This is my first post to this forum and it is a bit OT. I have just installed NIS 2004 and ran into grave problems.Before I had no problems with NIS 2002 or Vue4. After the first installation of NIS 2004 I had problems running both NIS and Vue4. NIS refused to scan and Vue seized up particularly when editing the terrain. After the seize ups there was a dominos effect with Poser5, OE and the optical mouse until I had to shut down the computer manually. There seemed to be a "fight" over module kernel32.dll.I got a message that Vue had caused an invalid page fault in that library at 018f:bff714ac. Symantec gave me loads of documentation to deal with what they concluded was that NIS had been installed with one or more corrupt files. I followed instructions and re-installed NIS cold. NIS running OK until I ran Vue, had same problem but the message box was empty apart from the close button and NIS would not open until I rebooted. I un-installed NIS - Vue 4 ran OK. I then un-installed Vue4 and re-installed NIS cold, running OK. Next I re-installed Vue4 normally again NIS ran OK but Vue 4 seized up and then NIS would not run. I have sent another email to Symantec and am awaiting their reply and will send a copy of this message to e-on software but wondered if anyone else had met this problem and to warn others of the possible conflict between NIS 2004 and Vue4 both original and the latest versions.

I had horrible problems running NIS2003 on XP Pro. It installed with "corrupt files". At one point, my machine just kept rebooting. What a mess. And I had trouble with many apps, not just Vue. Finally uninstalled it - by the way, after running their uninstall, I had to spend two hours cleaning out my registry - very poor uninstall on Norton's part. Anyway, I ended up installing Zone Alarm Pro which just runs and doesn't bother anything. My advice? Get rid of NIS. It just isn't worth the hassle.

You can probably blame this on NIS. Symantec has been taking a LOT of heat in the press about complaints from users (like yourself) who have been having numerous problems with the new version of NIS. Same thing with the new version of Norton Anti-Virus. My advice: stay away from all things Symantec.

Thank you both for your advice. Strangely I have been using Symantec for years without a problem and Windows 98 is pretty stable but I'll certainly look into Zone Alarm. And no it is not only Vue that is affected. Once Vue has seized up there is a domino effect and Poser, OE, IE and even NIS itself may seize up and I have to re-boot. It sounds as if a .dll used by other programmes has been changed. I've had a similar experience with a Windows update in the past.

I also use ZoneAlarm Pro and love it. I USED to be a big fan of Symantec and their various Norton products (always upgraded to the latest versions when they came out), but, to combat piracy, they have taken some pretty irritating anti-piracy measures that MAY be at the root of many of the problems people have been experiencing (at least, the problems have been coincident with the anti-piracy measures, if not actually caused by them). Symantec has taken a "who cares" stance and not done much to address the issues. So, I, for one, have decided to say "who cares right back atcha" and have stopped buying Symantec. Do yourself a favor and avoid Symantec like the plague.

P.S. If you need to replace Symantec's anti-virus program, check out Panda Anti-Virus Titanium 2004. I use it and like it. Not quite as mature yet as the Symantec product, but getting there ... and a lot less installation/performance headaches! Virus updates can be automatic when you're online. Pretty fast downloads even over dial-up. Be sure you understand how it works in conjuction with email (don't wanna let email go unprotected!).

Have to agree with bitplayer: avoid Symantec desktop products. I ditched all mine two years ago. Also had similar problems with McAfee. I'm using AVG 7 for anti-virus (www.grisoft.com) and Outpost Pro 2 for firewall (www.agnitum.com). I've also converted all my clients to it. I used to work in IT security so asked some old contacts to try and break these two products using industry strength tools. They couldn't and have switched to using AVG and are trialling Outpost Pro. AVG is also very cheap: 33.30 USD for two years! In the IT Security trade publications, AVG consistently scores 100% virus detection rates. There's a trial of v7 available on the site plus v6 is free for non commercial use and updates are still released for it. AVG also works well with Outlook & Outlook Express and offers plugins for more esoteric e-mail clients like "The Bat!" (www.ritlabs.com). The real beauty about AVG and Outpost is that they can be shut down completely leaving no processes / services running. This is really handy for avoiding conflicts and freeing up clock cycles when rendering.