How can I get rid of this Symantec-related error message in console?
Question
I was forced by my company to un-install Synamtec Antivirus on a machine running OS X 10.6.8. Unfortunately, the person who uninstalled Symantec didn't know how to thoroughly get rid of the program. As a result, this error message pops up in the console about every 10 seconds:
4/8/14 6:09:30 PM com.apple.launchd.peruser.503[351] (com.nds.pcshow) Throttling respawn: Will start in 10 seconds
4/8/14 6:09:40 PM com.apple.launchd.peruser.503[351] (com.symantec.quickmenu.application[554]) posix_spawn("/Library/Application Support/Symantec/SymQuickMenu/SymQuickMenu.app/Contents/MacOS/SymQuickMenu", ...): No such file or directory
4/8/14 6:09:40 PM com.apple.launchd.peruser.503[351] (com.symantec.quickmenu.application[554]) Exited with exit code: 1
4/8/14 6:09:40 PM com.apple.launchd.peruser.503[351] (com.symantec.quickmenu.application) Throttling respawn: Will start in 10 seconds
4/8/14 6:09:40 PM com.nds.pcshow[555] sh: /Users/dcjones3/Library/NDSPCShowServer/NDSPCShowServer.bundle/Contents/Resources/launch.sh: No such file or directory
4/8/14 6:09:40 PM com.apple.launchd.peruser.503[351] (com.nds.pcshow[555]) Exited with exit code: 127
What can I do to get rid of these error messages?
Solution
Symantec provides a utility for uninstall
Removing all Norton programs for Mac by using the RemoveSymantecMacFiles removal utility
Alternative Uninstall Methods
A bom file is a "B ill O f M aterials" receipt that includes a list of every file installed and the install locations. If your software was installed using an installer, chances are good that a bom receipt was also installed.
You should be able to find Symantec's bom file by opening /Applications/Utilities/Terminal.app, and typing the command
ls /private/var/db/receipts/ |more
and looking for a file with a name that includes "symantec," something like "com.norton.symantec.bom" or try this command instead
ls /private/var/db/receipts/ |grep symantec
You can view the file, and get the list and locations of all files installed with the Symantec installer with the lsbom command like so (once you have the correct name of the bom file -- I am just guessing):
lsbom /private/var/db/receipts/com.norton.symantec.bom
And you can then remove the files listed there by location manually one by one.
another way to uninstall
You are welcome to use my uninstaller script. The script will place all files installed into the user's Trash. Once you have installed the script's dependencies, xcode, macports, and rmtrash, you can use the script by copying it into a text file and saving it as "installer" somewhere in your $PATH, such as /usr/local/bin/ , and applying the command
chmod +x /usr/local/bin/installer
Here is the uninstaller script:
#!/bin/bash
#uninstaller /private/var/db/receipts/com.url.name.of.app.bom
#uninstall os x application installed with installer -pkg
#using (user) provided bom receipt
#place all installed files and directories in user's Trash
lsbom="/usr/bin/lsbom"
cd="/usr/bin/cd"
sudo="/usr/bin/sudo"
xargs="/usr/bin/xargs"
rmtrash="/opt/local/bin/rmtrash"
lsbom -fls "$1" | (cd /; sudo xargs rmtrash -u $USER)
exit
Installing MacPorts and rmtrash is simple enough once xcode (for Mavericks 10.9 xcode_5.1.1.dmg) is installed. Install xcode, and then enter these commands in Terminal.app :
curl -Ok https://distfiles.macports.org/MacPorts/MacPorts-2.2.1.tar.bz2
tar xf MacPorts-2.2.1.tar.bz2
cd MacPorts-2.2.1
./configure
make
sudo make install #not war!
cd ..
rm -rf Macports-*
sudo /opt/local/bin/port -v selfupdate
export PATH=$HOME/macports/bin:$HOME/macports/sbin:$PATH
export MANPATH=$HOME/macports/share/man:$MANPATH
sudo port -vsc install rmtrash
diskutil quiet repairPermissions /
MacPorts is worth getting to know as it is a mature package manager for OS X that maintains thousands of open source software commands, utilities, and applications, such as ClamAV for example, the finest antivirus software ever developed for *nix-based operating systems like Mac OS X. Apple even includes ClamAV with the Server versions of Mac OS X.
port install -vsc clamav
Originally developed for scanning email for mail servers, it is unmatched antivirus. ClamAV has a pdf user manual.