What a wasted afternoon! The Norton SystemWorks subscription on TS1’s PC Twiggy was running out and it had the 2002 version which is no longer supported so I ordered her 2005 for a few dollars more than just a year’s anti-virus updates. The box arrived yesterday and I started the install as we went out to Quizno’s for a low carb lunch, figuring it would be done when we were back.
I was right. The software had a Please Reboot dialog up and I clicked okay. Should be all that’s necessary other than perhaps confirming the configuration and scheduling. That would have been nice, eh?
Only took five hours more, just how I was expecting to enjoy my Saturday. Good thing I’d watched Manchester United’s straightforward 2-0 take down of Portsmouth first. At first the problem was just puzzling, when starting the app a broken dialog came up with only a Next button that did zilch when clicked. Couldn’t sneak around it either, when I tried the Product Activation dialog came up with its template placeholders showing instead of numbers and, again, clicking the visible Continue button did nada.
How about uninstalling the craptasticness? Nah, that’d be too easy for BillSaysThis. Besides, I couldn’t find a way to do it. Not from its Program Group choices, not from the directories, not from the CD. The Help insisted I had to use the Control Panel’s Add or Remove Software utlity.
That was the next problem, a weird one too. The applet window came up but no list of installed programs was in it. Tried Windows Update to restore some normality and got a blank web page rather than the Microsoft applet. Weird, huh? I rebooted for the 427th time and still the same. Round and round. Finally occured to me to look at Symantec’s support site where I had another surprise–the page used JavaScript to drill down to specific product versions and yet another bit that worked fine yesterday wasn’t now.
I guess this happens often enough for their web guys to add No JavaScript links and I finally–and I mean after another half hour or so–found an article explaining what to do if no method of uninstalling SystemWorks was available. Something about reinstalling the Windows Scripting Engine. Um, what?!?!
Despite my confusion and disbelief, however, this was the piece that got me over the top. Installed it, rebooted and wouldn’t you know it things started working again. The product activation did its thing, the SystemWorks console started and I could configure what need configuring. Except… you knew there had to be a catch.
The Worm protection feature wouldn’t install. The Help suggested a conflict with Zone Alarm, but I wasn’t running that application. Another reboot, another five minutes. Run LiveUpdate yet again. Still no love. Reboot, LiveUpdate and–what, wait, do my eyes deceive me? No, they do not! I actually had on my Sweet One’s PC a running, up to date, functional installation of Norton SystemWorks 2005! Only a tad more than five hours without quite pulling any hair out. I was saving that for hour six.
At least the sun was just going down over the horizon, right?
BillSaysThis 