I purchased a Dell computer that came with 90 days of McAfee Virus protection. I have deleted the McAfee and am trying to install Norton Antivirus 2005 from a new disk but it does not want to install for me. It is taking about 30 minutes to install just one file. Should I be able to install Norton after removing McAfee? If so, am I missing a step somewhere?

Gary T.

Did you delete mcafee or uninstalled it ?? Do uninstall mcafee ... I dont think mcafee and norton work together.

Remember to exit from MacAffee before uninstalling it. If the resident shield is still running, the program won't be uninstalled correctly. Is you've tried to delete rather than uninstall it you might realistically be faced with a format and fresh install of everything to adequately clean up the mess.

Did you delete mcafee or uninstalled it ?? Do uninstall mcafee ... I dont think mcafee and norton work together.

Yes, I did uninstall mcafee. It just isn't installing the norton for me. I have a disk from a previous norton I own, it will not install, I bougt a new copy and it will not install. What can I try?

Gary

Or if you want to persist with this windows installation .. you'll have to disable all the services and processes (startup items) relating to McAfee ..

heh heh.....

Lokks like we're posting at the same time here.

What exact error messages are you getting please?

I used the remove function in control panel to remove the mcafee programs listed. When I try to install norton everything progresses as it should, it just is not installing the software. I don't get any error messages. It starts to install the first file and progresses real slow, never completing the install, never getting past the first file.

Gary T.

Are you installing it from a cd ?? verify that the cd is not corrupt.

Copy the antivirus installation folder from cd to your hard drive and then try installing it from the hard drive.

At this point the suggestion to copy the antivirus installation folder to the hard drive and install from there worked, but I still have some issues. I'll try to work these out first through Norton Technical Support. Thanks for the help so far.

As far as McAfee is concerned, there are still parts of it on my computer. The remove function will not uninstall what is left. Is there some other way to fully remove McAfee? I do not have the installation disks as this program was preloaded on my computer. Once I get Norton fully working should I just ignore what's left of McAfee?

Thanks again!

Gary T.

What parts are still there in your computer ?? some expired registry values or some empty folders ?? They wont be affecting anything much.

If something else is residing ... please name it.

While still working with Norton, the Auto Protect will not activate; worm protection and email scanning are on. The tech support info indicates I should uninstall and reinstall the Norton. When I go to add/remove in control panel the Norton Antivirus 2005 is not listed. I do have an icon on the desktop, and it is listed in Windows Explorer but not in add/remove. How can I remove the existing copy of Norton if it is not listed in add/remove?

Regarding the remaining McAfee files they don't appear to be a problem at this time so I am going to ignore them.

Gary T.

Norton products are notorious for not 'letting go' properly when you uninstall them. MacAffee products are sometimes pretty misbehaved in that respect as well.

Changing from one to another is definitely a process where format/reinstall is an alternative to consider. It might just be easier than tracking down all the 'hooks' that have been left behind when you've uninstalled ;)

If you search around the Norton Site, there is normally a norton removal tool, that can help in those situations, I have not used it with 2005, but have used in the past with SystemWorks and Norton 2002.

I searched yesterday for the tool to help with cleaning up someone's PC for them. I found that the manual removal instructions had been taken down from the FAQ/Knowledge Base, and that the link for the removal tool led to a "Page not found" message!

Not happy!

manual removal instructions for Norton tools:

open a command prompt
type format c:
confirm you really want to do this

heh heh....

Yes, a drastic step, but the one which works the best :)

Tech support at Norton directed me to this link:

http://service1.symantec.com/support/tsgeninfo.nsf/docid/2005033108162039?Open&src=con_ols_nam

This is the removal tool for Norton using SymNRT. It did seem to work and remove the Norton products.

Before I try to reinstall Norton I wanted to be sure the hard drive was in good order so I ran the scan disk function but when I went to use defragmenter it now says a defragmenter is not currently installed on my computer. How can I restore defragmenter to c:\properties\tools?


Thank you once again!

Gary T.

At this time, with the suggestions I received from Symantec Technical support through their email based support I have been able to correctly install the Norton Antivirus 2005 on my computer. I have also found out how to access defrag without going through the tools menu. I don't know if there is a specific way to end a thread but it is ok to end this thread now. If I need to do something specific please let me know.

Thank you for your help!

Gary T.

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