Norton computer thingy - help!

[Senator Cybus]

I'm having a weird problem with my Norton internet security, and I was hoping some kindly soul could maybe help me out.

Now why, you may well ask, am I posting the query here instead of some dedicated computer security forum?

Well, I know pathetically little about computers (hence my use of Norton - I know enough to know that it's not the best at what it does, that it's a memory hog and there's similar programs available for free, but - with Norton, I pay a negligible fee once a year and it then just chugs away quietly in the background, never requiring me to try to understand the mysterious and sinister workings of the magical box known as KOM-PU-TAH), and now I'm all paranoid about visiting unfamiliar web sites in case I'm not adequately protected and I'm not sure where to turn anyway and the google search was unhelpful and I'm panicky and oh my God I've gone cross-eyed! :smalleek::smallredface:

Anyway, I know from past experience that this forum has plenty of smart folk who know about tech (and who may take pity on a lowly lurker), so for those still reading, here's the issue:

About a week or so ago, a box pops up on my monitor informing me that Norton has a new, free version of itself available for download. It all seems kosker, so I install it, no problems, all well and good.

But now I keep getting a message saying "installation error 3048,3" - Norton can't auto-repair it, and whatever it is seems to be randomly turning off Windows Defender. The failed auto-repair instructed me to go to Norton's Intelligent Updater download page, get a specific exe file, save it to my desktop and run it, which I was about to do, but - the Smart Screen Filter pops up and tells me that the exe file is not a commonly downloaded program, it has no signature (?) and advised me to delete it...:smallconfused:

So I did delete it, but I still get the error message and don't know how to proceed.

So...I guess what I'm asking is:

1) What the flying Hell is error 3048,3?
2)Is it a problem or can I ignore it?
3)How would I proceed to fix it?
4)Does this mean that my computer is full of malware and that I should avoid any online transactions?
5)Help!

Any assistance (or point in the direction of such) is most welcome!

[erikun]

Important note: I am not a Norton technician, and am not familiar with any free Norton products. Then again, I am not familiar with any Norton products.

A quick Google search of "Error 3048,3 Norton" (without quotes) gave me this page (https://support.norton.com/sp/en/us/home/current/solutions/v63747322_EndUserProfile_en_us) on Norton's official support.norton.com website. That is most likely going to fix your problem, although you'd want to talk to Norton or someone else who is more familiar with the issue if that doesn't work and/or you have other concerns.

[sr123]

Note that if a worm gets into your computer, the first thing it will want to do is disable any antivirus software, namely Norton and McAfee.

You should run a full virus scan before anything. I recommend downloading ClamWin (http://www.clamwin.com/), which is portable, open-source, and typically not targeted by worms. Note it will first download virus definitions, which is about 70MB, so it might take a while.

If you have viruses, you'll probably have to reinstall Norton and do a bit more cleanup. I also recommend asking (and paying, as a courtesy) a friend who is somewhat techie to help.

[Jaycemonde]

I'm not very familiar with Norton products either* but whether or not there is a problem with your computer (hopefully it's just a corrupted download/install, and not malware or a trojan masquerading as AV software) you should download either AVG or Microsoft Security Essentials and use them in place of Norton from now on. You can say what you like about Microsoft and their Evil Empire, but MSE is at least built on a solid foundation, and both it and AVG are free (and very widely used).


*beyond knowing from both personal and second-hand experience that the older ones for sure and quite possibly newer ones tended to take control of your computer to prevent any "user errors"

[Senator Cybus]

Thanks for the advice, all - I hope I didn't seem rude by not replying before now, but I've been a bit ill for the past couple of days and thus avoiding the computer entirely.

Anyhoo, I've done a full system scan, some further tweaking based on this thread, and...no more weird message, everything appears fine.:smallsmile: Looks like it was a corrupted download, which is quite the relief...

Thanks again to everyone who responded! :smallbiggrin: