Tech Help, Please?

[CyberAnt]

Wow! I’ve never heard of such a thing .. I’ve had Norton since 1995 or 96.

[867V309]

Just get Norton Anti-Virus.

My friends call on me to help with their computer problems. If it's agonizingly slow, first thing I do is remove Norton Anti-Virus. Generally this will make the computer at least usable, if not proper.

Lots of people consider Norton a virus.

[ccmovrwc]

Thank you to everyone who offered a suggestion. I’m giving up on it for this evening, but will try some of the other things you’ve suggested when I hopefully can find a little more patience for it tomorrow!

[CyberAnt]

Well .. I don’t know what software they have, or where they go on the internet. But, sometimes, it does make a big difference.

Norton is upgraded every year. And .. for you to say it’s junk is just a flat out lie.

I don’t know what your game is, but I suspect you have never had Norton in your life.

And .. even if I’m wrong .. I still don’t think your account of your experience with Norton is real. And .. I’d guess you’re selling another product so what you do is tell them they have to remove Norton .. so you can install yours.

Right ..??

[Secret Agent Man]

You can’t stop old people clicking on adware phishing buttons. Maybe they need an android tablet. My dad’s wife keeps doing it, and screwing up her computer.

[Rebelbase]

” I heard that some computers are preloaded with viruses.”

I scanned a new out of the box windows laptop with malware bytes and over 200 files were quarantined.

[Secret Agent Man]

Buy malwarebytes and get the realtime protection.

[Rebelbase]

If all the elderly folks are doing is surfing the net and email, the best virus protection you can get is Linux.

[Chickensoup]

I have the top end trend micro suite and that comes with a techie who will take over the computer and fix the problems. Took them three weeks to find a virus that kept popping up playing a bit of audio from the net then stopping, but they did!

[867V309]

And .. I’d guess you’re selling another product so what you do is tell them they have to remove Norton .. so you can install yours.

Right ..??

No, I use Windows defender. Not much profit for me there.

Norton became so bloated over the years it is now irrelevant.

Most viruses can be blocked by a few simple steps, some very obvious and some not:
Open email as "Plain text;" this also blocks tracking by imbedded invisible gifs
NEVER open an email attachment unless you already know what it is
never download/install an executable file (.exe) unless it is from a source upon which you would bet your computers life
turn OFF JavaScript in your browser unless it is absolutely necessary, and you absolutely trust the website (NoScript can make this much less hassle)
never autorun removable media like CD/DVD or flash drives--if it auto-runs a virus you're toast
make sure your router/firewall has a serious password
unless you specifically need it, disable web access to the router admin

[FredZarguna]

You don’t need to boot Linux to run a clean antivirus. Windows PE rescue environment works fine and ships with better virus scanners.

[FredZarguna]

That was BitLocker, and Norton wasn’t the only product fooled. Any AV can be beaten by a day-0 exploit; it’s not a reason to ditch a product.

[Swordmaker]

Here is your picture.

What you have here is a typical scareware pop-up browser hijacking. What ever you do, do not call the number. They will demand money to remove their own pop-up.

The best approach is to try this:

Open the Microsoft Edge browser settings.

2. Delete the following items from the list:

• Browsing History
• Cookies
• Data
• Cache

3. Many problems creep in due to the above options. Clearing the cache can work wonders. Those of you still facing problems can continue with some more complex solutions.

4. Switch from a Microsoft Account to a Local Account and see if that fixes your problem. If that doesn’t help, try creating a new Edge User Account. The new user will get the Edge browser in a new, clean and fresh state.

Read more at

http://dottech.org/188202/how-to-reset-microsoft-edge-browser-to-default-settings-in-windows-10-tip/#XyrgL9oV8qVdzmqO.99

[JohnnyP]

I know, this is not going to help your parents, but to anyone thinking about another computer, I recommend a mac.

I have two old pc laptops that I only use for circuit board layout and software design. I do not go on the internet with them. For that I use a mac.

[CyberAnt]

All I purchase is the Anti-Virus .. that’s all.

I don’t buy any of the other stuff.

I don’t know where you get the “bloated” from .. unless they were taking the whole package. For a home computer, that’s not necessary.

And that anti-virus system you said they’re now using .. I’ve never even heard of it. So, I’ll stick with Norton.

And, the only issue I ever had was with another software - not Norton. I had a domain name at Yahoo, and all of a sudden I began getting a lot of attacks upon my computer. All of them said they came from Yahoo. I threatened them - told them if they didn’t stop people from doing that to me, I would take my domain name some other place. They stopped; but I do still get a lot of emails from Yahoo users, but they don’t contain Trojan stuff, only emails which are phishing; so they just get deleted, after I send them to my junk file.

[867V309]

So, I’ll stick with Norton.

Looks like you're the one sellin' something now.

[CyberAnt]

I’m not selling it .. I don’t own it .. I don’t install it .. so your charge is a false one.

I can recommend a product I have used successfully for years and years. That is not “selling” anything.

[867V309]

I’m not selling it .. I don’t own it .. I don’t install it .. so your charge is a false one.

All I said was "Looks like you're the one sellin' something now."     And you did.

[ConservativeMind]

Can you name a retail Windows AV rescue CD/DVD that uses a Windows PE booter instead of a Linux booter? I don’t currently know of one.

[FredZarguna]

Norton. Trend Micro also has an option. While not an AV, for recovery purposes in this kind of stituation, Macrium Reflect uses the PE boot as well.