Security Watch | Matt Hines » IE7 chokes on Symantec

November 03, 2006 | Comments: (0)

IE7 chokes on Symantec

TAGS: Security

I find myself, once again, wiping a medical practitioners machine because of severe trojan/spyware/malware/badware infestation.

I had to go through several sweeps before I was able to clean off this particular machine and, still not content with the results, I decided to completely wipe the machine and start fresh.

Was there a Ghost image of this machine, or even a recent backup? Of course not, but at least I had all the manufacturer's disks for this Dell laptop. I can't tell you how happy I was about that, (except that Dell still get me by not even allowing for generic networking after an XP install and making me download networking drivers on another machine and transfer said files over before I can connect out to the Internet). At least we have fat USB drives now, which make this driver transfer pain a little more bearable and makes for quick backups.

But enough about that.

Okay, this machine belongs to a cosmetic surgery office, and in the past few days I've learned more about tummy tucks, ultrasonic liposuction and breast augmentation than I care to handle. And please don't ask me about about getting you a discount on that lipo you've been thinking about having done because I really don't have any pull here.

Anyway, after the requisite 2 1/2 hours of XP, service pack and security updates (thanks Microsoft, I love blowing three hours of my life every time I do a fresh install) I decided to go ahead and install IE 7 with anti-phishing and all the rest of the bells and whistles. Of course, I had installed the client's Norton Internet Security 2006 before I did the IE7 install.

My mistake.

Yes, I know that Internet Security 2006 isn't a business solution, but it was what the customer had on hand, and I thought it was better than nothing in the short run.

Yes, I also know that I should wait until I complete installing every Windows component before installing third party apps, but what fun (read frustration) would that be?

Well, after slamming my fist into the closest solid object (nothing broken, didn't even break the skin, and at least I was near medical care should I have done any real damage) I went over to Symantec's site to solve the problem.

I actually like the way that Symantec handles issues with their products, unlike many competitors who just drop documentation on their site willy-nilly, Symantec has a task oriented approach to fixing problems. I've found that, many times, it works right off the bat. But when the troubleshooter or documentation doesn't work, you're as stuck as you can get, because I have yet to get a problem resolved with Symantec via other consumer oriented means. But, as noted above, I have little patience for products that don't work with major Windows product upgrades when I think they should.

Lucky for me the Symantec Troubleshooter fixed the problem. A few reboots later, and anticlimaticly, everything works. Yes, that's right, I can reach the Internet with no problems at all. Okay, maybe I've overreacted here. But it's still too bad that enterprise products don't have this type of troubleshooting process. I would have loved to have had this technology handy when I was having problems with creating a site to site VPN tunnel with a new vendor's product a while back.

How are your experiences going with IE7? And who do you think has the most useful support site for enterprise products? Let me know, it might save me from breaking my hand next time.

Posted by Victor R. Garza on November 3, 2006 09:39 PM

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