Norton AV appears to have been attacked?

[GillH]

Hi

Please can some kind soul advise me.

I run Norton Antivirus (& use LiveUpdate) and my subscription to Norton is up to date.   Under 'System Status'  Auto Protect is disabled (and it will not let me Enable) and Email Scanning comes up with ERROR. I also keep getting a message up at start up which says something along the lines of.....attacker or virus has disabled protection......  Also when I click on My Computer the search light comes on and when I go to shutdown, it won't - I have to pull the plug out! I also have two broadband icons now on my tool bar!

Please can someone tell me if this sounds like a virus & if so, what have I got?!! ...............and any tips for getting rid of it.

Many thanks in anticipation

Gill H

[GX1_Man]

I would suggest uninstalling and reinstalling Norton, if that's what you want for our antivirus. In the meantime, go to Trend Online virus scanner (free at trendmicro.com) to test. You ma also want to try Spybot, AdAware, and Ewido (free, just google for them) for added safety.

[Fed]

This sounds like an extra nasty nasty so here's my 2 cents worth...

Download, install & update...
CLEANUP
Ccleaner
ANTI SPYWARE
Ad-Aware
Spybot S&D
Microsoft Antispyware (W2k & XP)
ANTI VIRUS
AVG Free (Set options to 'scan all files')
ANTI TROJAN
Ewido (W2k & XP)

Turn off System Restore if applicable. (ME & XP users)

Run Ccleaner
Run Ad-Aware
Run Spybot
Run Microsoft Antispyware
Run AVG Free
Run Ewido

Re-start in Safe Mode
Re-run AVG Free

Re-start in Normal Mode
Turn on System Restore if applicable. (ME & XP users)

PS, can someone with html experience turn the top 6 program recommendations into clickable links & give me the text as I couldn't be bothered figuring it out myself.

[GX1_Man]

PS, can someone with html experience turn the top 6 program recommendations into clickable links & give me the text as I couldn't be bothered figuring it out myself.

That should be a standard footnote for everyone who responds to problem questions here!

[GillH]

Many thanks for your suggestions. I thought I had it all sussed yesterday, but as soon as I shut down the computer, the problem returns when I next log on.

Will try all your helpful suggestions.

Fingers crossed!

GillH

[Fed]

Keep us updated Gill.  

[Blackberry]

i had this problem to, i think norton is big crap, it cost a fortune and some things fails, like protect option, just use avg free

[GX1_Man]

I thought you were promoting Symantec's site?

[leeleigh]

WOW. I HAD THE EXACT SAME THING HAPPEN. My Norton will NOT enable, no matter how much I clik. It displays the ERROR message. Even my Norton icons on the bottom toolbar have disappeared! But here's the worst thing. I CANNOT LOG IN TO ANY ACCOUNT. I can navigate the web to any page, but if I try to login to email, or ebay or whatever, it will not allow me to . All I get is the 'cannot find server' error page when I try logging in to any account.
Does this sound like a virus?
Here is my only clue. I downloaded screensavers yesterday....haven't been able to look at my email since. Today, i have UNINSTALLED EVERY SCREENSAVER that I downloaded, but doesn't fix my problem. I was thinking that there must be a specific function that is corrupted that allows me to login to everything. What should I do?