Auntie has installed 2 x virus scanners (McAffee & Norton)

DJMK4

DJMK4

DJMK4

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And now its getting constant BSOD, cant even get in using safe mode and last known good config. Does anyone know a trick to get it working? Shes asking me to help fix it, and I want to, but shes down in London so I can only offer advice over the phone.

I know both vendors offer a removal tool, but without being able to get on to OS she cant do much.
 
The removal tools sometimes allow you to remove the files by plugging the HDD into another PC, but if the target PC is far away and in someone elses hands that's pretty difficult. And even then the effectiveness of the process is debatable.

Format time!
 
Damn :( any other idea's guys? I think if thats the case she will have to send it down to me unless she is ok using the recovery CD, as although its pretty much a new pc, she used McAffee's free 30 day trial, then went onto Norton, she has one or two files on there which may need to be backed up.

Would rather not have to re-format if possible tho
 
Wait hang on, it BSOD's going into Safe Mode? AV's don't normall run in safe mode do they? Or atleast kaspersky doesn't!
 
Redgie said:
Wait hang on, it BSOD's going into Safe Mode? AV's don't normall run in safe mode do they? Or atleast kaspersky doesn't!
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No, it blue screens when she tries to log in normaly, if she tries safe mode, or any other mode, it just hangs.

If anyone can provide with more info or tips would be great, she only has one other options command prompt with CLI, so if i can get her into CLI mode is there anything I can do here to remove both norton and mcaffee properly?
 
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No but you see, all she needs to do to fix a problem related to 2 AV's running at once is go into safe mode and tell them not to run while she reboots and removes one. If it hangs before getting into safe mode, when safe mode makes use of neither AV, then it is not the AV that is the problem.
 
It hangs when she gets to the login page in safe mode, telling her to "please wait". It has to be something to do with it, as this has only started happening as soon as she tried to use norton and McAffee, so unless we have identified another OS issue now with safe mode being an issue
 
Yeah it sounds to me like the problem may have been caused by the two AV's, but it isn't the two AV's itself. Each may have tried to scan the same Windows file, detected the other AV, assumed it was an infected file and deleted / quarantined it, preventing it from booting.

This is purely hyopthetical though :p

Is it XP?
 
Redgie said:
Yeah it sounds to me like the problem may have been caused by the two AV's, but it isn't the two AV's itself. Each may have tried to scan the same Windows file, detected the other AV, assumed it was an infected file and deleted / quarantined it, preventing it from booting.

This is purely hyopthetical though :p

Is it XP?
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One step closer, shes in using safe mode but had to unplug network cable which I thought was strange as it was making it hang (not BSOD), she is removing AV now
 
Yup, I had to deal with a few customers at my old place who thought that having two AVs was better than having one, when in fact it was even worse than having none. The AVs fight each other crippling CPU load. Tell your auntie that the other no-no is having two CD burning softwares present such as Nero and Adaptec (or whatever it is called nowadays), as there will be conflicting drivers.
 
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