Unmaintained End-of-Life announcement for Norton Power Eraser

[Parkinsond]

The best and in someways better alternative is Kaspersky Virus Removal Tools

Agree; the most effecient of on-demand scanner, and the most fast.
Tried to scan the whole C and D drive with both NPE and K scanner; NPE took approx 9 hours to finish with bizzare spikes of RAM usage, K scanner took less than 2 hours, with no spikes.

 

[devjitdutta2025]

I don't usually use scanners like this as it’s often an opportunity for these companies to add junk to my system & flog their wares I don't need ?? There are exceptions, maybe Emsisoft??

I also don’t use any scanners, just NPE weekly once and it never found anything. I’m a careful user though. At least for me, it looks like the era of using a secondary scanner is over. ESET and SWH will have to do the job for me. I’ll miss NPE.

 

[Parkinsond]

But you cannot run a system full scan with smart screen as with NPE

That's ture; but even NPE "full scan" is not really full; it scans limited areas in C drive.

When I tried to do a real "full scan" for the whole C and D drives with NPE, it took 9 hours to finish.

 

[Parkinsond]

it looks like the era of using a secondary scanner is over

It is; the justification in the past was using the less-efficient MD.

 

[Sorrento]

So you're comparing NPE to junk without ever even using it?

I first used Norton type stuff 28 years ago & often used Symantec not long ago, looking I have a licence for Norton still - interestingly the Norton uninstaller actually added files to your system if they were not there which is interesting to say the least - As I said I'm not a fan of scanners as often it is a way of encouraging a user to use their products, it very rarely done as a part of 'World Kindness Day' I think you missed the point of my post? I did not say it is junk I said the scanners can add junk, I like to keep my system clean, just my point of view, as the product is discontinued I wont say more.

 

[SeriousHoax]

That's ture; but even NPE "full scan" is not really full; it scans limited areas in C drive.

When I tried to do a real "full scan" for the whole C and D drives with NPE, it took 9 hours to finish.

I never scanned the whole drive with NPE. It is not designed for that purpose. That's the job of a full-time AV scanner. NPE is similar to the quick scan option of AV products. It checks areas where malware usually hide.
Anyway, I think enough has said about NPE. It's good to know in advanced that it's not going to be around anymore.

I first used Norton type stuff 28 years ago & often used Symantec not long ago, looking I have a licence for Norton still - interestingly the Norton uninstaller actually added files to your system if they were not there which is interesting to say the least - As I said I'm not a fan of scanners as often it is a way of encouraging a user to use their products, it very rarely done as a part of 'World Kindness Day' I think you missed the point of my post? I did not say it is junk I said the scanners can add junk, I like to keep my system clean, just my point of view, as the product is discontinued I wont say more.

I see. But it still seems you haven't used Norton Power Eraser itself because it's nothing like Norton or any other AV. There is no upsell or any mention of their AV product. It just scans, that's it.
But you're right, it's pointless to discuss much about a soon to be EOL product.

 

[Parkinsond]

I said the scanners can add junk

Add junk, falsely flag non-malicious files (if deleted, break things; corrupt other AV auditing), wasting time and energy.

 

[nickstar1]

I kinda figured they would but this has been a very useful tool I'm shocked they are getting rid of it. This is still a good tool now i know why Avast didn't implement it into the new norton product...

 

[Sorrento]

I have used it but not recently, I've tried most things in the past but now becoming more luddite in my actions I reckon, anything that keeps us free of the evil ones has or now was a good thing..

 

[Parkinsond]

it's pointless to discuss much about a soon to be EOL product

Agree; RIP NPE.

 

[Parkinsond]

anything that keeps us free of the evil ones has or now was a good thing.

I have enough FP with SAC/WDAC and MD ASR rules; not looking for more by NPE

 

[Shadowra]

Their decisions will affect me in my videos and my work because I use NPE a lot....
I'll have to find another tool. Norton, I hate you.....

 

[Parkinsond]

Their decisions will affect me in my videos and my work because I use NPE a lot....
I'll have to find another tool. Norton, I hate you.....

Why not to make a "reference" malware sample instead of using on-demand scanners at the end of the test?

For example, I am going to test Kaspersky AV.
I get 300 samples, scan them for pre-execution detection, and run the remaining for post-execution detection by ESET, Bitdefender, and Avast.
2 samples not detected by ESET, 4 by Bitdefender, and 3 by Avast; I exclude all those samples.
The remaining 291 (conditioned no overlaping samples between them) are the validated true positive samples (the reference sample).
Then I perform the test with Kaspersky, with no need for more check after I get detection of 290 out of the 291 samples, for example.

 

[Shadowra]

Why not to make a "reference" malware sample instead of using on-demand scanners at the end of the test?

For example, I am going to test Kaspersky AV.
I get 300 samples, scan them for pre-execution detection, and run the remaining for post-execution detection by ESET, Bitdefender, and Avast.
2 samples not detected by ESET, 4 by Bitdefender, and 3 by Avast; I exclude all those samples.
The remaining 291 (conditioned no overlaping samples between them) are the validated true positive samples (the reference sample).
Then I perform the test with Kaspersky, with no need for more check after I get detection of 290 out of the 291 samples, for example.

I'm talking mainly about post-test analysis or disinfection, and NPE was very effective on very stubborn Trojans.
I use it for video and also professionally, like KVRT.
I admit that its closure will complicate things because I can't think of any other tool as effective as it is.

 

[Sorrento]

I've just run it & it does not Like my Hasleo Imager, Kaspersky Standard at all (not surprising) So in my case that’s vacuuming & cleaning not done (instead faffing about on a PC) & now my wife is going to be annoyed I not done that or put new sheets on bed that are still in drier, so grrrrrr - @Shadowra life is cruel at times & forces to adapt

 

[Parkinsond]

I'm talking mainly about post-test analysis or disinfection, and NPE was very effective on very stubborn Trojans.
I use it for video and also professionally, like KVRT.

Using reputable, full AVs (two at least) to create a valid pre-test sample is a more competent method than using post-test on-demand scanner.

 

[devjitdutta2025]

I'm talking mainly about post-test analysis or disinfection, and NPE was very effective on very stubborn Trojans.
I use it for video and also professionally, like KVRT.
I admit that its closure will complicate things because I can't think of any other tool as effective as it is.

You can try mbam free although it won’t be as effective as NPE.

 

[cruelsister]

Their decisions will affect me in my videos and my work because I use NPE a lot....
I'll have to find another tool. Norton, I hate you.....

Totally agree. The only other 2nd opinion scanner on this level is KVRT.

 

[Digmor Crusher]

That's too bad, I use it occasionally.

 

[ForgottenSeer 123960]

I think Norton is miscalculating here. NPE was a top-tier on-demand tool precisely because of its high sensitivity. It wasn't 'user-friendly' in the traditional sense, but for power users who understood the risk of false positives, it was an incredibly powerful asset for deep remediation.