The Steel Guitar Forum

I recently downloaded Norton Antivirus 2000 and, after the 90 day trial expired, I uninstalled it. I mention this, because that is the only thing I remember doing before my problem started showing up.

My problem is this: When I try to shut down the computer it freezes at the Windows 95 screen with the clouds in the background that says "Please wait while your computer shuts down" or something to that effect. Under normal conditions the next screen would be the one that says "It is now safe to shut your computer off". Since I am not able to get that screen to come up, I get a message the next time I start the computer saying that I failed to shut Windows down properly.

Any ideas what I can do so that I am able to shut the computer in the normal manner?

Thanks,
Mel

I have had problems simular to this , because the virus scan programs run in the background it installs itself deep into the system tray , you will have to go to add remove programs and make sure it is all gone there also may be some of it elswere , that is the problem with these 90 day downloads they are designed in a way that they are not easily removed wich improves the posibility that you will keep it . I hate that people are treated this way it is almost like being forced instead of being able to make a good decision according to your needs . I hope this helps you . ps that is why the cajun man here doesnt use any type of shareware stuff or free trials .

You might try a registry search for 'Norton' and delete every key so designated.

If it hangs, as you describe, a lot of times it's waiting for a program to shut down. The program could be no-existant or it's not responding. When you get the screen that it's waiting to shut down, do a CTRL/ALT/DEL and it should bring up a box with programs and it may show which one is not responding.

Also when you do get up to windows, go to start and then run, and run msconfig. Check in the WIN INI and startup to see if there are any no-existant or uninstalled programs that are listed in startup.

If you have "CleanSweep" program it will usually find stuff that has been left behind by corrupted uninstalls.

Mel -

As a general rule, the two or three anti-virus programs generally available as shrink wrapped in most computer stores are not all that good. If you need one, get Dr. Solomon's. If you don't mind down loading, go for AVP (Anti-Virus Pro) or F-PROT. Those two and Dr. Solomon have consistently been top rated by the people in the business - not by the popular computer mags.

John


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MSA D-10
'63 Gibson Hummingbird
16/15c Hammered Dulcimer

Where I worked, before retirement, McAfee viruscan was used. Both on standalone PC's and on Novell networked machines. They were going to NT4 when I left and they had planned on continuing with McAfee on the NT client server systems. They had a site license for McAfee and the new NT token ring systems were to have 55,000 workstations nationwide.

Jack -

Just because they have a lot of market share does not mean they are one of the best. The two with the most market share are probably the worst two one could choose (well, there is one other, but I've never seen anyone around here use it). Their marks for false-positives are poor as are their marks for catching all the common or "in-the-wild" virus.

John

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MSA D-10
'63 Gibson Hummingbird
16/15c Hammered Dulcimer

"Also when you do get up to windows, go to start and then run, and run msconfig. Check in the WIN INI and startup to see if there are any no-existant or uninstalled programs that are listed in startup."

Jack, you can also use "msconfig" to view and "uncheck" autoexec.bat vs config.sys entries or lack of same which can cause such a conflict.

There's also (in W98SE, not sure of other builds) a bunch of handy diagnostics apps at:

start / programs / accessories / system tools/ system information / tools.

This W98SE version is listed by the above mentioned "system information" app as:

Microsoft Windows 98 4.10.2222 A
Upgrade using OEM CD /SrcDir=D:\DISK_2\WIN98 /IQ /IQ /U:xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Whatever (?) all that means!

I've been using Norton AV, Ver.5.01.03a with full success & no problems; it immediately found & killed a pesky "Junkieboot" virus I picked up off a floppy (are are most "cooties", via floppy disk).
Weekly updates are free, downloaded & automatically installed with one click. It may not be perfect, but it's been fine for me so far.

Jack,

I tried doing what you said with the following results:

1. I did a CTRL/ALT/DEL several times and it wouldn't respond so I still have to turn off the power switch.

2. At the Win95 DESKTOP I clicked on START, then clicked on RUN, then typed in msconfig and clicked on OK. A screen popped up that said: "Cannot find the file 'msconfig' (or one of its components). Make sure the path and filename are correct and that all required libraries are available."

3. I then Clicked on the START button, then clicked on FIND, then clicked on FILES AND FOLDERS and typed in msconfig and tried to search my hard drive for any reference to msconfig. I came up with nothing.

4. I looked in c:\windows\win.ini file and found no reference to Norton Antivirus or NAV. I am e-mailing you a copy of my win.ini file in case you can find anything suspicious there.

5. I looked in c:\windows\start menu\programs\startup and found only the shortcuts to the four applications that start automatically each time I boot up.

6. I don't have a CLEAN SWEEP or UNINSTALL program.

Thanks for your suggestions.

Mel

Mel, I'll help by the numbers:

1. Do the ctrl-alt-delete just before you choose to shut down to see what's running. It may be a lot of things, but at least it'll give you some ideas.

2, 3. MSCONFIG only comes with Windows98, not 95.

Another thing that occaisionally would cause us trouble shutting down at work was Internet Explorer 4.0(did not need to be running-I love how MS claimed in their anti-trust suit that IE was not an integrated part of the operating system-BS!). Downloading and installing the Service Pack fixed that.