topic Re: Shortened Full System Computer Scan in Norton 360

Shortened Full System Computer Scan

Sevenzz — Sun, 15 Apr 2012 14:48:01 GMT

Hello

I just updated to 360 6.0 from 5.0. I was able to do a Full System Computer Scan at anytime in 5.0, but I lost that ability in 6.0. Now, I just get a shortened version of the full scan if a full system computer scan was already completed that day.

I went thru settings and tasks but was unable to restore that feature. Will 6.0 allow me to do multiple complete full system computer scans in a 24 hour period?

Re: Shortened Full System Computer Scan

fjk1 — Sun, 15 Apr 2012 15:46:08 GMT

you should if you open the main norton 360 window and at the top click on performance tab then click on norton tasks then full system scan

Re: Shortened Full System Computer Scan

Sevenzz — Sun, 15 Apr 2012 16:29:35 GMT

Hi fjk

Thanks for replying.

I did what you suggested. It will run Full System Scan, but it completes in 4 minutes. A full system scan on this computer should take at least 20 to 30 minutes. It will run for 20 to 30 minutes if I scan once per day. Only 3-4 minutes if I full scan more that once per day.

Re: Shortened Full System Computer Scan

fjk1 — Sun, 15 Apr 2012 16:50:52 GMT

just wondering ,why do you want to scan more than once a day????? you can set it to run at specific intervals from the norton main window click on settings, antivirus,click on scans and risks scroll down to full system scans,across from this is configure ,edit scan run at a specific interval and set the time interval

Re: Shortened Full System Computer Scan

Sevenzz — Sun, 15 Apr 2012 17:24:20 GMT

I turned off Intelligent Skip Scanning and that helped a little. Right now, I think going back to 360 version 5.0 is my best bet.

Re: Shortened Full System Computer Scan

fjk1 — Sun, 15 Apr 2012 17:32:31 GMT

did you try my last post you can set a full system scan for every hour if you desire

Re: Shortened Full System Computer Scan

Sevenzz — Sun, 15 Apr 2012 18:00:35 GMT

In version 4.0 and 5.0, I didn't need to specify a time, I could do a complete full computer scan at will. Something has changed with 6.0.

Re: Shortened Full System Computer Scan

SendOfJive — Sun, 15 Apr 2012 18:30:51 GMT

Hi Sevenzz,

What you are seeing is normal (and actually should have been present in N360 v5, as well). When you run a Full System Scan subsequent to an earlier scan, all files that were found to be clean previously will be skipped. That means the second scan will often only take 5 minutes or so, and the file count will be small. By skipping known-clean files Norton decreases scan times by eliminating unnecessary and time-consuming re-scanning. When a new virus definitions file is received through LiveUpdate, previously skipped files will once again be scanned - this is done to assure that all files on your system have been checked for the very newest threats using the latest signatures. Virus definitions updates are normally released 1 to 3 times per day.

If you check the Total Items Scanned for a given scan, under More Details in the Scan Results log in Norton History , you should see the number of skipped files.

Also, a Full System Scan should normally not need to be done more often than weekly or monthly. The Quick Scans, which run automatically after each virus definitions update, will detect any active threats that are running or could run on the computer. A Full Scan will find any additional dormant threats that may be present in the files, but which do not run and do not present an imminent danger.

Re: Shortened Full System Computer Scan

Sevenzz — Sun, 15 Apr 2012 18:25:08 GMT

Hi SendOfJive!

Thanks for your reply.

I understand what you are saying. It was present in 5.0.

But, in previous versions, I believe turning off Intelligent Skip Scanning allowed all files to be scanned anytime. Just can't do that with 6.0. Intelligent Skip Scanning can be turned off, it just doesn't allow a complete scan. More items are scanned, but not all, like I hoped.

Re: Shortened Full System Computer Scan

Bananas — Sun, 15 Apr 2012 19:11:04 GMT

Hi Sevenzz, --- I believe Intelligent Skip Scanning involves skipping certain non-container file types, as well as scanning a maximum of 2 GB of a compressed file. Turning Intelligent Skip Scanning off would increase the number of files scanned because it would scan the previously omitted file types. --- From what I understand, it is not necessary to rescan files found to be clean with the same definitions; the files are the same. When the definitions are updated, all files are scanned. Similarly, when a file is modified, it is scanned, even if the definitions are not updated, because the file is not identical to when it was previously scanned. ---Edit: readability

Re: Shortened Full System Computer Scan

Sevenzz — Sun, 15 Apr 2012 19:13:26 GMT

Hi Bananas!

Thanks for replying!

I think I have to work on this awile. I'll post my findings.

Re: Shortened Full System Computer Scan

elsewhere — Sun, 15 Apr 2012 21:13:12 GMT

Sevenzz wrote:
Hi SendOfJive!

Thanks for your reply.

I understand what you are saying. It was present in 5.0.

But, in previous versions, I believe turning off Intelligent Skip Scanning allowed all files to be scanned anytime. Just can't do that with 6.0. Intelligent Skip Scanning can be turned off, it just doesn't allow a complete scan. More items are scanned, but not all, like I hoped.

I think the setting you are looking for is controlled by the Scan Performance Profiles setting:

Configuring the Scan Performance Profiles

Change this setting to 'Full Scan' and let us know how you go.

Re: Shortened Full System Computer Scan

Sevenzz — Mon, 16 Apr 2012 12:41:09 GMT

Hello elsewhere!

Thank you very much for the solution! That is exactly what I was looking for.