Kernel Panic that appears to be caused by Norton SystemWorks

[dmetzcher]

Before I begin, this post has a purpose. I have a question about antivirus software on OS X. I have read many posts that suggest (or say very plainly) that it is not necessary. Assuming that I want it (because I run MS Office for Mac), which AV software would you recommend that would protect my iBook from Word and Excel macro viruses, as well as any other viruses that might be out there? I don't want to run the risk of transmitting a virus to any other Mac or PC user with whom I might do business. Considering that this PC is used for both business and personal tasks, I want to make this a priority.

And on to the issue...

I just recently purchased an iBook and have loved it thus far. There have been minor issues with it, which I think are just bad luck, but Apple has been totally helpful and has more than met my needs, replacing the notebook after only four days, and replacing the keyboard on the new one because the shift key had a minor issue.

Today, I noticed that the iBook was running a little slow. Then it was very slow. Then it was crawling.

Before I begin, I want to point out that I have not yet put my iBook through much. I've been getting used to using the OS, and have installed several applications, but I wouldn't say that I've done anything major with it yet. I have had experience with the Mac OS, but it was a few years back. On the PC side of things, I would consider myself a power user, at the very least.

That said, today I noticed that the machine was running rather slow. Frequently, throughout the day, I would see it slow down to a crawl or freeze up entirely. A few times, I would see the boot "wait" icon, a little circular animated image, in the middle of the screen, and would not be able to do anything. This would be followed by a blue screen. Then, tonight, the boot icon appeared again, and was followed by the following message on my screen.

You need to restart your computer. Hold down the power button for several seconds or press the restart button.

I looked up this error message, and found that it was called "Kernal Panic". Very nice. So, I wondered, "How'd I manage to do that?" It continued to happen every time I rebooted after about two minutes of uptime. I moved over to my Windows XP machine and started searching on Google. I found several articles and forums that pointed to Norton SystemWorks as the culprit.

Over the next hour or so, I ran the Apple Hardware Test (which passed for all components) that came with the iBook, and also attempted to do a manual backup of my home directory to my Windows PC shared folder, so I could continue to research the problem and prepare to re-install OS X. I also performed disk and file permissions repairs via the OS X installation CD, to rule out any problems there. The backups were all interrupted with the kernel panic message and associated freeze, so I began to move towards finding a way to remove Norton SystemWorks (version 3, by the way). I first tried to uninstall it via the uninstall utility provided on the disk that I have, but had no luck. I received a lovely screen that had "UNKNOWN ERROR", or something to that effect, repeated over and over. It turns out, according to Symantec's Web site, that OS X Panther is not supported by this removal software. Luckily, the Symantec Web site (www.symantec.com) had an updated version of the uninstaller, so I downloaded it and ran it on the iBook. It appeared to run fine, and required a reboot when it was finished, so I gave it what it wanted.

After the reboot, I did a quick search on the hard disk for "Norton", and turned up several files and folders throughout the drive. I deleted them all. I did another search for "SystemWorks" and found nothing. Since the reboot and file deletion, I have noticed that the iBook seems to respond better. It's been about an hour now, and I have not had a kernel panic yet, so I suppose that is a good sign. The machine is also back to being as fast as it was prior to this.

We'll see how it goes. If I continue to have trouble after this, I think a re-install will be necessary. I will begin looking for a new antivirus solution in the meantime. That's all I really wanted from SystemWorks anyway, but I fail to see how installing a utility that causes its own problems helps at all. I also read that Symantec has no plans on continuing support for OS X with regard to its Norton Utilities product, which is part of SystemWorks. Perhaps they should stop selling it then.

For more information on the dreaded kernel panic, check out:
http://www.macmaps.com/kernelpanic.html

For more information on removing Norton SystemWorks on Mac OS X 10.3 Panther, read the following Symantec knowledge base article:
Document ID: 2003110711002611
(The link to the updated uninstall utility is included in the text of the article.)

[Rhisiart]

There is another thread curently active on kernal panics.

I am told that no viruses exist for the MacOS X and there are a little under a thousand for MacOS 9. As you have described, the risk is that as a MacOS X user you unwittingly pass on a virus to a PC owner.

The general consensus on this forum seems to be to avoid Norton products like the plague. Intego's VirusBarrier would be no good to you as appparently it does not detect PC viruses (which begs the question; what is it for?). The best bet would be Virex, which I understand is currently being updated for Tiger. The only fly in the ointment is that Virex seems to hog a lot of CPU activity during its tasks.

[The Ghost]

Originally Posted by dmetzcher

Before I begin, this post has a purpose. I have a question about antivirus software on OS X. I have read many posts that suggest (or say very plainly) that it is not necessary.

For what it is worth less often is more (when it comes to information too). ~(:^) At this time, there is no reason to run AV or malware protection on a Mac--Office macros or not--except, as you indicate, to protect Windows users. There are several AV programs for Macs. If you are not using 10.4, then Virex probably is the best answer. Don't use Virex if you upgrade to 10.4.

On your slowness issue, before reinstalling I would do the basic maintenance and trouble shooting indicated here1 and here2. If things don't improve, then I suggest reinstalling your software using the "Archive and Install" and "Preserve User and Network Settings" options--to do your best to get rid of any lingering effects of Norton. In the future, I would never use Norton anything (yes, anything) on a Mac.