NIS 2012
Vista home premium. 32 bit
There have been a few questions on this topic. But I don’t want to cloud up someone else’s thread with my question
I have my NIS updates set to automatic
So how would I know if my virus def updates are constantly having to re-establish themselves by giving me super large updates?
Hi Calls,
Go into Norton History and select LiveUpdate in the "Show" dropdown list. Highlight a LiveUpdate Session entry and click "More Details." Expand the "Total Updates Applied" category. The size of each update will be listed there.
SendOfJive wrote:
Hi Calls,
Go into Norton History and select LiveUpdate in the "Show" dropdown list. Highlight a LiveUpdate Session entry and click "More Details." Expand the "Total Updates Applied" category. The size of each update will be listed there.
This feature is only available in version 20 (2013) and above.
Calls, consider it an incentive to upgrade to version 20! 
elsewhere wrote:
SendOfJive wrote:
Hi Calls,
Go into Norton History and select LiveUpdate in the "Show" dropdown list. Highlight a LiveUpdate Session entry and click "More Details." Expand the "Total Updates Applied" category. The size of each update will be listed there.
This feature is only available in version 20 (2013) and above.
Calls, consider it an incentive to upgrade to version 20!
elsewhere are you sure about that? I am running NIS 2012 version 19.9.1.14 and I am able to look at my Live Update history. Is this the 'feature' you are referring to?
Calls if it is your Live Update History you want to see follow these instructions to see it ...
Start by right clicking the Norton icon in you system tray and select 'View Recent History' from the pop up menu.
The Security History window will open and you can use the drop down box at the top left corner to go to the 'Live Update' history.
This will then show you all the updates you have received. As you click through each update on the left side you can see on the right side of the screen how many updates were received in each Live Update session. You can also click on the 'More Details' tab at the bottom right to see a more in depth view of what was installed.
Once you click the 'More Details' tab you will then see a window that says Security History - Advanced Details.
You can click on the + sign beside where it says 'Total Updates Applied' and you will see each individual update you received.
This does not show the 'size' of each update, however, so if that is what you are talking about, I am not aware of such a feature and perhaps that is something only available in version 20 and up?
Elsewhere has it right: the file size is a new feature, as shown below. What I find interesting is that my virus definitions download was 139.61KB. Most of the posts lately that complain about the large download sizes have been mentioning a figure in the neighborhood of 139MB - so now I'm wondering if users are stating megabytes when the actual number is in kilobytes.
SendOfJive wrote:Elsewhere has it right: the file size is a new feature, as shown below. What I find interesting is that my virus definitions download was 139.61KB. Most of the posts lately that complain about the large download sizes have been mentioning a figure in the neighborhood of 139MB - so now I'm wondering if users are stating megabytes when the actual number is in kilobytes.
SendOfJive, thanks for clarifying that information. Like I said in my last paragraph I was not aware if that was a new feature due to the version I am on (NIS 2012 version 19.9.1.14). Looks like it's time I get myself updated.
SendOfJive wrote:
Elsewhere has it right: the file size is a new feature, as shown below. What I find interesting is that my virus definitions download was 139.61KB. Most of the posts lately that complain about the large download sizes have been mentioning a figure in the neighborhood of 139MB - so now I'm wondering if users are stating megabytes when the actual number is in kilobytes.
[...]
Hi SendOfJive
Based on my experience, I'd suggest that users are actually quoting megabytes. Under version 20, and with Smart Definitions turned Off, please find below the full Virus Definitions rebuild rate from one of my PCs:
| Date & Time | Type of Update | Norton 2013 Virus Definitions |
| 02Mar2013 09:57 | Automatic | Failed to complete (3.76MB) |
| 02Mar2013 13:03 | Interactive | Success (182.13MB) |
| 04May2013 06:26 | Automatic | Failed to complete (3.38MB) |
| 04May2013 06:30 | Interactive | Success (187.33MB) |
| 08May2013 07:57 | Automatic | Failed to complete (3.46MB) |
| 08May2013 08:00 | Interactive | Success (187.45MB) |
| 29May2013 15:29 | Automatic | Failed to complete (3.38MB) |
| 29May2013 15:33 | Automatic | Success (188.80MB) |
| 04Jul2013 16:35 | Automatic | Failed to complete (3.35MB) |
| 04Jul2013 17:13 | Interactive | Success (191.46MB) |
| 12Jul2013 09:01 | Automatic | Failed to complete (3.91MB) |
| 12Jul2013 09:06 | Automatic | Success (193.36MB) |
| 27Jul2013 10:10 | Automatic | Failed to complete (3.78MB) |
| 27Jul2013 11:34 | Automatic | Success (195.50MB) |
| 13Sep2013 10:10 | Automatic | Failed to complete (4.09MB) |
| 13Sep2013 10:53 | Interactive | Success (205.27MB) |
| 19Oct2013 09:40 | Automatic | Failed to complete (3.46MB) |
| 19Oct2013 11:09 | Interactive | Success (216.24MB) |
Please note the size of the failed update in contrast with the size of the following successful update on each date shown. Virus Definition downloads of this size are unsustainable from a product perspective. This is one of the reasons why Smart Definitions are the only option under the version 21 products.
Elsewhere- I’m a little confused now
So in versions 19 and 20 smart defs are the default setting right ?
But from your grid looks like the smart defs are failing right?
So us this causing def updates to have to pull down a larger def set?
By the way I am not having problems with auto matic updates regarding virus def sets . Mine are not failing
There are no Smart or Complete sets of definitions anymore. Only one. And it is even "smarter" (read: less comprehensive) than Smart was.
You still have the Smart setting in your Norton because you are using an outdated version of the program, but Symantec has removed the different definition sets and replaced them with one.