How to Uninstall Norton

Symantec develops and supplies a range of security products, many under the Norton brand name. Generally, these work well but some people remove Norton because it causes problems, sometimes being a little overly security conscious by preventing valid routines from working.

Norton anti-virus and other products have gained additional features over the years and there is sometimes a perception that their activities cause the PC to run slower. This may be true but could also be due to a whole host of other factors.

You may want to delete Norton because you have a trial version that has timed out and is no longer usable. You may, of course, be switching to another product or could uninstall Norton and then reinstall it to resolve a problem.

Whatever, you do, don’t remove Norton and leave your PC unprotected. Ensure you have an alternative security application installed and active before accessing the internet, opening emails and downloading or copying files.

Uninstall Norton from the Control Panel

All Norton products should have a standard uninstaller and so you can remove them by conventional means. To do this, select Programs and Features or Add or Remove Programs (depending on you operating system version). A list of programs that are currently installed on your PC will be displayed. Find the Symantec or Norton product you want to get rid of, click on it and choose to uninstall or remove it.

Remove Norton’s Extra Files and Registry Entries

Once the uninstall completes, you will probably need to restart your computer. The odds are that everything hasn’t been cleared and so you will need to do a little more. Before doing anything, create a restore point so you can get back if you have problems. At the Start menu, click My Computer and then expand the Program Files folder. Right-click on each Symantec folder you see and delete it. Still within Program Files, open Common Files and delete every Symantec sub-folder within it.

Go back to the Start menu, select Search, then All Files and Folders followed by More Advanced Options. Ensure everything is ticked except Case Sensitive then type ‘Norton’ and start the search. Delete every Norton folder that is found and repeat the process for ‘Symantec’. Then restart your machine again.

The last thing you need to do is delete any left over registry entries. Do this carefully because any incorrect registry changes can cause serious problems, including an inability to use your PC.

At the Start menu, select Run, type ‘regedit’ and press Enter. Open the HKEY_CURRENT_USER entry, then Software, right-click on the Symantec entry and choose Delete. Do the same thing for the HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE entry. Under the same heading, open the Software entry, then Microsoft, Windows and CurrentVersion. Select the Run folder, right-click every Symantec entry and delete it. Restart your machine and your attempt to remove Norton should be complete.

If you have problems when you try to delete Norton, there is a Norton Removal tool that is available from the Symantec website. This removes all Norton products, including Norton 2003-2009, Norton 360 and Norton System Works. If you use ACT! or Winfax, ensure you backup your databases before running it.

When you download the tool, choose to save it to a selected folder. Ensure all Norton applications are closed and double-click the tool’s exe file to start. You will have to run as an administrator under Vista. All Norton products should be removed by the tool but you may need to delete files and folders as previously.