"Symantec Antivirus Auto-Protect Failed to Load"

[roguebanshee]

Can it really be uninstalled, or is it like Norton that completely infects your system?

I installed it briefly yesterday, just to check it out. It seems to have uninstalled correctly.

Can it be set up so that it does *not* run in the background, but can be used to scan files, folders, or the whole system at the user's request?

There were some settings to that effect iirc, but it didn't let you set those things until after installation.

Also worth noting, trying to access the MSSE site in Opera told me that my region wasn't supported. Using IE, I got in just fine. No difference in proxy settings or anything.

Personally, I've been running without a scanner for the last decade at least, and whenever I'm testing a scanner (adware or virus) I come out clean (except some tracker cookies for adware scans). Intelligent browsing is far better security than a background scanner. A proper on-demand scanner may be useful if you're getting a file from a suspicious source, but I wouldn't use MSSE for that.