symantec problem

tychotycho Santa Barbara, California!
edited September 2003 in Science & Tech
Okay, I have this Dell machine running Win2K in a lab. Yesterday I was getting all the windows updates and whatnot and I decided to switch its virus protection from McAfee to Norton (my school offers the corporate version for free and I personally prefer Norton).

So anyways, I uninstall all the McAfee stuff and then go download Norton and begin the installation. It gets about 3/4 through and once it gets to the "Preparing Virus Definition" step it stops for a second and then performs a roll back. The window then switches and it says the the installation was interrupted and nothing was installed. ?!?! I have tried this multiple times and the same thing always happens.

Is this a problem because I had McAfee on there before? Is there anything I can do to fix this? Please help, I have no copy of McAfee because it came installed on the Dell when we got it.

Thanks

Comments

  • KwitkoKwitko Sheriff of Banning (Retired) By the thing near the stuff Icrontian
    edited September 2003
    I'd do a reboot before installing Norton if you haven't already. Perhaps some DLLs are still resident. Also, get a registry cleaner and remove any instances of McAfee. RegCleaner 4.3 is a good one.
  • tychotycho Santa Barbara, California!
    edited September 2003
    Thanks TD

    Ill give the registry a cleaning before trying to install again
  • Straight_ManStraight_Man Geeky, in my own way Naples, FL Icrontian
    edited September 2003
    TD hit it right on the nailhead. Registry Clean every instance of a McAfee found in paths or in the key values, pull the keys that look long and are hex code (CLSIDs)that have McAfee entries. actually, if you had a CD I would say run Norton Windoctor from CD after this and then reboot, but since NOT I would just reboot.

    John (who started pulling McAfee off machines and putting Norton on about 5 years ago when McAfee started pulling older viruses out of defs for retail McAfee viruscan (look for that word also, Norton does NOT use this) because unlike Norton they are not good at compressing the files and uncompressing them to make things work. ALSO LOOK FOR THE WORD mckern and look with Case sensitivity off, viruscan now (and since 1997 or 96 has)uses a kernel parallel process for security and end result is a PITA to switch though WinDoctor in Norton Utilities in SystemWorks has saved my bacon so many times it is not funny.)

    John.
  • tychotycho Santa Barbara, California!
    edited September 2003
    Okay, so i tried cleaning the registy of all instances of mcafee and viruscan and then i again tried to install norton.... same error ocurred.

    Is there anything else that could cause this problem or would it be easier to "obtain" a copy of mcafee and try re-installing it?
  • GHoosdumGHoosdum Icrontian
    edited September 2003
    Ageek said
    John (who started pulling McAfee off machines and putting Norton on about 5 years ago when McAfee started pulling older viruses out of defs for retail McAfee viruscan (look for that word also, Norton does NOT use this) because unlike Norton they are not good at compressing the files and uncompressing them to make things work. ALSO LOOK FOR THE WORD mckern and look with Case sensitivity off, viruscan now (and since 1997 or 96 has)uses a kernel parallel process for security and end result is a PITA to switch though WinDoctor in Norton Utilities in SystemWorks has saved my bacon so many times it is not funny.)

    That is the longest and most informational name I have ever seen.
  • Straight_ManStraight_Man Geeky, in my own way Naples, FL Icrontian
    edited September 2003
    At this time I would see if I could get Norton Utilities 2003 or, preferably, 2004. I would run Windoctor. Failing that, you need manual uninstall instructions from McAfee for your version and then a WinDoctor or alternately (by far next best) an Iolo System Mechanic registry analyzer run IF you can find out from Iolo that XP is compatible with it.

    Yes, you can install McAfee again, but if you ever got two versions of McAfee installed you may need to manually install the old one to get the new one to work right. I would run, in XP, a legacy program called msconfig first, and pull all startup and System.ini and Win.ini entries regarding to McAfee that are there, reboot, and go into a pure Recovery Console boot and run this command if possible:

    scanreg /opt

    Note, playing with XP's registry requires a reboot afterwards every time you do it no matter what you use to install or get things to be fixed in manual editing. This is not a cold boot, it is what Windows calls a restart. After a registry cleaner run you need to do the same. This rule is Windows 101 and I forgot to say so and was trying for "short" when I told you how to do things.

    It is also possible to call Dell under support and tell them your problem and get free help step by step as to how to reinstall version they shipped and uninstall it and they probably will tell you EXACTLY where to go for help on web or walk you through a manuial uninstall of McAfee. I would do that or use a registry cleaner that is not at all by McAfee and use no McAfee stuff at all if you want what I recommend, whihc is Norton SystemWorks, to run and install. While Norton runs there needs to be close to zero errors in registry already and you must have version 2003 or 2004 for XP. Also, viruses in machine WILL keep Norton from installing if they have corrupted the registry already.

    I've installed about 200 Norton packs over the past 5 years of various kinds other than the firewall and have had issues only when something else is wrong in the registry first, or free memory is too low. If you have less than 256 MB RAM you need to kill all running processes except what you must have to get the system able to install quickly.

    Since this is a downlod, it is just barely possible you got a bad archive on your end that was mashed in transit if you are on a LAN also, or on Dialup or a base DSL feed. I have done so twice on one box, odds are not high but they exist.

    You can contact Symantec tech support for the store, look on the store and you should have a redownload link for about 15-20 days after purchase if you have a Symantec store cookie on youir machine. If not, call Customer Service on Symantec's toll free line and explain problem. If they waffle ask for installation support, and they can both waive support fees and get you to an engineer if needed after you call Dell first and uninstall McAfee per Dell.

    John.
  • Straight_ManStraight_Man Geeky, in my own way Naples, FL Icrontian
    edited September 2003
    GHoosdum-- I was hintingly told editorializing was not good adn was not relevant, now it goes instead of graphics as a parenethesis so people can ignore if wanted-- and I try to keep it relevant to thread.
  • GHoosdumGHoosdum Icrontian
    edited September 2003
    Ageek said
    GHoosdum-- I was hintingly told editorializing was not good adn was not relevant, now it goes instead of graphics as a parenethesis so people can ignore if wanted-- and I try to keep it relevant to thread.

    I see... I kind of thought the information about McAffee pulling old defs useful though; it made me very glad I use Symantec! :vimp:
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