I have found buying from online game stores my anti-virus deletes the game, and does it without notifying me. I use nortan, the history in Nortan Internet Security can be recovered, but Im now on a differrent AV program Nortan360 where you cant recover a deleted file from history(at least the file I was trying to recover didnt allow it King arthor 2).

I bought CMBN with the addon from Battlefront , but the addon got deleted by NIS, but I was able to recover the file from history.

I bought a few games from matrix, all game files got deleted also, untill I switched off some options and then re-downloaded.

I use gamersgate and Gog & they both have downloaders, and work brilliant. the AV did delete king arthor 2, but the option to restart installer worked after I switched off some options. 

my AV deletes files and you get only so many Download chances, Im not an expert on AV and I dont want to not be able to get my download.

Im posting here because Im sad I dont even consider Matrix games anymore, My Simple Question & Request is Matrix & other online download retailers ,  can they use zips instead of exe files? OR have the choice of zip/exe?. I wont buy untill they state its a zip anymore. I know you can say get another AV but Nortan are first class at keeping my computer safe.

gameleaper this sounds ridiculous.

99% of what I download from anywhere is an .exe

Whether it be mods or games and I do not have a problem.

It seems that Norton is the problem not the game manufacturers.

A few things may have happened:

a) There really are virus infections in these files - unlikely.

b) Somebody reported these sites or .exe files as virus infected.

c) Norton settings are too high and will delete any .exe file.

I suggest that a setting in norton is the problem and if worse comes to worse a refresh of these setting

to defaults should be considered. Norton support also being a valid option.

Norton seems to be conspicuous by its absence here? There is no doubt norton is good but it also must be remembered that viruse programs are always playing catch up and generally leap frog each other. There is never a solid leader.

http://www.av-comparatives.org/

http://www.av-comparatives.org/images/stories/test/ondret/avc_fd_mar2012_intl_en.pdf

P.S. Most anti-virus programs these days will look inside zip files for .exe files.

exe files are targets for viruses, zips tend to be safer they are compressed and NOT accessable to viruses without them being uncompressed first. If you download from many differrent sites you will find zips are the most common and were designed for the net the smaller size suits downloading,antivirus programs normaly wont look in a zip by default and would not delete a zip just quaranteen , but the common online games sites seem to use exe .Nortan I could live with before when I could recover from history, but 360 didnt allow me to recover KA2 from GG untill I switched off some features. The matrix games I downloaded last/this year all got deleted by nortan,so Im not going to buy from Matrix unless its a zip . your right I need to switch off some over done features.

My post wasnt a stab at the online gameing retailers, it was a genuin wish they could supply zips, its just to offen now the files have been quarentined, and with N360 no history recovery. (I could be in need of reducesing the features I admit)

Maybe everybody else is having an easier time of it, sorry If Im the only guy out here with this problem, please try for yourself as Ive not heard anybody else complain

Generally Norton will nuke any file with less than 100 norton users---which means new releases on release day, beta, and so on. I really dislike norton-and the program should 'ask' before it takes such action. Recovering is a nightmare in the obtuse GUI setup as well. I petty those new to computers that have this happen to them.

I think ghostryder you have hit the nail on the head, that makes sence after what has been happening to me with nortan

Yes Ghostryder seems to have hit the nail on the head. 

Its a good way to stay safe though. But I believe as Ghost said that Norton should prompt. Of course as soon as it does the user will say yes and open the way to infection. There is no easy answer to virus protection.

As for the GUI being obtuse. I believe this is done in most AV programs these days on purpose to confuse virus attempting to disable it and to prevent the user from accidentally leaving themselves open. A lot of AV programs are NEVER completely disabled even if the user specifically wants them to be and the AV program tells the user it is. The only way to truly disable a lot of AV programs is to uninstall them.

Some also have a special disable process that involves hunting down a file in the AV folder.

Stay safe and frosty

Solution:

Don't use Norton.

I've recommended that to people quite often.  Only some of them bother to change.

I have the same problem with Battlefront (Combat Mission Shockforce & Normandy).  However I use

AVG internet Suite.

I'm told it is the E-License part of the exe file that is detected as a trojan.

The exe file is always moved to the Quarantine.

Wait for windows 8

I believe this is going to have AV built in that will prompt to be activated "if" it notices no AV is installed.

If this stays and is not anti-competitive a lot of AV companies will die.

Nortan seems to be installed on every PC I buy, Like IExplorer. It seems to be the most common so it should be better supported . Im stuck with it for a year as all 3PCs have got it installed, I dont know if I will change it, it may be good vs bad protection.

I had simular with the commonwealth addon to CMBN, I had to restore it and flag it as trusted.

window 8 IM hopeing for a fix

I've always found Microsoft Security Essentials, MalwareBytes, Advanced Care and Unhackme to be sufficient AV covers. Unhackme is probably the best thing that every happened to computers because it detects what others don't and actually fixes the issue that the virus made. One of the worst viruses I ever got turned every file and folder into a "hidden" one an Unhackme turned them all back.

Ive heard of  Microsoft Security Essentials free like AVG, but if your buying games online a Paid AV is more comforting to me, but  Microsoft Security Essentials is made by Microsoft so they have the edge over AVG.

I like Avira more than AVG. AVG lost the plot some time back.

I should have another look at AVcomparatives and see if its back in the hot seat.

thanks for the AVcomparatives link, could prove usefull

Gameleaper,

I have used norton for countless years and for the most part it has been good to me and has blocked some potential threats that could have messed me up.  I purchase my games at all the places you mention and I don't encounter the same issues you describe so I am thinking it might be how it is configured. Don't get me wrong, very rarely I do get the issue where it auto deletes a file,but usually that is from a place that many people haven't downloaded before like ghost said.  Can't recall ever having the issue withe the companies you mentioned, althought one time it did block my gamers gate installer so I just had to add it to not be blocked and have never experienced an issue again.

Not saying norton is the greatest thing out there, but I personally have not seen the issues to the degree they get reported.  I am sure each av has its own unique problems.

Norton is famous for false positives and I would never ever install it on anything. 

If you expect to use your machine to do anything more than word, photos and mail then Norton will almost certainly prevent you doing it. 

The amount of pain it causes us is ridiculous and customers blame us, when the issue is with Norton but they dont understand that. 

thanks grim I will look at my settings it seems to be non virus detection where it just suspects a strange behaving file. have you bought from matrix recently? I always get zapped there, but I get it ok if I set sonar and other options off.

Thanks Iain , its not just me then, other nortan users get it too

Originally Posted By gameleaper (19 JUN 2012 4:01am)

thanks grim I will look at my settings it seems to be non virus detection where it just suspects a strange behaving file. have you bought from matrix recently? I always get zapped there, but I get it ok if I set sonar and other options off.

Not sure how long ago, but my most recent games from matrix include conflict of heroes, expansion for distant worlds, and one of the close combat games.

I used to use Norton as well, and encountered many of the problems described above.  Some years back when my license came up for its annual renewal, I asked around & opted for Avast antivirus.  Its free, powerful, and does not get in the way of my own purposeful activies online like Norton and McAfee does.  I highly recommend it.

http://www.avast.com/en-us/index

thanks for the link Blakjack, Ive used it years ago and it was ok then.

My best experience with buying games online trouble free is GOG.COM their downloader is a great, maybe they could licence it out. strange thing is Gog creates exe files. 

Originally Posted By gameleaper (19 JUN 2012 3:14am)

Nortan seems to be installed on every PC I buy, Like IExplorer. It seems to be the most common so it should be better supported . Im stuck with it for a year as all 3PCs have got it installed, I dont know if I will change it, it may be good vs bad protection.

 

 

 

 

You can Uninstall Norton from the Control Panel>Programs section, just like any other program.  Although it takes a long time, and they've intentionally made it a pain in the ass (in the past).  Last time I checked, it's easy... they probably took too much heat years ago. 

I've been using Avast for years now, and they recently added a Sandbox mode that's a bit overzealous... so I went in, clicked it off (with one click yay!) and don't have to put up with my AV trying to quarantine or Sandbox every gd@mn thing I run.   And it's free.

Originally Posted By Iain McNeil (19 JUN 2012 3:59am)

 

If you expect to use your machine to do anything more than word, photos and mail then Norton will almost certainly prevent you doing it. 

 

 I love that quote from Iain.

Look at it from my perspective, Ive got not one PC with Symantec Endpoint Protection(Norton) but over a thousand.

Dont get me started on Backup Exec and how its slide downhill from v12.5 to v2012.

I use Norton. I have most Matrix games and a couple of hundred others.

When I download it arsk me if I want it or not.

I say "Yes" and my new toy is here ready to join the queue of unplayed treasures

cheers

Ibelieve the only thing that really keeps Norton alive is the packages they get via internet providers. Here in Houston as an example anyone who gets comcast (xfinity) also is privy to Norton with the account. AT&T-the closest competitor-offers Macaffe to theirs. Neither is on my recommend list but if your getting it as a freeby via your provider then I can understand why people still use it. I cannot understand actually laying out $50 for it when there's tons better out there that do not hijack your whole system the way both of these do.

BTW one of the most frequent calls I had at Microsoft was repairing Windows after someone tried to remove Norton from their system. To this day 10 years latter  it is still a multistep process involving downloading removal tools directly from Norton. If you do not follow the removal process exactly you will really mess up Wimdows big time.