Noiseware and Norton

[weshoot]

Something happened to me last night that may affect some of you on this forum. My Norton Antivirus deleted a file on my computer in my C: Drive named noisewarepluginsetup4110.exe saying it had the Adware.ADH virus in it. A little while later, it put the backup of the same file on my external USB drive in quarantine. Realizing later that this file is the installation file for the Imaginomic Noiseware which installed my noiseware plugin in Photoshop CS4, and probably not a virus, I tried to get it out of quarantine, to no avail. I then spent 1.5 hours in live chat, with the tech from Symantec trying to get it back. It was lost and could not be found. I asked the tech if Symantec would pay for me to download the updated version, as the 4.110 version was updated to 4.250 and may not be free to me. He said no, and tried to convince me that there was a virus in a file which had not shown to be modified since I downloaded it 2 years ago, and that Norton did the right thing. The point is moot now, as the file is gone and can't be proven bad or good.

I left it at that last night and then did some digging. Typing in noiseware, norton in Google, I got several websites that headlined a "free" noiseware plugin and key code on the 'net. It was for the same filename that I paid serious bucks ($69.95) for, for free! I'll bet people downloaded the free file and got a virus which was reported to Norton. Therefore, I think Norton simply removes all files of the same name whether they were viruses or not. Now, I cannot reload the plugin should something happen to it or Photoshop becomes corrupted. I think Norton should be liable, but their tech does not agree. I tried to call them this morning, and I was on hold so long that I just hung up.

If your computer has this file on it and it is legitimate (i.e. you paid for it on Imaginomic's website), take my advice and copy it to a CD-Rom to avoid losing it.

Gary Silverstein
http://www.weshoot.com
http://www.feelfreefoto.com
http://www.bilbord.com

[mistermonday]

That's an unfortunate situation, Gary. You should have a setting in Norton that controls what the program does. You should always set it to Quarantine suspected problems but not delete them.
The other thing I would suggest if you are not satisfied with the Norton product is to check out NOD32 by ESET. It is the best antivirus program I have ever used. Currently it is very well aclaimed.
Regards, Murray

[weshoot]

Thanks Murray -

I will keep it in mind when my subscription with Norton runs out. It came with my new computer, although I was using another version on my other computers. Neither one of them gives one much latitude when it comes to choices.

Gary Silverstein