Norton Auto Protect

Question

Level 1

25 points

Norton Auto Protect

I just downloaded Avast for Mac from apple and uninstalled Norton Anti-Virus (yuck!). The problem is that Norton Auto Protect is still running (and sucking up my cpu) according to Activity Monitor. Every time I force quit the process it reappears within 10 seconds. It has the root process of launchd (1). I looked under machd/system/library/launchdaemons but I couldn't find any thing with a name relating to the program. Do any of you know what the name is or where it's located if it's somewhere else?

iBook G4, Mac OS X (10.5.2)

Posted on Mar 5, 2008 6:28 AM

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Answer 1

Mar 5, 2008 7:03 AM in response to Aux10

Hi Aux10;

Norton sticks so much junk everywhere on your system that the easiest way to remove it is to go to the Symantec site and download the only good they have ever written which is a program to totally remove Norton. Attempting to go through and find all of the bits and pieces of Norton can be done manually, I know because I did it many years ago when Norton corrupted my system, but the uninstaller is really the way to go.

Allan

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Answer 2

The hatter

Level 9

61,031 points

Mar 5, 2008 7:17 AM in response to Aux10

Look at the /Library/StartupItems for one thing, and use Spotlight to look for remains of symantec or norton once you have uninstalled it.

You could have /Library/Application Support files also.

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Answer 3

Aux10 Author

Level 1

25 points

Mar 5, 2008 7:44 AM in response to Aux10

Found it in the start up folder thanks. I did try the uninstall app earlier this morning but it said there was nothing to uninstall. So thats useless. I also did use spotlight multiple times but it didn't show up there, neither in Terminal with sudo. It's one sneaky program.

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Answer 4

The hatter

Level 9

61,031 points

Mar 5, 2008 7:54 AM in response to Aux10

Now you know why, even if it is/was an excellent program, they never planned on someone uninstalling (and on Windows if you install NIS you may find yourself someday reinstalling the OS!).

Really good to get to know your system folders, and if there is a log of what got installed, to save it with the program.

I actually think there is a place for having a more 'official' programs center for seeing what was installed when, and to uninstall. Just that Norton has had this 'habit' for as long as I can remember with OS X.

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Answer 5

Mar 5, 2008 8:41 AM in response to Aux10

My experience over the years is that the only way to completely uninstall Norton is to wipe your disk.

Kind of ironic, completely unnecessary software that people pay good money for and it can't be removed.

Good software is the exact opposite. You need it, it's free and easy to remove when you don't want it.

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