Possible conflict between Group Policy Services GPSvc and Norton Security

[JMR1942]

Can anyone advise whether they've found that installing Norton Security 2016 causes GPSvc (after a few bootups) to disappear from the Local Software part of the Windows 10 registry? I've now had this happen on two Win 10 computers (my Lenovo Thinkpad and my Surface Pro 3). When GPSvc stops working (actually I get a message on bootup that it is no longer operative for 'standard' users, but in reality it affects even Administrator usage), my File Explorer does not work right, none of the Windows Store Apps like Mail and Calendar will work or even launch, GPSvc stops working (even though it was set to Automatic), the GPSvc keys go missing from the Local\Software part of the registry, and the computer becomes largely useless to me. I started focusing on installation of the new Norton Security 2016 as the potential culprit because it's been my practice, with a new computer or new OS, to install antivirus close to last; i.e., first load favorite Windows Store Apps, next load Office 365 apps, next load third party utilities (password vault, Beyond Compare, very simple non-invasive programs), next load Quicken, that kind of thing. In between program additions, I'll run Create Restore Point and label what's just been added, and work the computer through a number of tasks and a few reboots, before going to the next installation. That way, I'm fairly confident, now, that after I loaded Norton Security, and when thereafter my system operations degraded over the course of the next few reboots (as described above), the problem somehow arose when Norton displaced Windows Defender. Here's further evidence: after the first instance of such degradation occurred on my Surface, I ran a full Refresh of the computer, which of course wiped away Norton and all my other programs I'd installed; as I reinstalled sequentially, everything was fine, but then after I reinstalled Norton, a few bootups later, the GPSvc problem happened again. This time I did not do a full Refresh, but went back to an earlier pre-Norton Restore Point, and the computer works fine. I'm afraid to reinstall Norton. I just don't know how robust the protection is under Windows Defender. Any advice?

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