Fatal Exception 0E in VXD SYMEvent

After upgrading 2 systems to Win98SE, I was experiencing the following error:
Err Msg: A Fatal Exception 0E Has Occurred at 0028:<XXXXXXXX> in VXD SYMEvent(02)
mostly when trying to open a DOS-window.

I first could not find a solution, so I posted the problem in a newsgroup, where I got a reply within
4 hours pointing me to the solution:
I had on both system pcAnywhere installed, which I only use as client.
One of the modules to work in host-mode was causing the problem, see below the information from
the Microsoft Knowledge base Q189655 and from the Symantec Knowledge Base:
This solution disabled the possibility on the system to run as pcAnywhere host, the other
solution would be to updrade to the latest version of the Symantec product.

Q189655:

Err Msg: A Fatal Exception 0E Has Occurred at 0028:<XXXXXXXX>

The information in this article applies to:

• Microsoft Windows 98
• Microsoft Windows 95

IMPORTANT: This article contains information about editing the registry. Before you edit the registry, make sure you understand how to restore it if a problem occurs. For information about how to do this, view the "Restoring the Registry" Help topic in Regedit.exe or the "Restoring a Registry Key" Help topic in Regedt32.exe.

SYMPTOMS

After you install Windows, you may receive the following error message when Windows starts:

A Fatal Exception 0E has occurred at 0028:XXXXXXXX in VXD SYMEvent(02)+XXXXXXXX.

CAUSE

This behavior can occur if an older version of a Symantec program (such as Norton AntiVirus) is installed.

RESOLUTION

WARNING: Using Registry Editor incorrectly can cause serious problems that may require you to reinstall your operating system. Microsoft cannot guarantee that problems resulting from the incorrect use of Registry Editor can be solved. Use Registry Editor at your own risk.

For information about how to edit the registry, view the "Changing Keys And Values" Help topic in Registry Editor (Regedit.exe) or the "Add and Delete Information in the Registry" and "Edit Registry Data" Help topics in Regedt32.exe. Note that you should back up the registry before you edit it.

To resolve this issue, disable the Symantec Symevnt.386 file. To do so, follow these steps:

1. Use Registry Editor to delete the following registry key, if it exists:
   HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\VxD\SymEvnt
   
2. Click Start, click Run, type sysedit, and then click OK.
   
3. On the Window menu, click System.ini.
   
4. On the Search menu, click Find.
   
5. In the Find box, type symevnt.386, and then press ENTER.
   
6. Place a semicolon (;) at the beginning of the line that contains "symevnt.386."
   
7. On the File menu, click Save, and then click Exit on the File menu.
   
8. Restart your computer.
   
9. After Setup has finished successfully, reinstall the Symantec program. If the problem continues to occur, contact Symantec for additional information.
   

MORE INFORMATION

The Symevnt.386 file is part of the "Symantec Event Handler," which is actually a set of files named Symevnt.386, Symevnt1.dll, and S32evnt1.dll. These Norton files monitor system information and report that information to Norton AntiVirus and other Symantec utilities.

The third-party product discussed in this article is manufactured by a vendor independent of Microsoft; we make no warranty, implied or otherwise, regarding this product's performance or reliability.

You can find additional information about updating Norton products at the Symantec Web site at:

http://www.symantec.com

Symantec Knowledge Base:

Manually Removing SYMEVNT from Windows 9x

Situation:
You need to remove SYMEVNT from your system and need to do so manually.

Solution:
CAUTION
SYMEVNT is a shared component used by several Symantec products. Removing SYMEVNT from your system will adversely affect some or all of your Symantec applications.

Manually removing SYMEVNT is a two-step procedure: removing the SYMEVNT files and deleting a registry key.

Removing the files

• 1. Using the Windows Explorer, navigate to the following folder: ..\Program Files\Symantec
  2. Highlight and delete the following files:
  • S32evnt1.dll
  • Symevent.sys
  • Symevnt.386
  • Symevnt1.dll

  3. Navigate to the following folder: ..\Windows\System
  4. Highlight and delete the following files

  • S32evnt1.dll
  • Symevnt.386
  • Symevnt1.dll

Removing the registry key

• 1. Click Start, and choose Run. The Run window appears.
  2. In the Open field, type regedit and then click OK. The Registry Editor appears.
  3. Navigate to the following key:
  
  HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\VxD\
  
  4. Highlight the SYMEVNT key and then press Delete.
  5. Close the Registry Editor.
  6. Restart Windows.

Restoring SYMEVNT
You can restore SYMEVNT to your Windows 9x system by downloading and executing the self-installing file SEVINST.EXE. This file is available from the following sources:

Web page: http://www.symantec.com/techsupp/files/symevnt/symevnt.html
FTP site: ftp://ftp.symantec.com/public/english_us_canada/symevnt/sevinst.exe

Windows NT
It is possible to manually uninstall SYMEVNT from a Windows NT workstation. However, there are few, if any, situations where this should be necessary and, once done, you cannot reinstall SYMEVNT using the SEVINST.EXE file. You have to reinstall one of Symantec's applications that use SYMEVNT.