My daughter-in-law asked me to fix her laptop (a Gateway MT6728 with Vista Home Premium); it had a virus and a ton of adware. I had no issues getting rid of all the junk…everything operated fine, including wireless internet connectivity. I noticed her Norton Internet Security was long expired, and since I hate that product I decided to remove it while I updated Windows. As it turns out, the Windows update that came to the forefront was SP1, consequently, it took about an hour and a half to complete that task.


After SP1 finished and I rebooted, I didn’t remember if I tried to access the internet, so I wasn’t sure if my sudden lack of connectivity was caused directly by SP1. I do remember going to the add/remove application and uninstalling all of the Norton/Symantec programs. It was after this that I noticed that my SSID was connected as an “Unidentified Network” with “Local Only” access. I then connected the Laptop directly to an Ethernet cable and got the same results.





I decided to do a system restore, which would only allow me to go as far back as the SP1 install last night. I went back to the Service Pack install…but before the Norton/Symantec removal. Well, I have my connectivity back! So it was not the SP1 update.


So my question now is: what is it about uninstalling Norton Internet Security, Symantec AV and Live update that causes my internet not to work? I really want to get rid of it and install Kaspersky. If I run the Norton Removal Tool program will I be able to System Restore again if my internet craps out?


I would appreciate your help! Thanks

Done...all is well!

I was a bit worried I would get trapped without the ability to restore.

One would think that "Uninstall" would be complete when executed; Norton seems to have other ideas.

Thank you so much for the "push"!