Technical Tidbits

I just finished typing my blog post for tomorrow morning and went on to do other things when I received a call.

“I just updated my Norton Internet Security 2009 and my computer is completely locked up!”

I’ve tried looking at Symantec’s support and nothing has been posted about it yet.

WARNING about this temporary solution: You will need to have an adapter for any USB keyboard or mouse. I’m going to get you to boot into safe mode and USB devices do not work in safe mode! (Vista may be different, but I’m sure they don’t work in XP.)

Also, the temporary solution shuts down your Internet Security program from running completely until you can contact Norton and fix it. Therefore, you are NOT PROTECTED once you shut it down! If you need to get some work done, check e-mail, or look on the Internet, throw in a temporary FREE solution like AVAST for AV coverage and ZoneAlarm for Firewall security temporarily!

However, my advice to the caller was as follows:

1. Reboot your PC into safe mode.

If you cannot shut down or use your keyboard the regular way, shut off the PC manually or press the reboot button if you have one.

2. Immediately, as your PC is rebooting, press the F8 key repeatedly until you get the black screen that has boot into Safe Mode as an option.

You want to select Safe Mode not with Networking capabilities and not with command prompt. Just plain old safe mode.

3. Once you are fully booted follow the following directions to disable Norton from starting.

• Right click over MY COMPUTER icon.
• Choose Manage.
• When the Management Console appears, click the plus [+] sign next to Services and Applications to expand the list.
• Select Services.
• In the right side of the pane, change the tab to Standard.
• The list is alphabetical. Find every Norton listing you can find. It may be under Norton, it may be under Symantec, but find the first one in the list - there are several - and click to select it.
• Right click and choose Properties.
• Change the drop down in the center from Automatic or Manual to Disable.
• Do this for each listing.
• Close the Management Console.

4. From the Start button, click RUN.

5. Type: msconfig

6. Select the Startup tab.

7. Uncheck every option for Norton, Symantec, or Internet Security you can find. This stops them from loading in the boot sequence.

8. Click Apply and the machine should prompt you to reboot.

You should be able to reboot into normal windows with Norton Internet Security totally disabled.

Remember my warning above! You are totally unprotected at this point! BE CAREFUL!

I will continue to follow-up with Symantec to see what the problem is.

written by Admin \\ tags: 2009, computer, freeze, freezes, laptop, locks up computer, norton, pc, update, update freezes, update locks