Norton Internet Security / Norton AntiVirus

[Accipiter]

I run Windows XP SP3, and I've been using NIS 2011 for 3 months now.  Most of the time updates download without trouble, and are a few KBs to 2 or 3 MBs in size.

Every so often, say once or twice a week, virus updates fail to download successfully, and when I retry I get an update greater than 90MB

.

This happened again today, and when I look at the details of this most recent large update under history, the 91 meg comprises only 3 files - 2011 whitelist, safe web stats, and puls updates.

This happens with both auto and manual updates. I turned off auto updates about a month ago, and run them manually now 2 or 3 time a day 7 days a week, so I can moniter the situation.

Can anyone tell me why this happens? My problem is, it's using up an awful lot of my monthly 2 gig allowance.

I currently have Smart Definitions set to off (default setting). System Status  = Secure. And generally all appears to be as it should be.

[AllenM Norton Fighter]

HI Accipiter,

Welcome to the Norton Community. What version of NIS 2011 do you have? You can find this from Support > About.

What you are describing does not appear to be normal as updates of this size typically only occur when there are major program updates such as occurs when going from the original 18.1 version to 18.5.

Do you have any other security software installed besides NIS? Did you have any other security software installed when you first installed NIS? If so did you remove it first and use a removal tool from the other vendor before installing NIS?

Have you had this problem from the beginning or did it start more recently?

Just to be sure, have you made any toggles (changes) to the Smart Definition settings or has it been at the default of OFF the entire time? Be aware that if you change this option, Live Update has to download the entire definition set each time you toggle this parameter. So you need to decide how you want it set and leave it that way.

Does the main NIS screen show that all is secure?

Try clicking on Support > Get Support and walk through the support wizard to see if any problems are found with the program.

Best wishes.

Allen

[Accipiter]

Thanks Allen, I appreciate your help, and below are the answers to the questions you raised.

I have v 18.5.0.125. I originally loaded NIS 2010 from a CD last November, then updated online.

I'm not running any other security products. I did have Kaspersky KIS 2010 previously, but I did a complete uninstall prior to installing NIS.

Judging from my ISP usage, the problem has been with me from the beginning, but because I started with auto updates set to on, I didn't spot it at first.

I am aware that toggling to Smart Definitions or back again causes a complete download of either the core set or complete set of virus definitions. I did on just one occasion switch to Smart Def, and left it in the position for about two weeks, and I didn't have any further problems. So I thought I'd switch back again to see if the problem came back, which indeed it did after about five days.

Would you advise me to go back to Smart Definitions for a longer trial period? I am also a little unsure if that would have any real affect on the integrity of my security.

The main NIS screen system status is secure.

I have tried the support wizzard 2 or 3 times, and it shows no errors.

Thanks again. I would be pleased if you can through any further light on this problem.

Regards

Accipiter 

[AllenM Norton Fighter]

Hi Accipiter,

It is advised to not only uninstall the previous security software but also run a removal tool from the other vendor before installing a replacement security software. This is necessary since this type of software has to embed itself very deeply into the OS and the removal tool is designed to ensure that all the remnants are properly removed.

I would recommend to go ahead and run the Kapersky removal tool from the following link. It shows that it is for KIS 2011 but it will work for all versions of KIS.

http://support.kaspersky.com/faq/?qid=208279463

If this does not resolve the issue then it would be a good idea to uninstall and reinstall NIS as it might not have had a 100% clean install since there might have been some of KIS left on the system at the time. We can address that if you still see the problem after running the KIS removal tool.

Please let us know how it goes.

Best wishes.

Allen

[Accipiter]

Hello Allen

Thanks for your advice. I downloaded and ran Kavremover successfully this morning. I will let you know if this solves my problem. However, because of its intermittent nature, it could be a couple of weeks before I can start to feel it's gone away.

Thanks again.

Accipiter

[Accipiter]

Hello Allen

You asked me to let you know if running Kavremover solved the problem. Well, I ran LU this morning. The download size was only a few KB, but it reported that not all updates were successful. I looked at the history, and as always when this happens it's Virus 2011 updates that failed. I then ran LU again, and it wanted to download 94mb. So back to square one.

I stopped the 94mb download, as I expect I am going to have to uninstall NIS and start again.

If you have any thoughts, they would be gratefully received.

Regards

Accipiter

[AllenM Norton Fighter]

Hi Accipiter,

Thanks for the update and sorry that you are still having problems.

It would be very helpful to have the error code that should be mentioned when live update fails. Click on History and then select live update from the list. Look for the entry where live update failed and then click on More Detail. Do you see an error code shown?

When live update actually fails you can also click on the View Summary before closing the live update window and it should have the error code there also.

Best wishes.

Allen

[Accipiter]

Hello Allen

Thanks for your reply.

I've looked at "More details" under history, and there doesn't appear to be an error code. It's just logged as a medium risk. Under result it says, "Not all updates were successful" and "No action available for this item". If I click on the 6 updates applied, it shows Norton 2011 virus definitions as, "Failed to complete"  That's the usual error before it wants to do a 90 meg download on the next LU.

Regards

Accipiter

[BajaBoojum]

I noticed a 90+ Mb download around the same time.  I didn't get any error messages before or after, and it included one of the iron lists.

[AllenM Norton Fighter]

Hi Accipiter,

I think there was one fairly large update this morning but I will try to confirm how large this one was and get back to you.

One thing I would mention since you are on limited download quota from your ISP. It may not be a bad idea to keep Smart Definitions ON. As you probably know with Smart Defs, it includes only the core set of definitions, minus ones which have not been seen in the "wild" for a long time.

Best wishes.

Allen