Norton Internet Security Problems - can't run Live Update

This a carryover from a post I made on the malware forum. TimW suggested I post here. I'm not sure if the two are related, but about four weeks ago, I noticed that I kept getting the same trojan showing up on my weekly Spybot S&D run, called "Microsoft.WindowsSecurityCenter_disabled". Spybot S&D says it has removed the file, but it comes right back in a day or two.

Around the same time, I noticed that periodically my phishing protection on Norton (NIS) gets turned off and my LiveUpdate function won't work. I run Norton Internet Security on my XP operating system. I can turn the phishing protection back on manually or by selecting the "Fix Me" button, but the virus definition updates hang up. I can't even close the program without scramming in it in Windows Task Manager. I can manually download and install the weekly virus definition updates from Norton with no problem.

I categorize this as a nuisance more than a crisis as it appears my computer is protected, but I don't know what this Microsoft.WindowsSecurityCenter_disabled malware is doing behind the scenes.

 

Hi gosubs,

This is Mike from the Norton Authorized Support Team.

What version of Norton Internet Security do you have installed? Please let me know.

There is a known incompatibility with 2 of the Advanced functions in SpyBot when you have a Norton product installed. The two functions that need to be disabled are the TeaTimer and SD Helper. You can find these settings by switching to Advanced Mode in SpyBot and then going into the Tools and then the Resident section. What you need to do is to make sure that both of these functions are disabled, as they can cause conflicts and also leave your system vulnerable to infections.

After you disable these functions try running LiveUpdate again and let me know if it runs successfully. If it fails it should bring up an error code; make note of the error code and let me know the exact error.

If LiveUpdate does run successfully and updates are installed, restart your computer and then repeat the process until NIS informs you that there are no more updates available.

Make sure that the Windows Firewall and Defender are disabled as well and also check to make sure that you do not have any other third-party, real-time security applications installed which can also cause conflicts with NIS.


Thank you,

Mike