gave him and bought a small island somewhere so he can make all those great Corona commercials - I always imagined it was him on the beach chucking that pager into the surf... ahhhh.


:spider:
 
Symantec getting too big for its britches

I registered just so I could put my two cents worth in the pot: I hate to admit it, but Symantec is really starting to bother me as an end user.

I saw the warnings about Spybot S&D when I installed Norton Ghost, but I am contrary enough to not let such things prevent me from doing what I want to do.

Don't get me started about how Norton SystemWorks "breaks" everytime I install a new program, forcing me to uninstall and re-install it as a result.

Not to mention the slow, useless first tier support from people on the opposite side of the planet who type English as a Second Language. The 30 minute waits in queue for a chat, followed by 3-5 minute response delays for every question you ask. And the way they pointedly avoid answering direct questions, in favor of "sticking to the script". Each one of them is hosting 5-10 chat sessions at any given time. Who can provide quality support in that sort of environment?

By contrast, I've never HAD any problems with SpyBot, hence never NEEDED any tech support for it. Beat that, Symantec!

SpyBot S&D is a godsend :bigthumb: to the PC end user. I've backed up my cheap words of praise with Donation$ because I support innovation wielded on the side of the consumer as opposed to bloated, unresponsive corporate giants telling us that we should only want what they offer.

Shame on Symantec :sad: for trying to muscle out a "little guy" offering a world class product with their own shoddy johnny-come-lately imitation.
 
The Symantec Menace

Norton Internet Security detects both Spybot and Microsoft Defender as incompatible products.

The real problem is they are taking away our options. Of all of the anti-virus products I have used, Norton Anti-virus is the one that gets disabled the easiest by viruses.
 
Can someone help me out im looking for a program i cant remember the name but it runs in the back ground and any time you or any program tries to change your homepage it will pop up and ask you if its ok to change or if you want to stop it. I have been browser hijacked twice in the past and its a pain in the butt to get rid of so i would assume to just prevent it happening again. Thanks for you help.
 
death to Symantec

I would also aggree that Norton is crap. I never liked the fact that you had to keep rebuying the software to continue to get updates, but I thought beyond that it wasn't to bad. untill I got a laptop with norton preinstalled. the laptop was a 1.6ghz, wich ment it had bouth more memory and a faster processor as the tower was only a 1.1ghz, but the dang thing ran way slower then my tower, heack even my 800mhz computer was slightly faster and that's half the processor speed!!
after a major overhaurl of the system I got it working as it should now. plus norton crashed while dooing it's first time startup thinge then kept trying to restart the program.

I do like Avg a lot as it does do a good job for it's price. I also found Ez Armor is a good program (as long as you don't use their firewall that still has some bugs in it in my option) I got ahold of them as I found the ISP I work for provides that free to all their customers (Road Runner) and what's more it works on my servers where AVG free refused to.

So yes please do include tools to help us purge the world of the Symantec Virus. I also found out that Norton is bundeld with AOL just further proving how low they sank.
 
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Symantec?...

Hi!
I prefer AVG FE + Sygate PF (acquired by Symantec... :sad: ) + Spybot S&D to any Symantec or Norton or something else. Last ones are not secure like they said, too slow... My suggestion - uninstall any Symantec's product. Instead of them... Look above... :) But if U don't believe who makes free software - try maybe Kaspersky's or TrendsMicro's or something else solutions but... not Symantec's products.
Yuri.

Ciao!
Io preferirei AVG FE + Sygate PF (quest' ultimo purtroppo è stato acquisito dalla Symantec) + Spybot S&D a qualsiasi prodotto dalla Symantec. Symantec's sono troppo insicuri, lentissimi... Mio suggerimento - disinstallare tutto cio' che Symantec. Al posto loro... Guarda sopra... :) E se qualcuno non si fida dei software gratuiti - allora puo' in alternativa provare soluzioni dalla Kaspersky o TrendMicro o qualcosa altro ma... in ogni caso non dalla Symantec.
Yuri.
 
As some of the above did I registered just to respond to this post. I think in this situation turnabout is fair play.

1. Have teatimer detect the installation of ghosts and offer to stop it as an incompatable program(in symantecs own words).
2. Have spybot detect it as an incompatable program and offer removal of the product(again in symantecs own words).
3. Detect their hidden directories as possible sources of virus and spyware infection and offer removal.

I doubt symantec will be removed from the group (but you should try just to make the point) but I also don't believe you should leave either. It will look like you are running off to cry in the corner which would not look good. Solution is to be the bigger man always be there to take a stand against them when they pull stuff like this(be a thorn in their side). Understand who they are and what they are and learn from it and move on.

The above steps I mentioned are legitimate warnings and that is the way you should keep it Legitimate we dont want to stoop to their level.
 
Hold on a minute

I'm no big fan of Symantec. Was a contented user around 2001 / 2003, and ditched them in 2004. But, when I was using both their "internet security" and Spybot, Spybot's system startup list descriptions used to list some Symantec programs as malware instead of the genuine thing. (It's been a while, and I don't remember exactly what Spybot said about which program).

I'm sure the computers involved weren't infected and the files Spybot complained about were legit, so I can't blame Symantec for being a bit ticked-off.

Also, after I upgraded to their 2004 version it kept getting corrupted and forcing me to re-install. Changed to another company without ever tracking down what caused it, but I could never get rid of the faint suspicion that maybe my overnite scheduled Spybot scans were nuking something they shouldn't.
 
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