Norton Anti-virus-Unable to Live Update (Virus Def) Error/Java 1.4.2

Hello Howwow & all,

Quoted from the Macfixit web site.
Go to the macfixit site for more.

"There actually is a downloadable edition of the September 27th virus definitions, so the solution to this issue appears to be as follows: re-install Norton AntiVirus from original media, but do not run LiveUpdate, then download and install the September 27th virus definitions."

Good luck! Please let us know how you fare.

Eme'~[)

For me, there was even more: I migrated from an iBook G4 to an Intel MacBook, in other words, I had a brand new virgin system and clean hard drive. When I downloaded NAVM, as a fresh download from the Symantec website, all they had was still version 10.0.0, not 10.1, the one to run on Intel processors. Norton absolutely insists that ALL upgrades happen through LiveUpdate, including the program update from 10.0 to 10.1. I begged them to follow the practices of other software companies to post at least the latest version of their software on the website, or make a website available to download the latest version of the software (as they used to do themselves): absolutely no response.

While the replies to my difficulties were courteous and prompt, their business practice to put all ‘their downloading eggs into one single LiveUpdate basket’ is incorrect... And, in order to fix Norton’s difficulties, one should not have to rummage through the bowels of System files to find Java files, and, by the way, did you know that their own ‘Uninstall’ program doesn’t uninstall everything? I learned this from another discussion group. Use ‘EasyFind’ (free of charge) that looks in places where even Spotlight doesn’t go, and you’d be surprised what comes up. Be sure to check for ‘Norton,’ Symantec,’ sym,’ and ‘NUM’. You’d be surprised what ‘uninstall’ leaves behind.

As you can see in the Apple discussions, and many other places, Norton’s difficulties with LiveUpdate are NOT sporadic, it’s hit and miss, 50/50.

For an anti-virus program, this is not good enough. With Norton: ‘You’se pays your money, and you’se take your chances.’

Cheers,

Klaus

Well, maybe, as I said before, my wife’s iBook G4 had the same set-up as mine, her NAVM worked, mine doesn’t, and we are both on airport...

Good luck,

Klaus

Howhow and scapesuit, I'm back in same boat with you guys. Arggh!

LIve updated no worky for me again after 10 trys over 3 days at many differrent times.

I have inloaded the 20mb NAV Def. updater .DMG but Im not sure if it is the main NAV program ergo I should "uninstall" all Symantec NAV first OR

if its ok to just go ahead and install "NAV DEF Updater" without complete "uninstall". of the main NAV program?

And yes I understand that SYmantecs uninstall program will not do complete job. Hoping I don have to go the route yet.

Ran

I just decided to deal with the "error on update" issue this thread details. I made the same mistake of thinking Symantec knew something about the problem and deinstalled NAV 10 (I was at 10.1.1), rebooted, re-installed, and viola: liveupdate won't even update itself!!!!! I tried setting my Java preferences to run 1.4.2 in preference to 1.5...no dice.

Sooooo, I decided to try download one update at a time (using customize). I was able to download the latest liveupdate. Quit and start LU again.

Then I was able to down load 10.1.0 and got that running (after three tries: whether LU has an error or succeeds, quit after each download/install attempt).

Then I tried 4 more times and got 10.1.1. Whew.

But the current virus definitions would not go (20MB), so I downloaded them from the Symantec web site and installed them.

This must be a Symantec server issue with Liveupdate timing out because it gives up waiting. It cannot be an Apple Java 1.4.2 (or 1.5) issue since then it would never work.

So as a work around, try loading only one thing at a time, and if the virus defs don't download, get them directly from the Symantec website.

Ed

PS: Since Microsoft is including virus, etc. protection inside of Vista, I suspect that we won't have much longer to fight these NAV issues. Symantec will need a different pony to ride.

Howhow, I've done Symantec Chat twice now and currently Ive been doing emails back an forth with someone named Joshith at SYmantec. He does not answer my specific questions directly and basically giving me same answers I got from Chat and what every one here also got.

Arggh! Symantec is lame on this issue. IMHO and whats worse they admit nothing.

Ran

Howow, hard to believe this but just after I emailed a reply here I tried again and updated the Virus definitons. Sporadic funcitoning for sure. I like the idea going aroudn that it is ther servers timming out from to many incoming requests at similar times.

Arrgh! 😟

Ayway looks like you are out of the ball game now.

Ran

3. I suspect the Java 1.4.2 info you were given
earlier by Symantec was a red herring, i.e. a

false

lead.

Im like Huh? Im still on 10.4.7 ergo I have not done
any new OS updates, security or otherwise, yet get

I saw a similar problem on a friend's MacBook several months ago and the solution may apply to you because you say you have not done updates in a while. Have you updated to the latest version of QuickTime? There was a version of QuickTime...might have been 7.0...that killed some Adobe components and Norton online updates. The problem was fixed when the next version (7.1?) of QuickTime came out, and then LiveUpdate worked perfectly and so did the affected Adobe components. Until QuickTime was updated, no and I mean NO amount of troubleshooting steps or reinstalling the system or Norton had any positive effect at all. Believe me, I tried everything. It turned out to be Apple's fault, one quick QuickTime update download solved everything, but there was no documentation of it anywhere relating to Norton. The only reason I even tried it is because I read about how the QuickTime bug affected Adobe.

If you've got a current version of QuickTime, then this was a shot in the dark at the wrong problem. But if it helps...........

howwow wrote:

"...Macs are not highly vulnearble to virus, for now."

But they are vulnerable to other types of threats, e.g. Trojans, rootkits, macro viruses, etc. as noted in my "Detecting and avoiding malware and spyware" FAQ. Even Apple now recommends that one should "check for viruses." Accordingly, I remain an advocate of both the "belt and suspenders" and "better safe than sorry" schools of thought. 😉

I've not had a recurrence of the server timeout since my last report of such. This weekend's NAV update (both virus defs and a NAV code update) went smoothly via LIveUpdate.

I don't have time to backtrack through the entire topic here to see if I've previously made a suggestion I'm about to make... However, you may be on to something re: some difference between your home and work network setups. Presuming you're using different computers at each location, I'd be wary if you're running any "download accelerators" on the Mac at home. I've seen third-party "download accelerators" cause all sorts of havoc with downloads, and LiveUpdate is a combination download-and-install ala Software Update.

Good luck!

😉 Dr. Smoke
Author: Troubleshooting Mac® OS X

---
Note: The information provided in the link(s) above is freely available. However, because I own The X Lab™, a commercial Web site to which some of these links point, the Apple Discussions Terms of Use require I include the following disclosure statement with this post:

I may receive some form of compensation, financial or otherwise, from my recommendation or link.