Norton Internet Security / Norton AntiVirus

[arthurk]

I had two unusual things happen today with NIS 2012 (currently showing 19.7.1.5). (Using Windows 7 64-bit)

First, when I booted the computer the icon in the system tray showed an error state. When I opened the program, it said it needed to do a scan, even though I did a full system scan 6 days ago. I run a full system scan regularly once a week and this has never happened before, so what might have been going on? Anyway, this time I did a quick scan, which cleared the error state, but isn't NIS supposed to run its own quick scans on a regular basis? Looking in my history, it seems like the last quick scan was about 9 days ago.

Secondly, shortly afterwards, following my normal pattern, I did a manual live update and was shocked to find that I needed to download 153MB of updates. From another thread, I gather this may have been the full virus database, and as the computer didn't need a restart afterwards, I think this probably will be the case. Again, this hasn't happened before, so what was going on today? I'm particularly concerned about this as I'm on metered broadband, and too many downloads of this size will take me over the limit.

Another identical computer in the household, which is also booted afresh each day and has a manual live update before doing anything else, was completely normal and didn't experience either of these issues.

The only things I'm aware of that have changed recently are (a) I entered a new product key about 3 days ago for another year's subscription; and (b) yesterday both computers had an unusual warning message in the Windows log about a possible memory leak in Application (C:\Windows\System32\svchost.exe -k LocalServiceNetworkRestricted) - this was around the time they were doing the live update, so I'd wondered if this might be connected. (However, as I said, the other computer was normal today; and there have been no Windows error messages on this computer today.)

Please can anyone suggest what might have been happening, and any settings etc that I might need to check?

Thanks.

[Bombastus]

Could you check to make sure your system time is correct?

[arthurk]

Yes, the system time is fine.

[SendOfJive Norton Fighter]

Hi arthurk,

Actually, it is normal for Norton to complain about missed scans and updates following an extended period during which a PC is shutdown.  Norton does run Idle Time Quick Scans automatically, and if they have not run for several days, you will get an alert when you first start the computer that a scan needs to be run.  You can look up the large update in Norton Security History to see what components it contained.  While updates of this size are infrequent, they do happen now and then - expecially if you have not gotten any updates in almost a week.  It does not sound like this was anything more serious than Norton just needing to get caught up on some missed work.

[arthurk]

I understand what you're saying, but it doesn't really apply. I might not have made it clear in the original post that the computer has been in use every day for several hours at a time, and manual updates are run every day on first booting up. It's also set up to get automatic updates, so there should be no question of the definitions database getting out of date.

Also, there should have been plenty of opportunity for it to run a quick scan. The other computer isn't used as much and is rarely idle, but that still manages to keep itself up to date with quick scans. So why hasn't this one?

[MagnusLindh Super Contributor]

Hey

Have you tried Norton Autofix and see what will happen and what it will say.

Right click on the Norton icon in the lower right corner and go and press the button Support.

(I have the swedish version of NIS 2012, so think this is the right way to go)

Are you having any problems with your subscription Status, you can check this via NIS UI (User interface) = About & Support = Subscription Status, this will check that your Norton Subscripttion status and see if its up to date.

Thanks

Sweman

[arthurk]

Thanks - I've just tried the Autofix and it gave this result:

Norton Internet Security
19.7.1.5
Error: 0, 0
Windows 7 Home Premium
(Details of Windows version, processor etc removed)
Norton Autofix Results: 1 item(s)
Installation :: Success

While it was running it said it was repairing the installation, but does "Error: 0, 0" mean there weren't any errors? Has it just checked it and not found anything wrong?

The subscription status is fine. It was renewed less than a week ago and both the online account and the program information give it correctly as having >360 days remaining.

Finally to update my previous message re computer usage:

I have an old XP laptop as the 3rd computer on the licence, and this only gets booted up occasionally. When it's a week or more since it was last used then NIS does show an error state re definitions, but it's still never needed to download anything like 153MB of updates, and unless there's been a program update it's never been more than about 10-12MB.