Auto LiveUpdate -- doesn't

Norton Security | Norton Internet Security
1

 

One computer, XP Pro SP3, Norton 360 V. 4.3.0.5 (shows up-to-date), LiveUpdate set to "Auto".

 

Auto LiveUpdate runs normally for 2-3 days, then will not auto-update again until I run a manual update.  After that it will work normally for 2-3 days, then will not auto-update again until I run a manual update, the will run normally again for 2-3 days -- Lather, Rinse, Repeat.  Been going on for months like this.  I've tried turning off "auto", then turning it back on again with no change in the pattern.

 

Anyone seen this?  Know a fix?  Annoying little nit...

 

TIA

 

 

 

2

 

Times vary.  I've run manual as soon as "last update 12 hours ago", and have let it go for several days until Norton warns me of a "serious problem".  Normally it's a couple days until I notice...

3

Is your system date and time correct?

4

 

Sync'd to atomic clock, daily.

 

 

 

5

Hopefully someone else will come up with another suggestion. 

 

IMHO, I would save my Identity Safe data, remove Norton 360, run the Norton Removal Tool, reinstall Norton 360, run manual LiveUpdate until it reposnds no updates available, and then Import my ID Safe data.

 

 

6

 

I was really hoping this problem was common and/or simple enough that someone would have a more component-level repair.  Never really liked buying a new car just because a headlamp is burned out. <g> 

 

Since I only have a couple months left on my subscription, I'll probably hold off on the whole remove/install process until I make a final decision on whether or not to renew Norton, or upgrade to another service.  Still a couple other nits to fix, but I've found some good leads by searching this forum.  Good resource.

 

Thanks for your time and head-scratching trouble trying to help me with this. 

 

7

 

One computer, XP Pro SP3, Norton 360 V. 4.3.0.5 (shows up-to-date), LiveUpdate set to "Auto".

 

Auto LiveUpdate runs normally for 2-3 days, then will not auto-update again until I run a manual update.  After that it will work normally for 2-3 days, then will not auto-update again until I run a manual update, the will run normally again for 2-3 days -- Lather, Rinse, Repeat.  Been going on for months like this.  I've tried turning off "auto", then turning it back on again with no change in the pattern.

 

Anyone seen this?  Know a fix?  Annoying little nit...

 

TIA

 

 

 

8

 

Just to update this problem:

 

I finally bit the bullet and did the uninstall, Norton Removal Tool, and re-install.  A couple hours and the dozen or so "you must restart your system..." later, all is restored. Did this 1/19/11.

 

LiveUpdate ran normally until I shut the computer down last night (1/21/11). No auto liveupdates since.  I'll give it until Sunday night (full system scan scheduled)  to update itself, but experience predicts I'll need to do it manually when it will work again for a couple days.

 

Pesky problem, just doesn't make sense to me...

 

 

9

Hello photobob

 

I have read in this forum that automatic live update runs during idle time. Do you leave your system idle so that automatic live update can kick in Or is it being used all the time when it is powered on ?

 

 

 

10

 

I do not believe this is the case. I have found update times like "two minutes ago" following/during rather busy sessions. It appears liveupdate simply runs rather quietly in the background no matter what I'm doing.  To be more specific to your question, while I use the computer throughout the day, there are plenty of "idle times" every day, ranging fro 15 minutes to a couple of hours when I'm away.  (Idle time is set at 10 minutes)

 

Weird, huh?  <g>

 

11

photobob, you are correct, Automatic Liveupdate does not have to run during Idle.  You can verify this by going to Tasks on the main page >  Check Norton Tasks, and you will see the last time Automatic Liveupdate ran and also if it was run during Idle Time.  The normal (automatic) schedule for Liveupdate is one hour (approximate), so you should be able to see if it changes the time every hour.

 

Just curious, since you reinstalled did you make any changes to the default settings?  If so, what were they?

 

 

12

Hi photobob:

 

Could you also have a look in event viewer under system and applications to see if there are any warnings or errors reported.  I found a lot of w32time errors in my XP machine that were not reflected in the system time, but could be causing an issue.

13

 

This gets curiouser and curiouser...

 

Confirmed liveupdate runs anytime, does not require idle time.  Yeah, runs at (sorta) regular intervals all day.

 

Stayed with default settings except backup is disabled. Only other change is to attempt to schedule idle time full system scan to a specific day/time, but that's a whole nuther project...

 

Now, I did check the Windows Event Viewer to check for problems with auto liveupdate. The viewer shower liveupdate running normally Friday.  No problems with the last few updates.  It was Sat. morning that I noticed the "last update 16 hours ago" message that incremented during the day and changed to "one day ago" on Sunday, until I ran a manual update.  Since then, it has operated normally.

 

The curious part is that the windows event viewer shows auto liveupdate running at regular intervals all day Saturday and Sunday.  All that I checked showed three consecutive entries; "started", "terminated" and "next scheduled...", all successful and no sign of errors.

 

If one were to believe all reports are true, one would assume that the updates are being performed successfully, at proper intervals, but Norton is not accepting them and will not until it to told to via manual liveupdate. 

 

So, if this problem continues, I expect to boot up Wednesday morning to find "last update 12-14 hours ago" and continue. (This may hold until Thursday since I did do a manual update today as well)

 

As this saga continues, I will be accepting bids for the movie rights...

 

14

Hello photobob,

 

To clear out things.

 

There are 2 variants of live update

 

One is the "pulse update" :  Pulls down virus definitions in small chunks as and when they are available.This updates the counter which says 'x minutes\hours\days ago' on the N360 user interface. This counter is updated only if the virus definitions get updated. This does not require the system to be idle.

 

Second is the "automatic live update": This requires idle time (from the weblink below) . It pulls down virus definitions, web protection definitons, and other program updates.If in an automatic live update session, virus definitions are not available to be pulled down (but other updates are available) , the counter does not get modified. May be this is the reason your event viewer says automatic live update has run without errors, but your counter was not updated.

 

This info is available in the following webpage:

http://community.norton.com/t5/Norton-Protection-Blog/The-Norton-Pulse-Updates-Feature/ba-p/28272

 

Hope this helps

15

 

Helps, yes. Also changes things, in that I may be looking at the wrong things here.

 

As of this timestamp, the last Automatic LiveUpdate was recorded on the Norton task log on 1/24/2011 5:00pm at the same time as my scheduled "PC Security & PC Tuneup".   While the Windows Event log shows the liveupdate scheduler running every few hours all day today (1/25/2011)  This would appear to be normal, if there was nothing new to update.

 

The pulse updates are not logged by windows, but routine checking of Norton's task log show it running every ten minutes or so.  The "Definitions Update" timer reflects this.  The last one was 4 minutes ago.

 

What I'm gonna do next is watch the logs for the next few days and see when the updates (pulse or liveupdate) stop and try to find something that might cause that to happen.  So far it seems to happen every 2-3 days and is very regular about it. 

 

I'll continue this when I have some new data to report.

 

Thanks for hangin' in.

 

16

Moved to the thread of its own for better exposure

17

OK, some maybe better data...

 

Last system shutdown:  4:15pm  1/26/11

 

System started:  7:52am  1/27/11

 

Current time:  11:04am  1/27/11

 

From the Norton main screen:  "Definitions Update:  18 hours ago"

 

From the Norton task log:  Automatic LiveUpdate:  1/24/2011  5:00pm  (concurrent with last sheduled PC Security & PC Tuneup)

                                                Pulse Updates:  1/27/2011 11:03am  (running every several minutes since boot-up)

 

 

The Windows event log does not log pulse updates, but does show the auto liveupdate scheduler running successfully every few hours daily. 

 

So, Automatic LiveUpdate does not seem to be updating with the scheduler, but last updated when forced by the PC Security task.

 

Pulse updates stop resetting the "Definitions Updates:" notice on the main screen two days after the last LOGGED auto liveupdate.  This part is consistent with the problem and history tells me that it will not sync again until I run a manual liveupdate.  The "Definitions Updates:" notice will continue to increment increasing time until Norton goes "critical" and turns red.  (And I run manual liveupdate)

 

Any of this make sense?

 

18

 

OK, for the sake of good documentation (and in case anyone is interested)...

 

I took this to Norton Email Support to see if they could shed some light.  Their response was that they had never heard of this problem before, and turned it over to Norton phone support, Priority. 

 

The specialist called and requested a remote session to take control of, and check my computer. I agreed, and immediately ran LiveUpdate and declared that the definitions were indeed, up-to-date.  I explained the liveupdate he ran removed the "evidence" of the problem and it would just happen again in 48 hours.  He scheduled another call in 3 days to see what I meant.  This call never came.

 

I complained to Norton Support and was promised a HIGH PRIORITY call from a Supervisor.

 

The Supervisor called and said everything was working fine.  I showed her (in another remote session) that automatic LiveUpdate was was scheduled, but not running, and that the definitions were not updating.  She thanked me for calling and asked if she could close this case.  I said no, it was not solved and she said she could see no problem.  She then promised yet another call today.  In today's call she said there was no problem and asked to close the case.  To be absolutely certain we understood each other, I repeated each point of my complaint and she verified that:

 

1) Automatic LiveUpdate does not run automatically.  Automatic LiveUpdate will only run when "forced", during the "PC Security & PC Tune-up" task.  Otherwise, LiveUpdate needs to be run manually.

 

2) The Definitions will only update for 48 hours from the last LiveUpdate.  At that time, the "Definitions Last Updated" notice will revert to the time of the last LiveUpdate (either manual or forced).

 

3) Even though the pulse updates continue to run, the definitions will no longer update 48 hours after the last Liveupdate, as in (2) above.

 

4) The ONLY way to keep my definitions up to date is to manually run LiveUpdate every other day.

 

She verified that this is absolutely normal operation for Norton 360 and is the way the software is designed to work.

 

Since this comes from the very top of the support food chain, I have accepted it as gospel, and have no choice but to mark this as "Solved -- operator error".

 

Many thanks to all who have taken the time to read this thread, puzzle over it, and especially to those who tried to help.