Exorcising Nortons Ghost BB

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BBC Topical SIG Case Study Roger
Bailey October 2006
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Nortons Ghost

• Not the Norton Ghost Software that duplicates all
  files on a drive
• The Ghost of Norton AntiVirus that will not die
  but continues to haunt the Registry

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The Registry

• Resting place for the spirits of software
• A place of danger and mystery
• Do not enter without backup

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Uninstalling Norton Anti Virus

• Norton Anti Virus is deliberately difficult to
  uninstall Good and real reasons
• Case Study Rogers Father-in-laws computer
• 2002 Uninstalled Norton AV using programs
  Uninstall feature
• Installed free AVG from disc - ok
• Nortons Ghost appeared on startup
• files missing, startup stalled
• Press any key to continue required twice on
  startup

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Exorcising Nortons Ghost

• Control Panel Add/Remove Programs
• No luck Norton AV had been uninstalled
• Lacked discs to reinstall and re-uninstall
• Checked start menu no luck
• Ran MSConfig Startup Menu Tab
• NAV items found and unselected
• Unselected but not removed
• Fixed one of the stall on startup
• One stall remained NAV.VxD
• ref in registry or system.ini to a deleted file

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Exorcising Nortons Ghost

• Nortons Ghost remained to haunt us
• Googled uninstall Norton AV
• Many references to difficulties
• Registry editing required
• Operating system and version specific
• Beyond my technical capabilities
• Lived with glitch for several years

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Rnav.exe Tool

• Noted reference to a removal tool Rnav.exe in a
  magazine (Smart Computing)
• Norton brought out this utility due to complaints
  from customers haunted by Nortons Ghost
• Googled Rnav.exe
• Lots of references Norton and others
• Downloaded Rnav2003.exe utility
• Limitations apply for various versions

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Manually uninstalling Norton AV 2002 from Windows
98/Me

• Googling Rnav.exe brought me to this Norton
  Support Page for manual options including
• From the Control Panel BSD -no luck
• Use the Rnav removal utility perhaps, but
• Removing Norton AV from the registry scary!
• Recommended running a MS Cleanup Utility first
• Recommended backing up the registry
• MS instructions were convoluted and scary!

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Remove NAV from the Registry

• Detailed instructions for manual removal from the
  Registry seemed simple and straightforward
• The troublesome Registry entries were obvious
• Registry backup was simple Run Scanreg
• Registry editing was as well Run Regedit
• The troublemaker deleted was VxD\NAVAPHKEY_LOCAL_
  MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\VxD\NAVA
  P
• Exit the Registry Editor, and then restart

Nortons Ghost Exorcised!
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Exorcising Nortons Ghost BBC Case Study

• Roger Bailey
• October 2006