10-21-2004, 09:27 AM

I tried a Demo copy of Norton AntiVirus which placed "Norton Auto-Protect" and "Norton QuickMenu" in an "Other" section on my System Preferences panel. (I've deleted the Norton apps themselves).

I've found the other panels and I've searched for "norton" on my drive but nothing comes up. I don't see them with my other pref panels.

How do I remove these control panels from my prefs?

10-21-2004, 12:03 PM

Check both ../Library/PreferencePanes or ../User/Library/PreferencePanes. Is it not in either?

10-21-2004, 04:20 PM

Got it. Listed under Symantec instead of Norton.... Thanks..

04-10-2005, 12:39 PM

Hi all. I'm new to this list. Hoping someone would like to revisit this topic. I have the exact same problem that ThinkBible did: after I removed everything related to Norton, I still have two icons in my System Preferences screen.



When I click on either of the icons, it gives a "preferences error" and says it cannot load. Doing a system search, I find no files left on my system that relate to "norton" or "symantec."

Looking in my /Library/PreferencePanes folder, I count 26 files -- same as the number of icons:



I find no files that correspond with a Norton icon, but there is one that looks suspicious (highlighted in red). I thought I'd delete it, but I can't.

Any ideas? It's these little things that drive me nuts! Thanks. :headphone

04-10-2005, 12:47 PM

PS: I have an iMac, 1GHz PowerPC G4, that's running 10.2.8.

04-10-2005, 01:21 PM

Norton is notorious (nortonrious? :p) for leaving little bits of crap all over the place.

04-10-2005, 01:40 PM

You may want to look at your "user/Library/Preferences" and your "/Library/Preferences" folders. Also just do a file search on "Norton". Those options should pull up all of the stray files. Then you can safely delete them once you have found them.
As for the one highlighted in red, have you tried seeing if the file is locked? Do a Get Info on it and see if there are any restrictions on it. You may need to unlock it before you can delete it.

04-10-2005, 03:30 PM

Don't just look for Norton, Look for Symantec. Norton does this same stuff in Windows also. Leave files all over the place and hundreds of registery entrys with Symantec.

04-10-2005, 04:23 PM

also make sure to look in your application support folders. though I think that would be included in the search.
just a question, but there are no viruses on os x, so why use norton anti virus? unless you're networked with wintel machines. but even if there were viruses, norton is the worse excuse for protection of any kind and it often causes more damage than any virus would.

04-10-2005, 04:25 PM

Originally Posted by dtravis7

Don't just look for Norton, Look for Symantec. Norton does this same stuff in Windows also. Leave files all over the place and hundreds of registery entrys with Symantec.

Thanks, I forgot about that. Its been so long since I used a Norton/Symantec program

04-10-2005, 04:53 PM

D3v1L80Y: thanks ... had tried unlocking but I cannot get it to delete.

dtravis7f: thanks ... as mentioned in my first note, I did that. When I do a search there is no mention whatsoever of files with either "norton" or "symantec" in their names. I am wondering if there are abbreviated files like "nav" (norton anit virus) or something.

You guys have a file in your system/preferencepanes called "Ink.prefPane"?

Thanks, Bob

04-10-2005, 04:57 PM

Macman: I had heard that there were a *few* viruses out there for the Mac, so I thought I'd give it a try. I shoulda known better. Ironically these two Norton icons are about as hard to remove as a virus.

-Bob

04-10-2005, 05:11 PM

Originally Posted by Autoworld

D3v1L80Y: thanks ... had tried unlocking but I cannot get it to delete.

dtravis7f: thanks ... as mentioned in my first note, I did that. When I do a search there is no mention whatsoever of files with either "norton" or "symantec" in their names. I am wondering if there are abbreviated files like "nav" (norton anit virus) or something.

You guys have a file in your system/preferencepanes called "Ink.prefPane"?

Thanks, Bob

The Ink.prefPane just opens entire System Preferences. Clicking on an individual file like "EnergySaver.prefPane" will opent the System Preferences with the Energy Saver in focus. If you don't have one for Norton showing, then that is definitely odd.

Have you tried repairing permissions? Maybe running something like MacJanitor will help as well. Outside of that I am just as stumped as you are.

04-10-2005, 06:30 PM

D3v1L80Y: Thanks. Yeah, I figured out what that file was *just after* I posted the message.

The strange thing is, if anyone goes back and looks at my two screen shots, you'll notice I have 26 icons in the System Preferences window *and* 26 files in my PreferencePane folder. But when I open each file, I find a legitimate Mac preference program. I can't seem to find a corresponding file to match the two icons. Isn't that a weird one?

Taking your recommendation, I tried repairing permissions. No change. Aaarrrgh! :mad:

04-10-2005, 06:37 PM

Originally Posted by Autoworld

D3v1L80Y: Thanks. Yeah, I figured out what that file was *just after* I posted the message.

The strange thing is, if anyone goes back and looks at my two screen shots, you'll notice I have 26 icons in the System Preferences window *and* 26 files in my PreferencePane folder. But when I open each file, I find a legitimate Mac preference program. I can't seem to find a corresponding file to match the two icons. Isn't that a weird one?

Taking your recommendation, I tried repairing permissions. No change. Aaarrrgh! :mad:

You are running 10.2.8 correct? The other day a friend of mine got a little Mac server and wanted my help. I installed it on my Mini with Panther and later my old Yikes! G4 with Jaugar 10.2.8. It would not go away from Preferences. I went to the preference pane and nothing. Eventually I had to go to the terminal and into the nix folders and zap it from there. Glad I remembered my command line unix from my Linux days. I doubt Norton put files there but I thought I would mention it anyway.

One more thing, under Panther all I had to do is go to the preferences and right click on the icon for the server and there was an option to delete. In 10.2.8 there was no right click and no way to delete it. COuld be the same thing with yours. Will some searching around and see if I can find the answer for you. If you ever use any AntiVirus with OSX try Virux by McAfee. Better program. Right now I don't see any need for AV on OSX unless like has already been stated you are on a windows network.

Update, Try this link. It's a PDF file. See if any of this helps.

http://www.itc.virginia.edu/desktop/...allnorton8.pdf