'Kay, I'm sure there'll be a lot of smart-mouth replies to this (like my favourite, "why use Norton if you just want to disable it?"), but the thing is, I still don't trust Norton (NIS/360, use them both) to be doing stuff when I'm not around. I disable the scheduler and the auto-updates and all that because I want to *know* when Norton is doing something, because I want to be there when it decides to delete a harmless file that I need. (It's happened. Once bitten, twice shy, and all that.)
So: I would REALLY like an option to turn off all the background tasks. It's *my* responsibility to scan after updating, NOT NORTON'S. I'm sure that a lot of people appreciate the "idle time" scans and stuff, but I don't. (And for those ready to run off a quick response without thinking it through first, yes, I know that *some* of the background tasks can be turned off. Please notice the "all" in my statement. Also, for the quick of finger and not so quick of wit, I am referring to *tasks*, as in the idle time quick scans, and specifically NOT the standard real-time virus-detection running processes. For those reading carefully, please disregard any implied discourtesy.)
For clarity: I use WinXP (SP2) on desktops and laptops, reasonably recent set-ups (3-4 years old, mostly), and I started using Norton again after being severly disappointed by Spyware Doctor (and after Kaspersky had their blue-screen troubles). I like Norton for many things--but I never asked for a semi-sentient security program that would autonomously decide to go file hunting without my permission. (If Norton would even be so kind as to provide definition updates for the older, "pre-idle-time scheduler" versions, I'd be happy to just "roll back".)
If I am truly the only one who does not trust Norton with its "free-time" task scheduler, then my apologies for disturbing so many electrons; however, given the other options that Norton is allowing, I'm hoping they will consider my concerns.
Cheers.