NorthCalif
@wildblue.net
| Norton 360 and Multiple Instances of Excel
After installing Norton 360, it appears that my Office XP Pro running on Windows XP Pro no longer terminates the Excel.exe process in memory after I close a workbook. The processes just keep accumulating, showing up in Task manager.
I've found on the web that the accumulation of multiple instances of Excel is not uncommon, but in all cases it was due to coding errors in opening Excel sessions from within various automation engines. But this is not the case here. This is happening when I open Excel directly and load any workbook, with or without code, and close it.
I've re-installed Office completely, and tested with Norton's firewall and antivirus disabled and enabled, but there's no change.
Has anyone encountered anything like this with Norton 360, and knows how to get around it? |
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Michael York
join:2007-11-06
San Francisco, CA
edit:
May 8th, @03:10AM
| Hi NorthCalif,
This is Mike from the Norton Authorized Support Team responding to your posting.
The Program Rules in the Norton Personal Firewall is the only place that may affect the operation of Excel and other applications.
Have you deleted all of the Temp files on your system, which may contain Excel files? Have you updated your copy of Office with the latest service packs?
I would suggest that you manually run LiveUpdate through the Norton 360 main window. LiveUpdate will download and install any available program and definition file updates that are available.
After running LiveUpdate, restart your computer in Windows Safe Mode and perform a "Comprehensive Scan" to check for any infections which may be contributing to the problem.
Please run the update and the scan and let me know if it finds any infections, and also if it resolves your problem.
Thank you,
Mike
--
Michael York
Norton Authorized Support Team
Symantec Corporation
»service.symantec.com/priority |
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NorthCalif
@wildblue.net
| Hi, Mike, thanks for your response.
Yes, all is clean and up to date on the system. However, Norton 360 does not run in Safe Mode, so I had to run the comprehensive scan in regular mode. The problem is still there.
I'm working with a new laptop, and was able to look at my older one today, which runs the same operating system and version of Office (without Norton). It does release Excel processes immediately from memory when the application is closed, so I am 90% sure something went wrong during the installation of Norton 360. By the way, ccSvcHst also always hangs when I try to shut down the computer, and I have to terminate the process manually before the laptop will turn off. Maybe that is related.
Let me know if you have another suggestion, but I suspect now that the next step is to uninstall Norton completely, run the follow-up cleaning tools documented on the web, and test for the problem without Norton.
If the problem is still there, I'll re-install XP and Office, since I know these versions work without a problem on the other laptop.
Once I am assured that the system is running without the problem, I am willing to try re-installing Norton 360, but obviously I cannot use the product if the problem reappears.
I purchased the product about 10 days ago via download, and would like to know how to go about verifying an uninstall and obtaining a refund.
On the other hand, if it does work, I would also like to know whether I can create installation discs from the downloaded version. I have been unable to find anything for that at Symantec, but it does not make sense to buy software and not be able to re-install it after 60 dayss without paying an additional fee.
Thanks for your help! |
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NorthCalif
@wildblue.net
| Well, sadly, I have found that Norton 360 causes the problem. After I uninstalled Norton 360, Excel processes purged from memory whenever the application was closed, as they should.
While the reinstallation of the product went smoothly, no error messages at all -- Excel processes just pile up in the task manager as the application is opened and closed. Ultimately, of course, one runs into system problems unless one constantly goes into Task Manager and manually terminates the processes.
I am running Windows XP Professional Version 2002 Service Pack 3, and Microsoft Office XP Professional version 10.0.6626.0 with the latest updates.
Unfortunately, I am going to have to return the product. |
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Michael York
join:2007-11-06
San Francisco, CA
| reply to NorthCalif
Hi NorthCalif,
I would like to apologize by misinforming you to run a scan in Safe Mode with Norton 360. You are correct in that you can not run a scan in Safe Mode with Norton 360.
As to the problem with Excel processes, please try the following steps to see if the problem goes away.
NOTE: These instructions are for Norton 360 version 1.0.If you have version 2.0, all of the settings are located under the "Settings" link.
1. Open the main Norton 360 console.
2. Click on the "Tasks and Settings" link.
3. Click on "Change Advanced Settings."
4. Click on "Virus & Spyware Protection Settings."
5. Remove the check next to "Turn on Auto_Protect and "Turn on SONAR."
6. Click the "Apply" button and then the "OK" button.
Please try running Excel and see if turning off these options makes a difference.
Please let me know if this makes any difference in the operation of Excel.
If you do need to reinstall Norton, I can provide you with the correct procedure to do so. You will not need to create installation disks to do so.
Thanks,
Mike
--
Michael York
Norton Authorized Support Team
Symantec Corporation
»service.symantec.com/priority |
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NorthCalif
@wildblue.net
| Hi Mike, thanks, but I went ahead and uninstalled the Norton 360 and requested a refund.
I did disable the firewall and auto-protect early on as a test, but it made no difference. What I am sure of, is that everything works fine without Norton 360, and that a straightforward install of the product causes the problem.
With ccSvcHst hanging on every shutdown, too, I just cannot run the product with appropriate ease and confidence.
This occurs on my laptop with Windows XP Pro and Office XP Pro, and NOT, by the way on my desktop with XP Home and Office 2000.
Anyway, thanks for your help. |
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dwiese01
join:2001-03-02
West Bloomfield, MI
| OK - There's your problem
»www.youtube.com/watch?v=lvDzarJOJNQ |
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bcruze
join:2006-03-03
USA
edit:
May 9th, @03:43PM
| reply to NorthCalif
nm |
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NorthCalif
@wildblue.net
| reply to NorthCalif
Not a happy dance with Norton. As a follow-up, the menu for requesting a refund took one to a disagreeable "technical support chat" drill, with repeated requests to allow a text-typing (and liberally mis-spelling) "analyst" "total control" of my computer in search of the bug in their software. Repeated denials of the request finally led to their issuing a refund, at least.
I then installed Trend Micro's comparable product, which runs without a problem, and surprisingly lighter and faster. I would really recommend them. |
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ztmike
1kwikgt
Premium
join:2001-08-02
 ·Comcast
 ·AT&T Midwest
edit:
May 13th, @01:11AM
| reply to dwiese01
said by dwiese01  :OK - There's your problem (youtube clip) X2 anything Norton is a pile of crap, Get Comodo/AVG or Avast. Which btw are FREE.
--
www.youtube.com/watch?v=mdYueIC1pjM |
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IanMcI
@in-addr.arpa
| reply to Michael York
I have exactly the same problems. If you open an office document, the application dies not close and can still ber seen in the task list. ccSVCHost crashes on shutdown. also one extra ATI Mobile Radeon sometimes crashes on start-up. This is version 2. One error sometimes you get, three is awful. I hope Symantics atr going to do something aboutthis??? |
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annoyed
@mycingular.net
| reply to NorthCalif
Same here. Windows XP Pro SP3 with Norton 360v2 on THREE SEPARATE MACHINES. 2 laptops and one desktop. Hang on shutdown, accumulation of excel processes. Spoke with Norton who fiddled with things remotely - made no discernable difference. NOTE TO SYMANTEC - FIX THIS PROBLEM!!! |
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Oregonian
Premium
join:2000-12-21
West Linn, OR
| reply to NorthCalif
To those reporting this issue...
I have seen similar behavior from programs other than Office on computers not running any Symantec products. Certain applications seem to keep running after shutdown. Sometimes they cannot be restarted without a reboot to clear them from memory (or killing them in Task Manager). This usually occurs on IBM computers.
So far, some of these problems seem to be cured by uninstalling Single Sign-On (SSO) software from IBM. SSO software is software that automatically logs you into sites or applications by remembering passwords.
I know that some Norton products have a feature where they can automatically remember passwords and log you into web sites. Perhaps try disabling this feature and see if the problem goes away.
I'm curious if any of you having these issues are using IBM (Lenovo) computers or SSO software?
Thanks. |
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David Lambert
@pacbell.net
| I'm having this issue on a Lenovo Z60m laptop.
I've had to reimage twice because the MFT or something else important gets corrupted. I'm getting good at creating and installing new images...
I'm pretty rough on my laptop, so I wasn't sure until today that the problem was Norton 360, but I very carefully built a perfect image, with all my software and tweaks, except no Norton 360. No hanging of ccSvcHst, no hanging of anything else.
I installed Norton 360 and did nothing else and BAM, ccSvcHst starts to hang on shutdown. Sometimes Excel and Word processes still run when I exit those programs, Autoruns and ProcessExplorer (from SysInternals) always hang.
At least I can kill the zombie processes from ProcessExplorer or TaskManager.
If Symantec has a Z60m, I'd be happy to give them a copy of my perfect image, they could put it on their Z60m, then they could install a debug version of Norton 360 on it. |
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IhateNorton360V2
| reply to NorthCalif
I got the same prob after I installed the Norton 360 V2, not only the excel but dreamweaver, fireworks, almost all the apps still runs on the task using some memory, even after I closed them and i'm getting low memory warnings with 2GB memory. Norton 360 V1 was OK though. |
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grrrr360v2
@sky.com
| I too have this problem. Deinstalling 360 resolves it but as soon as I reinstall it comes back. Had a long support session including remote control which ended up with the support technician telling me it was a 'design feature' and suggesting I perform a full system scan. Obviously this is a known bug and whilst I accept that it may not be an instant fix, I object to being lied to. Firefox impacted as well as Office. I am using Dell/XP SP3/Office 2003. |
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MAG
@comcast.net
| reply to NorthCalif
Glad to see I'm not the only one with the Issue of Office Processes, as well as other processes staying open due to Norton 360. I too have verified that uninstall of 360 fixes it, although I typically just open my task manager and do a cleaning of the running processes manually. The lockup of the ccSvcHst is also a common occurence on shutdown. It would be nice if Norton Would Resolve this, as the only reason I'm running 360 on my computer is that I got a 3 pack for my wife and daughters computer who are not tech savvy (Which Originally I thought 360 was intended for ,set it and forget it). I figured I wouldn't waste the third license so I replaced my other software. Unfortunately I've had more tech difficulties with 360 than I had with any of the other software I've used, this just being one of them Let me know if it gets fixed |
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MAG
@comcast.net
| reply to NorthCalif
Oh By The way, Mike, I tried those steps you mentioned as far as turning of the Sonar and Auto Protect (I'm running 360 2.0) and it didn't work. I'd really appreciate any other advice you might be able to give. I moved away from Norton like 15 years ago because they left a bad taste in my mouth, and just came back to them because of some highly reputable magazine articles involving the products. So far it's still the small bugs that kill the product. |
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Grrr360v2
@sky.com
| reply to NorthCalif
I have just completed a full re-image of my machine, went SP2 to SP3 then installed 360 and I still get the same problem.
I was wondering whether other folk getting this problem are running Windows Desktop Search - it was around the time I installed that that the problem re-emerged. Obviously I de-installed it (not a straight-forward process either) but the problem persists and I can't face another full day rebuilding again to verify precisely at which point during my rebuild this occurred. |
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CliveGee
@as9105.com
| reply to NorthCalif
Norton 360 v2 creates what others have named "zoombie" processes. That is an executed program that is terminated in the usual way, remains visible in Windows Task Manager. Not all programs result in zoombie process but many do and they are not limited to Microsoft programs. Even simple programs like Autoruns and Procexp will create zoombie processes.
It is easy to prove this. You can for example run dr watson against the pid no relating to the zoombie process and then interrogate the dump. Thankfully, this has already been done for me and the calprit in clearly Norton's.
The problem is finding someone at Norton's sufficiently technical to comprehend the issue and the resolution. It is not complicated. However, so far only 1 technician in 20 has admitted that it is a known problem.
I have no confidence of an immediate resolution. |
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