Hi Shalie:
Welcome to the Norton community.
"Idle scan" could mean any of the background tasks that run during idle mode, including an Idle Full System Scan or an Insight Optimizer disk defrag. You may be able to determine which specific task is the problem if you go to the Norton Tasks window at Performance | Norton Tasks and check the Last Run date of each task.
If you're certain that you've cleaned off all traces of AVAST, please see BugOutMachine's thread here titled NIS 2012 Optimization Function Will Not Stop Running. There are instructions posted there for performing a clean re-install of NIS 2012 using the Norton Removal Tool that might solve the problem. Once NIS is re-installed you can disable the Insight Optimizer (in NIS 2011, it's Settings | Miscellaneous Settings | Idle Time Optimizer | OFF) and just let your native Windows Disk Defragmenter handle your disk defrags if you wish.
If a clean re-install of NIS 2012 doesn't help, post back and let us know how much RAM you have on your system. If you're just low on memory we may be able to re-configure some Norton tasks or help you disable some unnecessary programs that are automatically loading at Windows startup.
I have MBAM Pro on my computer and as yank already mentioned, it won't interfere with NIS as long as you disable the real-time protection in MBAM (i.e., click the Protection tab and uncheck the Enable Protection Module feature). MBAM is an excellent on- demand scanner for performing manual scans and if you decline the 15-day trial period for the advanced Pro features the next time you install MBAM the real-time protection feature should be automatically disabled.
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Windows Vista Home Premium 32-bit SP2 * NIS 2011 v. 18.6.0.29 * IE 9.0 * Firefox 8.0.0
HP Pavilion dv6835ca, Intel Core2Duo CPU T5550 @ 1.83 GHz, 3.0 GB RAM, NVIDIA GeForce 8400M GS
Shalie wrote:Thank you for replying.
I uninstalled AVAST before installing Norton IS 2012. I used the link you provided to remove all the remaining fragments. I had Malwarebytes Pro trial version. I replaced it with the free version before I installed Norton. To be on the safe side, I uninstalled Malwarebytes after receiving your reply.
Even after these steps, Norton's idle scan is still locking the computer up. No change.
I installed Norton IS 2012 and Norton Utilities 15 at the same time from CDs. I purchased the set at Costco. I had no problem with the install.
Sincerely,
Shalie
Hi, Shalie. There is a high probability that the Install of NIS that you did from the CD ran into interference from the "mortal remains" of Avast - that weren't properly uninstalled by its standard removal procedure.
This is quite common - especially if you did not reboot after you uninstalled Avast and before you installed NIS.
To solve your problem, we need to perform a "clean" install. To do that, you must completely remove all traces of both your existing Norton installation - as well as the preceding Avast installation. You then reinstall NIS - but only after all the "mortal remains" of both the not-working-properly version of NIS and the incomplete uninstall of Avast are removed from your System.
To completely remove both your existing NIS and your incomplete uninstall of Avast - please download:
1. A fresh copy of the Norton Removal Tool - which you get from: www.norton.com/nrt
2. A fresh copy of the Avast Removal Tool - as noted by yank - from: www.avast.com/uninstall-utility
3. A fresh copy of the NIS 2012 Install from: www.norton.com/nis12
4. Save all three files to your desktop for use in future.
5. If you use the Norton Identity Safe process to automate logging into various websites - export your existing Identity Safe data to a safe place before you begin the following steps. There are three options. You can back up to your Vault at your Norton Account, you can back up to a datafile on your Computer, or you can do both. Select whichever option(s) you think appropriate.
6. To actually start the removal process - you need to do a complete uninstall of NIS in its currently-messed-up form. Use Control Panel and Add/Remove Programs for your first run. Do not skip this step. It is important, along with the reboot requested at the end of the standard uninstall process. With NIS uninstalled, confirm that the Windows Firewall is active and working - in order to protect you during the rest of the uninstall and reinstall procedures.
Note: In all the procedures for NIS detailed both in Item 6 and in the following steps, select the option during the uninstall that completely removes all traces of NIS from your system. Yes, this will cause you to lose your NIS settings. This cannot be helped. Your existing install of NIS is messed up. There is no point in conserving the messed up settings - or you may be forced to run the entire procedure detailed here all over again - this time ensuring that you remove all traces of the previous configuration. So, you might as well get it right from the start.
7. Once you have rebooted and the uninstall process from NIS has removed as much of NIS as it can - you then need to run the Norton Removal Tool. This is a more-thorough form of uninstall - which will completely remove all traces of the messed-up installation of NIS that may not have been properly removed using the standard uninstall process. You need to reboot at the end of the NRT uninstall process.
8. Run the Norton Removal Tool a second time. On this second run, the Norton Removal tool should not ask you to perform a reboot at the end of the removal process. Reboot anyway.
9. Run the Norton Removal Tool again. On this third run, the Norton Removal Tool again should not ask you to perform a reboot. Reboot anyways.
10. Once you have two consecutive runs of the Norton Removal Tool without a request for reboot - and you have rebooted after each of those two runs anyways - you have successfully removed all the "bits and pieces" left behind from the original NIS install. At this point, your machine should be "as it was" just after your original Avast removal.
11. Now, run the Avast removal tool again. Run it a couple of times - with reboots between the runs - in the same way that you ran the Norton Removal Tool. This is the best way to ensure all the "mortal remains" of Avast have been removed. You should now have a "clean" machine - with no bits-and-pieces left from either Symantec or Avast. At this point, you can reinstall NIS and it should integrate itself properly with Windows - without interference from "supposedly uninstalled" products.
To reinstall NIS:
1. You have two options. You can reinstall from your NIS 2012 CD, or you can use the downloaded copy of the NIS 2012 installer from www.norton.com/nis12
Note: The downloaded copy from the nis12 site is newer than what is available on your CD. The nis12 download is not current (you will still have to run Live Update) but the downloaded version has an improved install routine that may help in avoiding problems with integrating the install into Windows. It is my personal preference to use the updated installer from the nis12 site as just another way of trying to bulletproof the reinstall procedure.
2. To start the install from the downloaded, double-click the file and allow it to unpack itself. The install procedure will start automatically, with a screen that looks similar to what you see when installing from the CD. Allow NIS to install itself using the install files from the download.
3. At the end the install process, NIS will ask you for your Product Key. Use the Product Key from your CD. You now have a valid "base install" of NIS 2012.
Note: This install is utterly identical in performance to what you get from the CD. All that has changed is you have a better chance of getting a bulletproof install using the newer version of the NIS installer in the download. However, the full installation of NIS is not yet complete. This is just what is required to ensure you have no corruption on your system that may interfere with the operation of NIS. See the following for the further details that should help you avoid further problems.
To bring NIS completely up-to-date:
With the base-install of NIS 2012 in place, you have the NIS 2012 Version 19.1.x.x Engine installed. You can confirm which Engine is installed in NIS by going to Help/About from the NIS Control Panel and noting the Version number detailed there. The Version number you want to see is Version 19.2.0.10 or better. However, with only the base install in place - you're not there yet.
Details regarding your problem, along with the update procedure which gets you to the latest Engine - are as follows:
1. The NIS 2012 Version 19.1.x.x Engine has a known problem which manifests similarly to the problem you originally described. Symantec have fixed this bug - and the fix is applied automatically as part of Live Update. Because the fix didn't work for you - something must have interfered with the fix. Thus, the reason for the full-pull uninstall and the "clean" reinstall detailed above.
2. So, what you detailed in your original post may be a consequence of the way the outdated version of NIS 2012 performed Idle Scans. In the earlier versions of NIS 2012 - which are what you install by default from the CD or from the nis12 website - NIS is known to "hog" the CPU while performing idle scans. The machine is not really "locked up", but the CPU is occupied 100% by the idle scan and it looks like you can't do anything.
3. If you wait long enough after clicking anything else (sometimes minutes) - something other than the idle scan will be able to get a foot in edgewise and grab some of the CPU. You will then (eventually) see the screen repaint with the new window. But still, not much will happen with the CPU occupied the vast majority of the time with the idle scan. So, not much help.
4. As mentioned above, Symantec have fixed this problem. However, this fix is a "point upgrade". It's a large download which replaces the default NIS Engine installed from the NIS 2012 CD or the nis12 website (which is Version 19.1.x.x) with the newer Engine (which is Version 19.2.x.x). This "point upgrade" is automatically delivered as part of the normal Live Update procedure.
5. However, there is a possible "gotcha". If you install NIS and depend upon its automatic Live Update to get the new Engine, it may take as long as a couple of days for you to work your way through the preliminary updates to get to the point where the Engine Update can be installed. Thus, you may get "stuck" with the old engine and its "hogging" behaviour - if a scan is initiated before the Engine Update to Version 19.2.x.x can be performed.
Note: Another thing to be aware of - even if the new Engine has been downloaded and installed - the old Engine is not fully replaced - nor is the new engine fully activated - until a full Reboot is performed after the new Engine is installed.
6. The way you bypass the "waiting" and get the new Engine running fully and completely as quickly as possible is to run Live Update manually - immediately after the reinstall of NIS 2012. At the end of the Manual Live Update, you may or may not be prompted to reboot. If prompted, reboot. No matter what happens, Live Update manually again. If prompted at the end of the Manual Live Update to reboot, you reboot as directed. You keep repeating this cycle (it is normally no more than 3 or 4 times - but yes, it could be more) until Live Update tells you it is completely up to date. At least one of those updates will tell you it needs a reboot to be activated. NIS is updated with the Version 19.2.x.x Engine as part of a reboot.
7. Once Live Update informs you it is completely up to date - go into Help/About from the NIS Control Panel and check your Version Number. It should show as: Version 19.2.0.10 or later.
8. Now, let your idle time expire and see what happens when you move the mouse or do something else which should give you back your machine. You should see that NIS has paused the scan (which is why your machine "comes back to you"). NIS will automatically resume the scan the next time the machine is idle. This process will repeat - as many times as is necessary - until the scan (whatever kind it is) has completed. And regardless of circumstance, whenever you want the machine for your own purposes, the Idle Scan will "yield" to your wishes and give you back your machine. Tada... Fixed! 
Note: The above procedure has solved the problem you described in your original post for several others on the board who have been in similar situations as yourself. I expect your experience will match their successes.
9. If the Idle Scan does not run as described in Item 8 above - then report back to us here and we will move on to the next step in the investigation.
Hope this helps.
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