Skip to main content
To Customer Support To Customer Support
I bought a discontinued HP laptop that has 2012 Norton Internet security installed but not activated.  I am going to install Webroot complete on this computer.   My question is do I need to uninstall the Norton internet security since it has not been activated.  I have heard that uninstalling Norton often will leave a few items in the registery which I don't want.  I assume that since it hasn't been activited it wiil have no effect on my computer other than take up a little space on my hard drive which doesn't matter to me.
Hello stans39 and welcome to Webroot! :D



I would recommend that uninstall Norton if you are not going to use it. It will take up some resources even if it is not running and it will show up in the system tray with a red icon (because the subscription is expired or not activated), and will also give you pop-ups telling you that the product is not activated. I would recommend that you use the Norton removal tool which can be found in DavidP's list of uninstaller tools https:///t5/Techie/Software-Removal-Tools/m-p/27608#M455. This will remove all traces of Norton that are on your system.

 

Hope this helps,

 

Shran 😃
I just went through that with my new Toshiba laptop.  Came with Norton, but Best Buy gave me webroot.

 

If you poke around the Norton stuff on your computer, you're likely to find the matching uninstall tools.  As far as there being some residue in the registry, that's inevitable.  Not that I'm an expert, but I've poked around the registry enough to conclude that no uninstall ever removes all traces of anything.  It usually doesn't do any harm, and at least wastes less space/resources than leaving the installation in place.  And it will cut off those nag screens.  Norton's nag screens are the primary reason why I stopped using it years ago.

 

Ken

 
How do I find  DavidP's list of uninstaller tools.? I did a search, but it didn't show anything
Shran has it linked in his post but here it is! https://community.webroot.com/t5/Techie/Software-Removal-Tools/m-p/27608#M455

 

Cheers,

 

Daniel 😉
One of the biggest problems when removing Norton is it sometimes doesn't remove correctly and you can end up without internet connection.  The 'proxy server' it sets up on your local machine sometimes doesn't correctly remove.
Norton is hard to remove completely. I strongly suggest using there uninstaller. You can find it here.

 

http://www.majorgeeks.com/files/details/norton_removal_tool.html
GTR707.,  FYI: The removal tool was already linked to above: we have a thread right here on the Community with a few uninstallers, and that is one of them.
if you download the norton removal tool it will remove most of everything then go back through with revo uninstaller and do a moderate removal and it will be completely gone and it shouldn't mess up your network, if it does its not to hard to fix unless you don't have access to another computer and a flash drive to download MSFixIt utility. or i belive you can use the maual virus removal in webroot to finish up getting rid of it after norton removal tool, just be sure to use the removal tool first oresle you qwill get the network issues 9 times out of 10
Lol..................JHLittleDogTech your sdaly mistaken. After running Norton Uninstaller you will be prompted to reboot. Revo is useless once a program has already been uninstalled. Sometimes running the Norton Uninstaller twice is recommended by Symantec. Then use CCleaners Registry cleaner to find any left overs,. If your going to use a 3rd party uninstaller then you need to use that off the start. But 3rd party uninstallers are not recommended for antivirus products. 
Sounds like OEM uninstallers are no great shake either.  Glad I nuked my new Norton before it was activated.  I'd hate another experience like I had uninstalling Avast.

 

Ken

 
The avast uninstall tool is actually very good. It just needs to be used in safe mode to properlly work. Also you need to point it to the directory of the installed path. Usually C/Program File/Avast 
Does the Avast cleanup tool do any more than nuke the directory?  There's still flotsam in my registry.

 

By the time I found the cleanup tool I already knew where the directory was and had jury rigged a fix by moving all the binaries into a junk directory one level below their original slot.  That pretty much did the same thing as getting rid of the directory.  The tool did accurately find the install directory, which wasn't quite as obvious as ...Avast.

 

It's disappointing that the main uninstall tool - which I'm pretty sure was theirs and not just a generic Windows add/remove thing - left a mess.  Probably another collateral effect of the XP abandoment.  Uninstall on my wife's Windows 7 machine went with no problems.  I'd be dead meat if that went badly.  She had already lost patience with that pirate popping up all the time with status info.

 

Ken

 

 

 
i am currently going for my masters in Cyber Security.....

 

Not mistaken, after norton uninstaller it will "accidently" leave stuff behind, revo can see that and it has been working for me doing that now for 6 years.

 

but if your not worried about still having a little leftover then you don't need to run revo, but i like to completely remove it.

 

and revo isn't most third party uninstallers, it uses the one it finds first, then afterwards it goes and looks for anything left over and prompts you to delete it.
Where can I find revo?  I'm just O-C enough to want to remove any remnants, but intelligent enough to not dive willy-nilly into the registry and start deleting things on my own.  Most of my registry diving has been limited countermeasures against things that IT does to make life annoying.

 

I miss the days when cyber security meant making sure nobody had put a transmitter inside the computer, and you had to keep an eye on where you put your tapes.

 

Ken

 
revouninstaller.com
For future reference, we also have a link to Revo on the Software Removal Tools thread too 🙂
Please do NOT recommed 3rd party installers that are clearly not 64bit compatible unless you pay. There are plenty of free uninstallers such as Geek Uninstaller, Wise Uninstaller and iObit Uninstaller. But using the manufactures uninstall tool is always the best route. Never had an issue at all with any of them. Including Avast and Norton. Followed by CCleaners Registry cleaner and a few reboots will work just fine. 
You can download Revo Uninstaller Pro 30 day trial which is 64bit compatible the one's that GTR suggested I don't know and never anything from IObit they are thieves.

 

Also note GTR most people here are average users looking for help so it's not a good idea to get complicated in trying to help them and this is the Webroot Support Forum.

 

Daniel
Daniel welcome to todays world. What iObit did to MBAM is water under the bridge. That was over 5 years ago. This is there uninstaller and honestly its very good. Fully portable. All 3 I recommended are fully portable. I thought you were a geek like me Daniel. You should know of all 3 of these. Lol. 
I'm not going to argue the point about IObit with you or anyone in here this is the Webroot Community Support Forums make sure you read the Community Guidelines.

 

Thanks,

 

Daniel
The Webroot Community has people of all skill levels. Let's keep these conversations cordial. 

Reply


Terms & Conditions