I think you have been fairly thorough in removing Symantec crap. If you still have something running, the only thing I can think of right now is a system service that is responsible for this. Try start > run > services.msc and start > run > msconfig to find the service responsible and try stopping and disabling it.
You'll need to use the registry to remove..... wtf.. I hear bagpipes playing outside?! .. um... you'll need to use the registry editor to remove the service from the system - it should be under HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\. One of these subfolders contains the service I think you still have running on that system. Remove that entire subfolder to remove the service.
I assume you know of the 'common files' area under Program Files where Symantec stores some files? It may be that the executable that is still running is in there. It may even be that the service is started from that location.
There is another 'common files' area.. since I am on a Vista computer here, I have to make an educated guess as to where it is located on Windows XP, but if I'm not mistaken it is under C:\Documents and Settings\(username here)\Common Files\ or possibly Common Files may be nested under 'application data' or 'local settings'. In any case, you might try removing that as well.
Another step to take is to go into the registry editor, and head to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\ and remove the Symantec subfolder entirely. Also do this for the same folder under HKEY_CURRENT_USER.
If this doesn't fix it for you, I suggest using a 10.000 gauss magnet on the harddrive.
I also happen to agree entirely with you on Symantec. A few years ago, Symantec antivirus 2004 was a decent product in my opinion. Then they switched to 2005 and it turned into bloatware. Then 2006 and 2007 got progressively worse. I stopped using Symantec solutions that were developed after 2004.
I still use ghost 7.5 though. Great tool.
ghost 10, on the windows OS, does a reasonable job, but has been replaced by my favorite program Paragon Partition Manager, which does a whole lot more cool tricks than ghost. In my opinion, ghost 10 is unreliable when it comes to creating backups of a partition. It frequently fails to remove old copies when you create a 'planned backup job' thereby filling up the backup drive and then it just stops backing up entirely, which is totally not useful.
Anyways.. don't shoot my PC or i'll have to steal yours to replace it. My PC is symantec free.
