Norton Power Eraser
 | It has been suggested that this article be merged into Norton Insight. (Discuss) Proposed since January 2012. |
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| Developer(s) | Symantec Corporation |
|---|---|
| Stable release |
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Norton Power Eraser is a small portable executable, using Norton Insight in-the-cloud application ratings to scan the system. It checks in which list the application is. If it's in the list of trusted applications, it leaves it on the system. If it's in the list of bad applications, it marks it for deletion. If it's unknown and not in any list, it reports it as suspicious, but does not mark it for removal. Instead it recommends a "remote scan", which will upload the file to Symantec's servers to check it with virus definitions.
Effectivness
Power Eraser is very aggressive[1] to unknown threats, since they won't be whitelisted and will be marked for removal or sent for analysis. The tool also features rootkit scanning, which requires system restart. Threat removal is also performed after restart, on the next boot, to avoid the self protection of viruses and trojans.
Norton Power Eraser has an issue where it identifies Photoshop as a threat. However, the only issue the program says is that "there is a problem with the shortcut" - thinking that you are simply fixing a deadlink shortcut, Norton Power Eraser removes the program and saved files. If you discover missing programs after running Norton Power Eraser, you can run Norton Power Eraser to review past repair sessions and undo them. [2] http://security.symantec.com/nbrt/npe.aspx
References
- ^ http://security.symantec.com/nbrt/npe.aspx?lcid=1033
- ^ Cite error: The named reference
undefinedwas invoked but never defined (see the help page).
Norton Power Eraser has an issue where it identifies Photoshop as a threat. However, the only issue the program says is that "there is a problem with the shortcut" - thinking that you are simply fixing a deadlink shortcut, Norton Power Eraser removes the program and saved files. If you discover missing programs after running Norton Power Eraser, you can run Norton Power Eraser to review past repair sessions and undo them. [1] http://security.symantec.com/nbrt/npe.aspx