Norton System Works (or does it?)

One big set back of moving from the UK to USA is that I have had to go from ADSL to dial-up. And the dial-up connection drops if you don't keep mega active all the time

So I have been trying to select the "Connection Keep Alive" option on Norton System Works so that is keeps pinging my ISP. However, it tells me I need to be an administrator of the PC to activate this option. I AM the administrator and only user of this PC, and having checked preferences, I am set to make any changes however I log on (admin or user)....I have all priviledges. But still it won't let me do it.

Any ideas pleae guys? Also I get this annoying message box each time I boot up now telling me I can't make this change unless I am an authorised admin

This is a private home PC.......I am the sole user.

All suggestions appreciated (Except the one of getting cable...can't afford it right now)

 

Hi Lev,

Are you positive your account is the only account and/or it has Admin privileges? Because, you normally create at least one new user during the installation process and the default Administrator account remains hidden (especially if you do not have to do CTR+ALT+DEL during login).

If you do: START > RUN > lusrmgr.msc > OK and click on "Users' folder, do you see only your user account or do you see and admin account as well?
If so then try running Norton via right-click on shortcut > run as.. > following user > admin /password and see if it lets you.
If not then I am not sure, there might be something wrong with Norton. Have you checked Norton's site to see if it is a known issue?

 

There is my account. adminstrators account, Guests etc. I have administrator priviledges set for my account as well as the default administrators account, as you correctly assume.

However, it tells me I don't have admin priiledges when I try to do something admin-ish.

I tried running Norton as you say for Administrators, but don't have password as a friend set this machine up on XP sometime ago. I could reset the password but it advises not due to possible access and data loss in the future. As I'm not sure exactly what the loss would entail, and I am at a loss anyway, should I go ahead and reset it?

 

Yes, go ahead and reset it, also disable the guest account if it was enabled.

 

I did...and it made no difference!!

So I set up a new account for my fiance and gave him full admin priviledges too, and I can't do it from his account either.

Sounds like Norton is screwed up?

 

Yeah, it could be, still there is a Symantec password management utility integrated that basically administers accounts and their access rights to Symantec, wonder if that was ever configured before? I have never been a fan of Symantec/Norton utilities, frankly they cause more problems than they fix, also way too bloated. Avast or AVG don't integrate themselves into the OS as deeply and as widely as Norton AV does and yet they still do a better job and they are free (go figure!). I bought Ghost9 which was 80% DriveImage but of course Symantec manage to bloat that utility with a silly interface and additional crap as well....

Levi, what happens if you UNinstall it, reboot then delete its related program folders (there should be at least 2 folders to delete I image):
C:\Program Files\Symantec (or Norton System Utilites)
C:\Program Files\Common Files\Symantec Shared
Then try re-installing the program, I can't think of anything else.

 

If I still had the download codes to do this from symantec.com I would, but after so many moves (the last one being 6000 miles) I can't quite lay my hands on this info as yet.

Thanks for all your advice Turcoloco...I have learnt quite a bit even if the issue isn't yet resolved. I once tried Avast... the download seems to be dodgy as I could never seem to get it running correctly. I visited the Avast site and this appears to be an issue many users have, so I went back to resource-hogging Norton. Can't win!

 

Sorry Lev, I don't know much about Norton Utilities but wanted to give it a shot. Avast could be a bit resource hungry or dodgy for some system but I believe the alternative AVG is known to be much easier on systems. Have you tried that?

One last suggestion for Norton, instead of uninstalling and deleting all related program folders, have you tried simply RE-installing Norton over the existing one or if during setup 'repair' option comes up even try that as well...
Either way Good luck.