Ian, it's strange you should say that about Norton 2003, I had the very same
problem with a system I made which was running Norton 2002 and ME. It kept
freezing and crashing on start up. I ended up uninstallling Norton, and
loading Norman anitvirus instead (a free one). There have been no problems
since, and I've installed the same Norton on lots of other systems before
then and after with no problems at all. Maybe it just didn't like that
system?
Not sure, but I've found that the free one is not too bad after all, and
I've since loaded another free antivirus onto another system with no
problems, just to try them out. The other one is Anti vir. (Both have
regular free updates, which can't be bad.)
It's made me take another look at some of these antivirus companies and how
much they charge for their services.
Time will tell if these two are actually any good or not. Can't be too bad
if they're  free though.
Michele Sayer

My first move would be to uninstall Norton 2003. I've had similar problems
with two desktop pc's and a laptop.  There's something about NAV 2003 that
creates problems.  Far simpler to install AVG free edition.  It's just as
effective and much less demanding than Norton, which seems to stumble around
in your system like a three-legged elephant.

There's only one thing Norton will do that AVG free edition won't and that's
to update itself at ANY time, as long as there's a live internet connection.

AVG free needs to have a connection time nominated, and if you're not online
at the time, it won't update.  However, it only takes two clicks to update
manually.

Obviously, this isn't an issue with ADSL systems that are always online.

I'm currently running AVG Pro which has a lot more options than the free
version, including checking for updates each time the PC goes online.  I
don't know what AVG costs in the US, but in NZ an annual subscription costs
about $US13.

Ian Porter
Computer Guys Inc.
Arrowtown
New Zealand
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  ----- Original Message -----
  From: Rosie
  To: [log in to unmask]
  Sent: Tuesday, September 02, 2003 3:43 AM
  Subject: [PCBUILD] Laptop freezing


  I don't usually work on laptops but a friend of mine asked me if I could
see why her laptop is freezing.  She has a Compaq Presario 700 (AMD Duron
366 mhz and 368 mb of ram) and Microsoft XP with service pack 1  She also
has Zone Alarm and Norton Antivirus 2003.   She said she installed the
patches for the latest worms.

  I've looked at it and it definitely freezes after about 5 minutes.  The
system restore was not activated so I can't go back to a better
configuration.   Can anyone tell me what other steps I can take to
troubleshoot/fix it?

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