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Running Norton AntiVirus v16.7.2.11 on MS Windows XP SP3 (all updates). On log in, Norton continually displays the following message:

 ________________________________________________________________
| Norton Antivirus                                             x |
------------------------------------------------------------------
| Security Request                                               |
------------------------------------------------------------------
| Restart Required                                               |
| Your computer must restart in order to continue the removal of |
| Security Risk.                                                 |
|                                                                |
| What do you want to do?                                        |
| -------------------------------         ------------------     |
| | Restart Now (Recommended)   |        |        OK        |    |
| | Remind me again in 1 hour   |         ------------------     |
 -| Remind me again in 12 hours |--------------------------------
  | Remind me again in 24 hours |
  -------------------------------

I have installed Avast, AVG and Malwarebytes. Ran scans with each in both normal and safe mode. Scans from all products, including Norton, are running clean. Norton's own History section shows only green activity. Primarily, "Intrusion Prevention has been enabled", "Intrusion Prevention Engine version" and "Intrusion Prevention is monitoring x signatures".

I looked online and all of the users in the Norton forums had suspicious or high priority entries in Norton's History.

Any suggestions on how to track down what is causing Norton to request the restart?

Update

Based on Aviator's advice I contacted Norton support via Help & Support - One Click Support. I had a chat session with a technical support representative, during which time she remote controlled the PC. She ran a quick scan, checked the history and restarted the PC. Afterward, the Reboot Required dialog appeared. She rebooted again. The message reappeared. She then transferred me to the malware removal department.

The malware removal representative asked me to explain my issue. I provided the details that I had provided to the original representative. The represenative asked some questions regarding my OS and environment after which she informed me that she could not assist me because I was on a LAN. I explained that the previous representative was able to remote my machine without issue but she would not bend. I told her I could be on a standalone connection by utilizing a wireless modem. This was acceptable and I asked how to get back to her after my computer restarted (for connection manager software installation). She directed me to a website where I noticed a $99.00 fee was involved. I questioned her about the fee and was told it was not a free service (something the first representative left out). I explained to her that I was not interested in spending $99.00 for a problem that may be due to the application. She then transferred me back to technical support.

Technical support asked for and was given the same information as the prior representatives. She remoted the PC, ran a live update, quick scan and rebooted. The message reappeared and I was told she would have to transfer me back to the malware removal department. I explained to her that I had alredy spoken with them and wanted verification that it was virus related before paying the fee. She said she could not provide that information. I asked for more information regarding Norton's logging and was informed that her supervisor told her it was a malware department issue. I thanked her for her time.

I'm in the process of installing NOD32, based on eidylon's suggestion.

Community
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  • Did you try their support? They login to your box and will try to find the problem. You can give that a try. – vpram86 Oct 07 '09 at 14:57
  • Just out of interest what happens when you "restart now"? Does the message just pop up again – admintech Oct 07 '09 at 15:06
  • Yes. Regardless of the option chosen the message reappears on next boot. –  Oct 07 '09 at 15:09
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    Not an answer (and hence in the comments section), but if you can, get away from Norton. I work at a computer support company, and we provide corporate support for a slew of companies, labs, and other entities, and i cannot even begin to tell you how many times, a computer comes in seemingly pooched, dead internet, dog slow, etc. etc., and in the end it's almost ALWAYS Norton. Norton has become utter crap in the past several years. My personal fave is ESET NOD32, but almost anything is better than Norton. – eidylon Oct 07 '09 at 15:27
  • @eidylon, if you move your response to the answers section, I'll +1 you. –  Oct 07 '09 at 16:50
  • @diego: I am really sorry that you have to go through this much pain. And also appreciate considering my suggestion. Sometimes they do solve quickly. I am personally suggesting Unhackme from www.greatis.com which is 30 day trial version. You can download and scan for rootkits and viruses(RegRun will detect those). Try using it and check whether you find any invisible service. I had good opinion on Unhackme and i hold a license for it also! You can give this a try. – vpram86 Oct 07 '09 at 17:33
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    do i understand you correctly: you have 3 different anit virus programs installed (Avast, AVG, NAV) and you are about to install #4 now (NOD32)? holy cow :) –  Oct 07 '09 at 17:34
  • @molly. No, each was removed and installed separately, with the exception of NAV. I've been putting NAV into silent mode while the others run. –  Oct 07 '09 at 17:36

2 Answers2

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You have malware, it's called Norton.

Solution: Uninstall it and install another virus scanner, you can probably search this site for good recommendations.

Michael Galos
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I had this issue and after installing all the windows updates and rebooting about 3 times the reboot message went away.

Jim Mulder
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