MATLAB: Do I receive a MATLAB error at startup after installing Symantec Endpoint Protection 11

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After installing Symantec antivirus Endpoint Protection 11.x, MATLAB no longer starts, and I receive the following error:
 MATLAB.exe - Application Error
 The application failed to initialize properly (0xc0000005). Click on OK to terminate the application.

Best Answer

This issue arises because of Symantec Endpoint Protection version 11.x. Symantec implements their protection logic in a DLL (c:\WINNT\system32\sysfer.dll) that must load at address 0x61750000 which falls within the default shield's protection range (0x50000000-0x70000000).
This issue is caused by the shield that the starter executable ($MATLABROOT\bin\matlab.exe) puts up in its effort to prevent DLLs from fragmenting free address space.
To work around this issue, modify the Windows shortcut used to launch MATLAB to contain the "-shield none" flag. The Windows shortcut is the icon (generally on the Windows Desktop) that you use to start MATLAB. To add the " -shield none" option, right-click on the icon, select Properties, and then add the words " -shield none" in the Target field after "\matlab.exe".
Note: If you implement this workaround you may see a reduction in the largest contiguous block of free address space available for large matrices.
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