Norton 360

[PeterJM]

I am using Norton 360.5 and every time I try to use PC Tuneup for disk optimization I get an error message "Drive C: busy, retry later" I cannot resolve this. Can someone please help

[David_O]

Would you be able to provide some more detail on your current system information?

1. The operating system that you are using.
2. What version of our product you are using (Standard, Premiere, etc.)

In the meantime, I will test what you are experiencing against Windows 7 and Windows Vista with Norton 360 5 Standard.

Thank You.

[PeterJM]

Thank you, The operating system is Windows XP with SP3. The Norton 360 version is 5.1.0.29. Hope that helps. Incidentally your word verification system keeps playing up and insisting that I have typed the wrong words when I know they were correct – very frustrating!

PeterJM

[David_O]

Hello PeterJM,

I am able to reproduce this error message by forcing another program to access the C: Drive.  The program that started prior to running the Disk Optimization in N360 was the Disk Defrag program built into windows.

Can you check a few things for me?

1. Click on Start --> All Programs --> Accessories --> System Tools --> Scheduled Tasks and see if there are any scheduled tasks set up to auto run.
2. Do you have any other third party programs running such as MalwareBytes Anti Malware?

Thank You.

[PeterJM]

Hello

Thanks for your reply. No, there are no scheduled tasks set to autorun, and I don't have any third party malware programs running.

PeterJM

[David_O]

Hello,

There has to be a program running in the background that is access your C: drive and locking us.  Most of the time, it is a Defragging program or the drive is being Indexed.  You may want to check out this Microsoft page to see if the tool they provide can help you figure out which process it is:  http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/bb896653

Indexing is something that Microsoft does when you install Windows Desktop Search. Also, if you have Google Desktop installed, that can index your drive as well.  You may want to see if either of these two are indexing and pause the service if you can.

[PeterJM]

Hello

I don't have Google Desktop installed and I've not heard of Windows Desktop Search - is it related to Windows Explorer?

Having downloaded the Microsoft tool you quoted I don't know how to work on the large lists it produced - there is supposed to be a helpfile but it refused to open with the comment "navigation to the webpage was cancelled".

PeterJM

[David_O]

Hello Again,

This program is a bit overwhelming.  What we are looking for is the system information window.  You can get there by clicking on View --> System Information.  Once you have that open, you will need to click on the I/O tab.

A screenshot that can help you is located here:  System Information I/O Tab

Once you have that open, you'll want to see if you have any spikes in the Disk view.  If you see lots of blue and purple, that could be the problem.  You can hover your mouse over the area and should give you a name of the program or process that is accessing your hard drive.

Hopefully, this will give some more insight on what is accessing your hard drive.

[PeterJM]

Thank you. I have identified the systems as JQS.EXE;  SYSTEM:4;  CCVCHST.EXE;  IEXPLORE.EXE and EXPLORER.EXE. Hope that helps. I have also taken a screenshot as suggested and have been  trying to attach that to this message ,but it has not proved possible

PeterJM

[David_O]

Hello,

Thank you for finding that information.

CCVCHST.EXE is the Norton Product

SYSTEM is normal

IEXPLORE.EXE is Internet Explorer and would not affect us

EXPLORER.EXE is the main Windows XP environment and would not affect us.

JQS.EXE is a Java Quick Start program that, by definition, "initiates I/O processes frequently if those columns are activated in the Task Manager"

You may wish to disable it temporarily to see if that is the culprit of problem.  You can find information on how to disable it at: http://java.com/en/download/help/quickstarter.xml

In Summary:

1. Disable Java Quick Start
2. Reboot the computer
3. Run the process program again to make sure it is not running (you can also run Task Manager by pressing CTRL + ALT + DEL)
4. If JQS.EXE is not running, try running the scan in Norton to see if you can properly access your C: Drive

Thank you for your patience.