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Getting a bug out of bug detection software sounds like a paradox. But that is the situation facing Symantec (SYMC) in the latest version of its Norton Utilities antivirus software suite.
According to reports this week, Symantec's Norton Utilities 3.0.7 can cause system freezes and deny access to floppy drives when it is run in Microsoft's Windows 95 and 98 operating systems.
"Symantec is aware of that, and is just trying to go through the issues to just make sure that they're talking about the same thing," said a company spokeswoman, regarding the reported problems.
The spokeswoman said that Symantec was notified about an alert released Wednesday by BugNet, a bug reporting service for Windows users.
The problem, which affects Norton Utilities 3.0.7 (NU) on Windows 95 and 98, is with the System Doctor component. System Doctor monitors system resources for possible trouble, running in the background while a user works on other tasks. But when System Doctor is running, many users are complaining of system freezes or the inability to access their floppy drives.
The experience of NU user Daniel Harrington was typical.
After installing Windows 98, Harrington, a lawyer in Edmonton, Alberta, found that his computer froze when trying to access his floppy drive when System Doctor was running. When he tried to reboot, Windows reported that the System Doctor application was not responding. Upon closing this application, the floppy worked fine.
His tape backup -- which uses some of the same resources as his floppy drive -- was also affected.
The temporary fix that Symantec advised was to close System Doctor before accessing the floppy drive. Other users found the problem could be corrected by shutting down Norton AntiVirus, which would allow users to access a floppy while System Doctor was running. Floppies, however, are one of the main ways for viruses to be introduced into a system.
"I would expect that they will develop a patch to deal with the conflict between the System Doctor and the A: drive, but in the meantime I couldn't live with the temporary fix," Harrington said. His solution? Uninstall Norton Utilities.
