Problem running Live update on a dial up connection

jewel21 · ‎04-23-2012

Hi, I've recently encountered a problem with live update. Live Update has been telling me for the last 16 days that I have 173 mb to download. I've never had an download this big with Norton and with a dial-up connection I'd have to stay connected to the internet for at least 10 hrs. And seeing as how I don't live alone, that is impossible.

Usually, whenever I would go offline, and re-connect, my downloads would resume where they left off but now they keep going back to the original 173 mb to download. And as a result, both Norton and windows were sending me messages telling me that my computer may be at risk.

On Saturday, after 13 days of being unable to update my virus definitions, I had my uncle download what I believe was the April 20th dat release, put it on a thumb drive and I then installed it on my computer. Instantly, everything seemed fine, Norton said my computer was now up-to-date, etc.

However, when I clicked on live update, it said that once again I had another 173 mb to download. Did I miss a previous download? Is there a way to get a link to that download so I can manually apply it to my computer?

As it stands, Norton is now telling me my definition updates haven't been updated in 19 hrs and the numbers keep climbing.

Why are the updates so big, and as a dial-up user, what can I do to get my virus definitions up-to-date?

And, for the record, I currently am running Norton Internet Security 2009 and I have Windows XP Home Edition.

Thanks for your help.

lmacri · ‎05-05-2009

Hi jewel21:

Welocme to the Norton forum.

Since you're using NIS 2009, it's possible that LiveUpdate is trying to download a major upgrade (e.g., NIS 2012) to your computer. Note that these major upgrades can be installed free of charge as long as you still have time remaining on your subscription, which I assume is true in your case since LiveUpdate is attempting to deliver updates.

Is there a setting in NIS 2009 that controls the automatic download of new versions? In NIS 2011 if you disable the setting at Settings | Miscellaneous Settings | Automatic Download of New Versions, this will prevent LiveUpdate from delivering major upgrades (e.g., NIS 2011 to 2012), but disabling this feature this will not prevent LiveUpdate from downloading necessary product updates (e.g., v. 18.6.0 to v. 18.7.1) for bug fixes.

Could you also check the clock on your computer to ensure that the date and time is correct. If the virus definition DAT file you installed has the wrong timestamp, LiveUpdate may be fooled into thinking that your definitions are still out of date.

Is your computer a mobile laptop or netbook, and do you have access to a free WiFi connection (e.g., at a public library or coffee shop) where you could download this large file?

Do you normally allow LiveUpdate to run automatically or do you run you run your LiveUpdates manually? I use a dial-up connection as well and have my automatic LiveUpdates disabled (Settings | Computer Settings | Updates | Automatic LiveUpdates | OFF) so that I can control when LiveUpdates are delivered to my computer.

NIS 2011 Auto Download of New Version.jpg

For future reference you might find some useful hints about dial-up connections in aggrevated1's thread here titled Norton AntiVirus 2011 Won't Complete Updates, but the comments in that thread probably won't be very helpful if you're dealing with a 173 MB update.

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Windows Vista Home Premium 32-bit SP2 * NIS 2011 v. 18.7.1.3 * IE 9.0 * Firefox 11.0
HP Pavilion dv6835ca, Intel Core2Duo CPU T5550 @ 1.83 GHz, 3.0 GB RAM, NVIDIA GeForce 8400M GS

jewel21 · ‎04-23-2012

Thanks for the response.

Norton Internet Security 2009 doesn't have an to option to turn off "Automatic Download of New Version."

The clock and date on my computer are correct.

My computer is unfortunately a desk top so I can't download the large file.

And I usually allow automatic updates to run although occasionally I will click on "Run Live Update" to get it going.

lmacri · ‎05-05-2009

Hi jewel21:

It's a bit difficult to guess what LiveUpdate is trying to deliver to your computer without letting the update actually run to completion. While you're trying to troubleshoot I might suggest disabling automatic LiveUpdates (Settings | Computer Settings | Updates | Automatic LiveUpdates | OFF) so that your LiveUpdates are only running when you choose to run them manually.

Do you still have the name of the file your uncle downloaded and installed onto your computer? According to the link here the latest self-extracting virus definitions for NIS 2009 and Win XP is currently 20120423-018-v5i32.exe (149 MB), so the file he downloaded on April 20th should have been named something like 20120420-xxx-xxi32.exe.

Assuming that LiveUpdate is actually trying to upgrade you from NIS 2009 to NIS 2012, the NIS 2012 v. 19.5.1.2 offline installer (116 MB) can be manually downloaded at www.norton.com/nis12. However, I don't think this would solve your problem, because if you manually upgraded to NIS 2012 (see here for sample instructions on how to perform a clean install using the Norton Removal Tool) the first LiveUpdate that the newly installed NIS 2012 performed on your machine would just try to download the full 149 MB virus definitions database over your dial-up Internet connection again and you'd be right back where you started.

Have you tried starting a LiveUpdate late at night and leaving your computer on overnight to see if the download finishes without timing out over your dial-up connection, or is this even an option for you? If you're going to try this you might have to temporarily change the settings for your default power plan so that your computer doesn't go into sleep mode/hibernation in the middle of the LiveUpdate.

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Windows Vista Home Premium 32-bit SP2 * NIS 2011 v. 18.7.1.3 * IE 9.0 * Firefox 11.0
HP Pavilion dv6835ca, Intel Core2Duo CPU T5550 @ 1.83 GHz, 3.0 GB RAM, NVIDIA GeForce 8400M GS

lmacri · ‎05-05-2009

Hi jewel21:

There's a new post today here by NIS 2011 user itsme titled Huge Download who was having a similar problem with a 140 MB download by LiveUpdate, and a purge of the cache and temp files seemed to solve the problem. After you've disabled your automatic LiveUpdates (Settings | Computer Settings | Updates | Automatic LiveUpdates | OFF) , try running the Win XP Disk Cleanup utility (Start | Programs | Accessories | System Tools | Disk Cleanup), re-booting, and then running another manual LiveUpdate to see if that aborts the download.

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Windows Vista Home Premium 32-bit SP2 * NIS 2011 v. 18.7.1.3 * IE 9.0 * Firefox 11.0
HP Pavilion dv6835ca, Intel Core2Duo CPU T5550 @ 1.83 GHz, 3.0 GB RAM, NVIDIA GeForce 8400M GS

jewel21 · ‎04-23-2012

Thanks for the response.

I tried what you suggested, turning off live update (pulse updates still says its on although it changed from green to black, not sure if that's normal.) And I tried purging my cache and temp files.

The update that my uncle downloaded for me is 20120420-002-v5i32. I'll have to download the latest one you linked me at work tomorrow and put in on flash drive.

As it stands, after turning off live update and purging my temp files, Norton still says it's trying to download 173.79 mb, so I guess it didn't work?

And unfortunately, leaving the computer on all night isn't really an option. I tried it once and it after almost 6 hrs it managed to download 96mb but that still wasn't enough. I had to go to work and disconnected the net and my the time I got home, it was all for nothing because when I ran live update it was right back at 171 mb.

huwyngr · ‎04-13-2008

Jewel,

<< ... after turning off live update and purging my temp files, Norton still says it's trying to download 173.79 mb, ... >>

Maybe I'm misunderstanding but you need to turn off more than live updates .... in fact I would leave live updates ON but what you need to turn off is shown in the image in the second message here, from imacri.

You need to disable Automatic Download of New Version which is not the same as LiveUpdate.

This brings down a large file to change you from one yearly version to the next -- eg 2011 to 2012 -- which is then available for when you want to make that change.

What I don't know is whether turning if OFF now will get rid of any "flag" that tells Norton to download .......

Hugh

jewel21 · ‎04-23-2012

Unfortunately, I don't see an option to disable "Automatic Download of New Version" on Norton Internet Security 2009.

huwyngr · ‎04-13-2008

jewel21 wrote:
Unfortunately, I don't see an option to disable "Automatic Download of New Version" on Norton Internet Security 2009.

Oh -- that did not penetrate my security application <g>

Perhaps it is sending you a message that since it's free it could be time for you to upgrade at least to 2011 if not 2012 since both run OK on XP it if has the right Service Packs:

Operating Systems Supported

Microsoft® Windows® XP (32-bit) Home/Professional/Tablet PC/Media Center (32-bit) with Service Pack 2 or later

You should have those Service Packs uptodate for your own protection anyway.

If you want to move up we can give you help on that .......

Hugh

lmacri · ‎05-05-2009

jewel21 wrote:

I tried what you suggested, turning off live update (pulse updates still says its on although it changed from green to black, not sure if that's normal.) And I tried purging my cache and temp files.

Hi jewel21:

You were correct when you observed that your pulse updates are disabled when you disable automatic LiveUpdates in your settings. If automatic LiveUpdates are turned off you automatically lose the ability to perform pulse updates by default.

NIS 2011 Automatic Live Updates.jpg

I always have automatic LiveUpdates disabled on my machine, and I've just gotten in the habit of running a manual LiveUpdate every morning when I boot up and then leaving my computer alone until the updates have finished installing. On my home dial-up connection this typically takes 15 minutes if the total download is 3 or 4 MB. The reason I can't rely on automatic LiveUpdates is because this is a background task that normally runs when your system is in idle mode, so downloading of updates can be temporarily suspended if you move your mouse or do something to bring your system out of idle. Depending on the settings of your background task delays (go to Settings | Miscellaneous Settings), an automatic LiveUpdate could go on for several days over a dial-up connection if it were trying to complete a large download, and at some point NIS will notice that you haven't successfully installed an updated virus definition for over a week and will decide that it's time to try downloading the full +100 MB virus definition database.

NIS 2011 Automatic Task Delays.jpg

I can't say with any certainty that this is what happened to you, but if this is the case I would have expected that your uncle's solution to install the self-extracting virus definitions (e.g., 201204xx-xx-v5i32.exe) from this link would have solved the problem. If you're going to try this again tomorrow I would make sure that you re-boot your computer immediatedly after installing the latest virus definitions just to make sure that your Windows registry is refreshed before you run a subsequent manual LiveUpdate.

It's also possible that you're having this problem because NIS 2009 is trying to download a full upgrade to NIS 2012. Could you please read my post here in panzer-88's thread NIS 2011 Downloaded on Computer Without Permission and Wants to Install Itself and see if you can find any files in a C:\Users\Public\Downloads\Norton\ folder that might indicate that that the Norton Update Agent (NUA) is trying to install a NIS 2012 v. 19.x upgrade.

huwyngr's suggestion to manually upgrade to NIS 2011 or 2012 using an offline installer might be your best option if someone else in the fourm (or someone at Norton Customer Support) can't provide an easy fix for aborting this large update. Let us know if you'd like to try this, and we can provide you with some special instructions on how to perform the upgrade that will minimize the number of product updates that have to be downloaded over your dial-up connection in order to get NIS fully updated again. If you really want to keep NIS 2009 on your computer and want to try a re-install we can help you with that as well.

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Windows Vista Home Premium 32-bit SP2 * NIS 2011 v. 18.7.1.3 * IE 9.0 * Firefox 11.0
HP Pavilion dv6835ca, Intel Core2Duo CPU T5550 @ 1.83 GHz, 3.0 GB RAM, NVIDIA GeForce 8400M GS