Mike,
Thanks, I know that there has to be others out there that are experiencing
this problem. I hope this thread is kept alive until we get some confirmed
technical answers as why this occurred right after the 4/11 updates.
Symantec emailed me back and confirmed that Norton needs to be disabled
before installing any Windows Updates and that this issue is known by MS
(i.e. updates conflicting with third party software). They advised that if
disabling Norton does not work on installing future updates, MS should be
contacted with the problem. In a Windows Update thread, another user said
System Restore also worked on this issue with OE. I’m so sorry that you’ve
had issues in using System Restore. It’s one of the reasons why I love XP.
If you don’t know how to muck around with registry files, then System Restore
is the way to go and I have used it before without incident. Have you
contacted MS about this? I hate to say this, but I think the reason why the
System Restore workaround is the only answer is because registry files have
been altered. I was afraid that the fix Bruce suggested wasn’t going to work
if you hadn’t already done a System Restore to get OE up and running again.
I was shocked to see that the support threads for the article I posted on MS
Anti-Spyware Beta causing problems with Norton is still available. In those
threads and for that particular issue, it was determined that a System
Restore should be the first thing you should try. You can view those threads
by simply clicking the hyper-link “support threads” in the Washington Post
article.
I’ve just got this gut feeling that it was the Malicious Software Removal
Tool (KB890830), which only runs once and is not installed as a patch, caused
Norton to go haywire.
You might have to uninstall and reinstall Norton, but I would recommend that
you uninstall the MS updates first and turn off Automatic Updates until after
you have Norton up and running again. Make sure you disable Norton before
reinstalling any updates. If this doesn’t work, then it sounds to me that
registry files have been altered and you need to contact MS.
Keep us posted!
Carole
"Mike" wrote:
Hello Carole!
Thank you for keeping the discussion alive. I have been following your and
others messages every day.
The solution you wrote on system restore I haven't tried. I did a system
restore some time ago and it ended with a none functioning system. So there
is a dilemma.
"Carole" wrote:
Well, everything is still running fine after 5/8 updates. I disabled Norton
this time. Symantec answered me back and said that NIS files got corrupted,
but didn’t elaborate as to how they thought this happened. They also said I
was not eligible for the free 2007 upgrade offer because I own NIS 2005.
A thought occurred to me after I read the below article:
http://blog.washingtonpost.com/secur...eleting_1.html
If Norton has not previously gotten along with Windows Anti-spyware Beta,
then maybe the Malicious Software Removal Tool (downloaded the day after the
4/11 updates) corrupted Norton’s files. Just a thought since it’s a pretty
good bet that all these problems appear to be related to the updates. I
would imagine it would contain similar data and registry files??? I actually
had this Beta installed at one point, but removed it due to articles I read
about it being vulnerable to threats of hackers using it to obtain personal
information off your computer (specifically banking info). The program also
drove me nuts and I do remember having to uninstall and reinstall Norton
after I got rid of it.
Mike, did you ever fix this problem??? After all you were the first one to
start this thread.
Also, I didn’t post the article to start any heated debates. I just found
it to be very interesting.