Windows XP is no longer getting updates and security patches from Microsoft, so it’s no surprise that lots of users still on the platform are turning to third-party protection in order to make sure that hackers do not break into their systems to access private data.

 

Symantec is one of the companies whose products are still working on Windows XP after end of support, but a recent update caused anti-virus protection to crash on Microsoft’s unsupported operating system.

 

The company was quick to issue a statement and say that the issue was resolved, but plenty of users confirmed on its support forums that both the anti-virus and Internet Security solutions were crashing after the update.

 

“This issue has now been resolved. The limited number of customers affected should run a Live Update to mitigate the issue,” Symantec said.

 

Norton also crashing on Windows 7

 

It turns out, however, that Windows XP is not the only operating system affected by the problem, as some users who posted on Symantec’s support forums indicated that Norton security software might be crashing on Windows 7 as well.

 

Here’s one of the messages that were posted a few days ago:

 

“I received a phone call from Norton Support, telling me that a patch to this problem is available. They wanted me to do a Live Update and upon completion, reboot my computer. It worked and the problem is resolved! I have the Norton Internet Security icon in my taskbar and it doesn't go away. I accessed the internet through both Firefox and Internet Explorer and all is well. My operating system is Windows 7 Ultimate, and my processor is an old Athlon XP 3200 on an Asus A7N8X Deluxe motherboard,” one of the affected users said.

 

Odd workarounds provided by Symantec

 

What’s more surprising, however, is that Windows XP users who contacted Symantec for instructions on how to fix these problems received pretty weird suggestions, including a recommendation to update from Windows XP to Windows 7.

 

At the same time, users claim that Symantec staff urged them to disable browser protection, but obviously none of these workarounds after resolved the issues.

 

At this point, it appears that Norton security solutions are running smoothly on all Windows versions, so in case you’re still experiencing problems, just make sure that you installed the latest builds released by Symantec.

 

No less than 23 percent of the desktop computers out there are still running Windows XP, so it should come as no surprise if some PCs are still experiencing these issues.

 

 

Source:

http://news.softpedia.com/news/Norton-Update-Breaks-Down-Anti-Virus-Protection-on-Windows-XP-458069.shtml

Personally I fail to understand how these old fashioned Antivirus programs even sell any more. Buying any of those is like throwing money out the window. I mean they weren't much good when virus were around.