I like that headline.

33% seems awfully low for Norton. The free six-month trial that came on this box when I bought it seemed like it regularly used closer to 50%. Which is why I immediately removed it.

syndre: I like that headline.

Me too, almost don't need a thread.
Seeing as how it's an online thing, there's no need to talk about it's virus like installs.

*shrugs*

I swear Norton and McAfee created the virus' themselves.

Hardy-r-r
I swear Norton and McAfee created the virus' themselves.

Wasn't it Dr Solomon's that did that?

check out VIPRE..

BWHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

/sad cause its true

+50

/Sad but true

Yeah...they bought VeriSign for $1.2 BILLION in friggin' CA$H, spent a couple of million on a gathering of ass-wipes from sales in Las Vegas a couple of months ago, while I've been slogging away in technical support and haven't had a raise from those farkers for 2 god damn years while the cost of living has gone up more than 5% each year and housing has gone up over 20% in the last 18 months.

/shakes tiny fist of cube dwelling rage

shiate Disturber: Yeah...they bought VeriSign for $1.2 BILLION in friggin' CA$H, spent a couple of million on a gathering of ass-wipes from sales in Las Vegas a couple of months ago, while I've been slogging away in technical support and haven't had a raise from those farkers for 2 god damn years while the cost of living has gone up more than 5% each year and housing has gone up over 20% in the last 18 months.

/shakes tiny fist of cube dwelling rage




/fellow Sym cube dweller

Verisign is a bad company. (.wav)

Only 33%? I was under the impression that Symantec expects no less than 110%

shiate Disturber and BigJuanTehFurby - hats off to you both for dealing with the rage you must get from every single customer who has stupidly installed a Norton product. I don't know how you do it. I work ISP support and end up helping many Symantec customers when that awful software does what it will inevitably do. I always recommend one of the fine free AV solutions - that is, if they can remove all of the pieces Norton leaves behind after an uninstall.

Ugh.. Man, Verisign was a pain to deal with before... on the other hand, maybe Symantec will lower their certificate fees. We're stuck buying from godaddy because Verisign is like the Rolls Royce of SSL certs.

...and getting any sort of support at all will require a 3+ hour phone call while a first-level tech leads you through useless steps.

True story:

Customer complained that his computer was running slow. After exhausting the usual tricks, I did a full uninstall of Symantec (even used CleanWipe), and installed AVG Free instead. Computer now runs fast. Customer is ecstatic, and asks me what I did to speed it up. I tell him. Customer goes ballistic; tells me that they have a corporate license for Symantec, and makes me uninstall AVG and put Symantec back. Computer returns to its formerly sluggish state. FUUU....

/cool story, bro

I've never used Norton AV, but after dealing with Symantec tech support for Backup Exec for Windows Servers, I'd never, ever want to try it.

Successful headline. Well played, subby!

LOL!!!


Symantec is a piece of shiat product. Why does an antivirus program need to use 4 processes and over 100MB of RAM?

Avast! free, 2 processes, 16MB RAM usage.

Symantec/Norton and McAfee are the hugest pieces of shiat out there.

I will pile on here and say I hate Symantec their programs are so horribly put together that it makes me laugh that people still use them. I remember when i was doing IT support and had to remove that beast from many a computer due to it's ability to grind everything to a halt.

I might be a lone man out but I find that Microsoft's Security Essentials to be a pretty solid program.

I would cut Symantec some slack, if their product actually worked.

Actual screenshot from one of my clients:


(click to embiggen)

FAIL.

flaminio: I would cut Symantec some slack, if their product actually worked.

Actual screenshot from one of my clients:


(click to embiggen)

FAIL.

I just dealt with this malware on someones computer. Install Avast! and it deleted the executeable right away, same with malwarebytes, deleted mbam.exe right after it was installed.

Good luck on the cleaning :) I only got so far and now have to wipe the thing.

Snarcoleptic_Hoosier: TheGhostofFarkPast: I will pile on here and say I hate Symantec their programs are so horribly put together that it makes me laugh that people still use them. I remember when i was doing IT support and had to remove that beast from many a computer due to it's ability to grind everything to a halt.

I might be a lone man out but I find that Microsoft's Security Essentials to be a pretty solid program.

For use in a corporate environment, Microsoft's product doesn't do a terrible job. You do have to be careful with some of the free products online (ccleaner as an example). They work great, but are not licensed to be used in a corporate setting (too many companies claim exclusive rights to all software on the computer unless a written contract is on file) and everyone gets lawyer-happy.

"Free" isn't free when used commercially for most products...

Also, there's something called a standard that allowed for efficient support. If you load something they're not expecting, it no longer gets updated or supported as well as nothing is coded/tested/planned for that accounts for it. I'd be f'ing pissed too.

shiate Disturber: I've been slogging away in technical support and haven't had a raise from those farkers for 2 god damn years while the cost of living has gone up more than 5% each year and housing has gone up over 20% in the last 18 months.

/shakes tiny fist of cube dwelling rage

Shakes tiny fist as well for the same reason, but not at Sym, similar industry though.

Shiatty little industry.

I see no conflict of interest there.


none whatsoever.

Cooper420: flaminio: I would cut Symantec some slack, if their product actually worked.

Actual screenshot from one of my clients:


(click to embiggen)

FAIL.

I just dealt with this malware on someones computer. Install Avast! and it deleted the executeable right away, same with malwarebytes, deleted mbam.exe right after it was installed.

Good luck on the cleaning :) I only got so far and now have to wipe the thing.

And this is where I mention HijackThis! and Killbox.
Hijack this, gives a list(which you can google individual items, or find a forum of people that have knowledge) of all the "hidden" startup programs and services, and Killbox will delete anything(sometimes requiring a restart). If I recall they don't "install" they just run.

It's how I get rid of the nasties. Not necessarily the most helpful/effecient on strange machines though. I know my task manager / process explorer like the back of my hand.(as well as the other 3 comps in my house that I never use). Still useful, but it takes more work / research I guess.

/AV free
//also a system nazi, I pay close attention to what my PC is actually doing.
///also, I don't spasmatically click OK, like the users of computers that I work on.

flaminio: I would cut Symantec some slack, if their product actually worked.

Actual screenshot from one of my clients:


(click to embiggen)

FAIL.

So let me get this strait,

1) You did not active the software (or it expired).
2) You managed to get your system infected with a virus and/or spyware.
3) You took a screen-shot of your now hammered system
4) You are surprised that an AV software which pretty much all of them load kernel drivers has a process running at startup?

Like many posts on Failblog I think this may be a submitter fail.

Kazrath: flaminio: I would cut Symantec some slack, if their product actually worked.

Actual screenshot from one of my clients:


(click to embiggen)

FAIL.

So let me get this strait,

1) You did not active the software (or it expired).
2) You managed to get your system infected with a virus and/or spyware.
3) You took a screen-shot of your now hammered system
4) You are surprised that an AV software which pretty much all of them load kernel drivers has a process running at startup?

Like many posts on Failblog I think this may be a submitter fail.

God I hope your a troll, or you really just didn't understand what you were looking at all.

Seeing same uptick in bulshait fake AV malware even with SEP installed up to date and sucking down resources like a drunken sailor.

-Dev

Kazrath: Like many posts on Failblog I think this may be a submitter fail.

Huh? Get this straight [sic]:

1) Not my machine; my client's.
2) He was running an active, enabled, up-to-date Symantec AV.
3) His machine got infected anyway. You do realize that all of the popup Windows are in fact the malware, don't you?

The screenshot was also taken months ago, and I was able to successfully cleanse the machine (over VNC, no less). I'll pit my malware busting skillz against anybody.

omeganuepsilon: Cooper420: flaminio: I would cut Symantec some slack, if their product actually worked.

Actual screenshot from one of my clients:


(click to embiggen)

FAIL.

I just dealt with this malware on someones computer. Install Avast! and it deleted the executeable right away, same with malwarebytes, deleted mbam.exe right after it was installed.

Good luck on the cleaning :) I only got so far and now have to wipe the thing.

And this is where I mention HijackThis! and Killbox.
Hijack this, gives a list(which you can google individual items, or find a forum of people that have knowledge) of all the "hidden" startup programs and services, and Killbox will delete anything(sometimes requiring a restart). If I recall they don't "install" they just run.

It's how I get rid of the nasties. Not necessarily the most helpful/effecient on strange machines though. I know my task manager / process explorer like the back of my hand.(as well as the other 3 comps in my house that I never use). Still useful, but it takes more work / research I guess.

/AV free
//also a system nazi, I pay close attention to what my PC is actually doing.
///also, I don't spasmatically click OK, like the users of computers that I work on.

You guys really confuse me on protecting your systems. "System Nazi" and yet your theory of protecting your system is like having a fortified base that is designed to have easy access for the enemy to pass your walls then you have to work extra hard to battle them in the halls of your fortress to eventually win the day by killing them all off. As oppose to sitting on your walls shooting them before they get there.

The whole point of an AV software is to prevent them from coming inside the front door in the first place. Some do it better than others.

I personally run AV free and do the majority of my websurfing in a VM. At least then when I trash my OS I can just roll it back to a known good image with very little work.

Kazrath: omeganuepsilon: Cooper420: flaminio: I would cut Symantec some slack, if their product actually worked.

Actual screenshot from one of my clients:


(click to embiggen)

FAIL.

I just dealt with this malware on someones computer. Install Avast! and it deleted the executeable right away, same with malwarebytes, deleted mbam.exe right after it was installed.

Good luck on the cleaning :) I only got so far and now have to wipe the thing.

And this is where I mention HijackThis! and Killbox.
Hijack this, gives a list(which you can google individual items, or find a forum of people that have knowledge) of all the "hidden" startup programs and services, and Killbox will delete anything(sometimes requiring a restart). If I recall they don't "install" they just run.

It's how I get rid of the nasties. Not necessarily the most helpful/effecient on strange machines though. I know my task manager / process explorer like the back of my hand.(as well as the other 3 comps in my house that I never use). Still useful, but it takes more work / research I guess.

/AV free
//also a system nazi, I pay close attention to what my PC is actually doing.
///also, I don't spasmatically click OK, like the users of computers that I work on.

You guys really confuse me on protecting your systems. "System Nazi" and yet your theory of protecting your system is like having a fortified base that is designed to have easy access for the enemy to pass your walls then you have to work extra hard to battle them in the halls of your fortress to eventually win the day by killing them all off. As oppose to sitting on your walls shooting them before they get there.

The whole point of an AV software is to prevent them from coming inside the front door in the first place. Some do it better than others.

I personally run AV free and do the majority of my websurfing in a VM. At least then when I trash my OS I can just roll it back to a known good image with very little work.

Different strokes.

If anything gets in, I easily kill it on sight.

I don't do much, if any, surfing in dangerous places. I don't even facebook, much less look for warez like I used to years ago. I don't even use email much, when I do it's browser based and I never even glance at attachments, hell, I don't even read half of my emails.

When I did get nasty things from bad habits, I had AV at the time.

Now, instead of worrying about it, updating it, and running scans with it, etc etc etc, to absolutely no effect, I simply don't use it.

*shrugs*

I live a low risk life. I don't wear a bicycle helmet 24/7. That is for restarted children who are prone to bang their heads on shiat Alternatively protection is a work-vs-reward for soldiers who are in dangerous circumstances much of the time.

But still, the tools I named are quite handy if one isn't an idiot in the area.

shiat. Alternatively ^

omeganuepsilon: Cooper420: flaminio: I would cut Symantec some slack, if their product actually worked.

Actual screenshot from one of my clients:


(click to embiggen)

FAIL.

I just dealt with this malware on someones computer. Install Avast! and it deleted the executeable right away, same with malwarebytes, deleted mbam.exe right after it was installed.

Good luck on the cleaning :) I only got so far and now have to wipe the thing.

And this is where I mention HijackThis! and Killbox.
Hijack this, gives a list(which you can google individual items, or find a forum of people that have knowledge) of all the "hidden" startup programs and services, and Killbox will delete anything(sometimes requiring a restart). If I recall they don't "install" they just run.

It's how I get rid of the nasties. Not necessarily the most helpful/effecient on strange machines though. I know my task manager / process explorer like the back of my hand.(as well as the other 3 comps in my house that I never use). Still useful, but it takes more work / research I guess.

/AV free
//also a system nazi, I pay close attention to what my PC is actually doing.
///also, I don't spasmatically click OK, like the users of computers that I work on.

Oh trust me, I know Hijackthis.... and it didn't find the "root" issue. I got rid of the antivirus/antimalware popup fake scanner thing... I've cleaned computers with over 100,000 infected files and personally scrubbed clean over 5,000 computers in my career.

Some of these new ones are a little nasty. One program I like is ComboFix, it usually seems to get the stragglers.... speaking of which, I should try that.

I'm really hoping they stay out of VeriSign's business and this is just a move to put a little VeriSign logo on their box to sell a handful more copies.

Cooper420: omeganuepsilon: Cooper420: flaminio: I would cut Symantec some slack,

Oh trust me, I know Hijackthis.... and it didn't find the "root" issue. I got rid of the antivirus/antimalware popup fake scanner thing... I've cleaned computers with over 100,000 infected files and personally scrubbed clean over 5,000 computers in my career.

Some of these new ones are a little nasty. One program I like is ComboFix, it usually seems to get the stragglers.... speaking of which, I should try that.

I was asking about ComboFix in a different thread, and actually got to the site for it. I couldn't get a good description of what it does, and from the "instructions" it works like HijackThis. (IE get a readout and post it in a forum). If it's mechanics are different than HijackThis I'll actually try it out.(IE not about the startup)

Any quick descriptors of what it does?

There is no patch for Social Engineering.

I have in-laws who do not work in IT or believe in Snopes. Therefore, our mail server has virus scanning, and all machines that receive spam from said in-laws run up-to-date AV.

\Outlook rule for in-laws permanently deletes any of their emails with FW: in the subject line.

Nevermind, I un-lazied and decided to google / read it's forums.

Cooper420: Some of these new ones are a little nasty. One program I like is ComboFix, it usually seems to get the stragglers.... speaking of which, I should try that.

ComboFix is good, but it runs best in Safe Mode, which usually requires physical access to the machine. I'm far too lazy to actually get off my butt to go to the machine.

Here's the latest bit of nastiness I've encountered: malware that hacks your registry and changes the behavior of .exe programs, so that every time you run a .exe, it runs the malware first.

To fix:
Run command.com (*not* cmd -- which is cmd.exe, which will run the malware)
Navigate to c:\windows, and copy regedit.exe to regedit.com. Now run regedit.com, and find and fix the .exe keys that are corrupted.
After that, you can run your usual antimalware tools to clean out the infection.

P. I. T. A.

Symantec AV doesn't even hold a candle in terms of awfulness to the pile of fail known as Trend Micro. I'm forced to administer and use that pile of fail where I work. Consumer Reports said, "one of the few redeeming things about Trend Micro is it comes with a full 90 day refund."

Touche' subby.. Touche'

I bow to your superior headline, as I also subby'd this link with:

"Symantec to buy up Verisign, so now they can force you to enter a password and a fingerprint to confirm that you are really you before they hog your system resources"

Symantec products, every one, are malware.

"Welcome to (site with a VeriSign cert). We have made changes to our security policies recently; in order to continue accessing this site, you must download the Symantec Certificate Assistant plugin for Internet Explorer. System Requirements: Windows Vista or 7 (32-bit only), 2.8GHz CPU, minimum of 1280MB free RAM."

flaminio: I would cut Symantec some slack, if their product actually worked.

Actual screenshot from one of my clients:


(click to embiggen)

FAIL.

Wow, that is one unholy mess you have there. Looks like the system is so infested, you had to rename Process Explorer's executable to 'iexplore.exe' in order to even run it. Add to that the mess of user processes like AOL, RealPlayer, a really old copy of AcroRead, I hope you just reformated the thing and called it good.

/loves Process Explorer. No sysadmin should be without it

XP is also a piece of shiat.

flaminio: Cooper420: Some of these new ones are a little nasty. One program I like is ComboFix, it usually seems to get the stragglers.... speaking of which, I should try that.

ComboFix is good, but it runs best in Safe Mode, which usually requires physical access to the machine. I'm far too lazy to actually get off my butt to go to the machine.

Here's the latest bit of nastiness I've encountered: malware that hacks your registry and changes the behavior of .exe programs, so that every time you run a .exe, it runs the malware first.

To fix:
Run command.com (*not* cmd -- which is cmd.exe, which will run the malware)
Navigate to c:\windows, and copy regedit.exe to regedit.com. Now run regedit.com, and find and fix the .exe keys that are corrupted.
After that, you can run your usual antimalware tools to clean out the infection.

P. I. T. A.

Yeah, the newer technique of using the Image File Execution Options to attach malware as a debugger to standard processes is quite nasty, and a pain to remove if they attach to cmd or regedit. But nothing a regedit copy/rename can't fix easily.

And to everyone posting screenshots and shiat of norton failing to catch a piece of malware: You're an idiot. Antivirus can't possibly catch brand new malware because it's signature based; If the AV company hasn't seen the malware yet, they can't possibly create a signature for it. If you want to attempt to catch malware that hasn't had a signature created for it yet, go enable Heuristics Scanning. Any AV that supports heuristics scanning basically installs a rootkit that attempts to watch for executables to do "suspicious" things. If you don't have it enabled, don't biatch when newer malware is not detected. It's the nature of the beast.

wish I could get my parents to switch to better products, but they are "teh dumb" insist on "brand name" & "payware" regardless of what I tell them otherwise. I think I'm at least this close to moving them to kaspersky since it's moved up to a big enough stage to start getting magazine/netzine reviews.

/meh
// old tards

VERY niccccce headline :)