Member Avatar for Dunkirk

My Norton Protection Centre is telling me I need to run a virus scan. When I do, I get to roughly the same point (Although not the same file ) and the whole computer freezes, nothing works including Ctrl,Alt, Delete

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Thread summary: Norton freezes the machine while running a scan. reports the freeze happens around the same point each run; suggested Safe Mode but says Norton would not run there. The steps below avoid re-suggesting Safe Mode and focus on alternative diagnostics and fixes that are safe to try next.

Start with quick diagnostics (no reinstall yet). After a freeze and reboot, open Event Viewer (eventvwr.msc) and look under Windows Logs → System and Application for errors or service crashes at the freeze time. Run a disk check and system file verification from an elevated Command Prompt:

chkdsk /f C:

SFC /scannow

Run a memory test (Windows Memory Diagnostic or MemTest86) and check the hard drive SMART health with the drive maker’s diagnostic tool—repeated freezes at different files can point to a failing disk or bad RAM.

Scan without the installed Norton service running. Two safe approaches: use a reputable bootable rescue scanner (examples: Kaspersky/Bitdefender rescue media or Windows Defender Offline) to scan from outside Windows; or remove the possibly corrupted Norton install with the official removal utility and reinstall a fresh copy. Before removing, note any license keys and back up important data.

Rule out conflicts and software causes with a clean boot (use msconfig to hide Microsoft services, disable third-party services/startup items) then run the scanner. Also check for multiple security products installed—remove duplicates so only one real-time antivirus is active.

If hardware checks pass and problems persist after reinstalling Norton, collect logs (Norton logs, Reliability Monitor, Event Viewer) and consider a repair install of Windows or professional help. Always back up personal files before running repair utilities or reinstallation.

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Member Avatar for caperjack

hitting f8 on bootup and go to safe mode and run the scan in safe mode

Member Avatar for Dunkirk

Hi, Thanks for the advice, tried this but norton wouldn't allow a scan in safe mode.

Member Avatar for caperjack

Hi, Thanks for the advice, tried this but norton wouldn't allow a scan in safe mode.

did it say why,i scan all the time with it in safe mode

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