I've noticed that running a background scan can consume a lot of resources. Although Norton is pretty good about returning resources to the user when you come back, the process can take several minutes before the computer is working anywhere close to normal. Either cancelling the scan, or denying resources to it would be fine with me.
I don't really want to turn off automatic background scans because I think they are a good thing. I just want to make them stop using resources without a lot of waiting around, when I need to use the machine.
I've seen discussions about how turning off automatic scanning can mess with live updates. Another reason to leave them on - but try to gain control over how much they take over.
Once the weekly full-system scan has begun, it will continue to run every time the machine is idle until it completes. Try to give it the time to complete and it will be quiet for a week. Once done, you can turn it off and run manual scans when it is more convenient for you.
Turning off the weekly scan will not turn off the idle quick scans. Those run for a very short period of time when new definitions become available through pulse updates.
If you are in something intensive that doesn't seem to be recognized as not being idle time, you can turn on Silent Mode for a set period of time to allow you to finish.
If the scan in question is an Idle Time Full System Scan, then it should pause when you resume using your computer. More likely, what you are seeing is an Idle TIme Quick Scan. These do not stop when the computer is once again in use, but will instead continue until completion. The reason for this is that the Quick Scan takes only a few minutes at most, and is considered a high priority. There is always a window of opportunity for new malware to successfully install during the time between its release and the time when the antivirus vendor is able to create and distribute a detection signature for the new threat. The Quick Scan takes a minute or two to check for any active threats, with its primary goal being to discover any new, previously unknown malware that may have arrived just prior to the most recent virus definitions update. Because the Quick Scan performs this brief, yet critical task, it will not pause during non-idle time, and the feature cannot be disabled to prevent it from running. It sometimes helps to set your Idle Time Out option to the minimum one minute so that the Quick Scan can launch soon after the computer becomes idle, and with any luck, will have concluded before you start using the PC again.
Thanks for the advice. I'm pretty sure it's a full system scan, not a quick scan that's running, and causing issues for me. It sounds like there is no way to actually cancel the scan once it's started.
Do you know if deliberately running a full system scan overnight will prevent the auto scan from starting for another week? Or will it start the autoscan a week from whenever the last autoscan completed regardless of when I run a full manual scan?
Running a regular Full System Scan from the main Norton interface will not work. But if you go to the Norton Tasks screen through the Performance window, you can click the arrow to the left of Idle Full System Scan to manually launch the idle scan.
In the Norton Computer Settings pane in the main Norton interface, you can then turn off Idle TIme Scans. This will disable the Full System Scan from running in the future, but does not affect Quick Scans.
If you do elect to turn OFF the Idle Full Scan you might want to schedule a full system scan at a time when it is convenient for you. Scheduling a scan would prevent you having to remember to run it manually.
To schedule a full system scan, click on Scan Now from the main NIS window then Custom Scan. In the next window click on Schedule to the right of Full System Scan, then follow the prompts to configure a time.
I like the suggestion of deliberately launching an idle full scan through the performance/tasks interface. It seemed to work, and in fact it even allowed me to cancel after launching an idle full scan. Will starting an idle full scan that way effectively re-set the one week clock so that it won't run automatically again for a week? If so, that's ideal for me because it would give me an option of telling the scans to run some evening when I don't need the computer, while ensuring that they run regularly even if I forget to launch the scan manually.
This may not be the best option for everyone, but I think it's the best combination of security and convenience for me.
The Idle full scan weekly clock won't be reset until you allow the current IDLE scan to complete. But once completed it should not start up again if you have disabled the ILDE full scan in Settings.
Will starting an idle full scan that way effectively re-set the one week clock so that it won't run automatically again for a week? If so, that's ideal for me because it would give me an option of telling the scans to run some evening when I don't need the computer, while ensuring that they run regularly even if I forget to launch the scan manually.
Another solution would be to turn off Idle Time Scans altogether. This only disables Full System Scans, not Quick Scans. The setting is located in Norton Computer Settings under Computer Scans. Just remember to occasion run a manual regular Full System Scan once in a while. Depending on your comfort level, this could be done weekly or monthly. Or, if you prefer to have more control over automatic scans, schedule a recurring scan to run at a time of your own choosing. To schedule a scan, click Scan Now, select Custom Scan and click Schedule next to Full System Scan.
Running an idle full scan from the performance/task interface (to completion) will in fact re-set the weekly counter
I use the default scan schedule and use this to method to ensure scanning at a convenient time for me. It has worked out great over the past two editions
All of the other suggestions are also excellent, just wanted to let you know what you propose will work
Thanks Bill. That was the answer I was hoping for.
I'll start an idle full scan when it's convenient for me, and I won't have to worry about either discovering that a scan has started at an inconvenient time, or about forgetting to start a scan at all.
It will take a few weeks to try it out and see if everything works as expected. I'll post again if I run into problems.
Thanks Bill. That was the answer I was hoping for.
I'll start an idle full scan when it's convenient for me, and I won't have to worry about either discovering that a scan has started at an inconvenient time, or about forgetting to start a scan at all.
It will take a few weeks to try it out and see if everything works as expected. I'll post again if I run into problems.
Good advice!
Jake
HI Jake,
Do be sure to let the IDLE full system scan started from the Norton Tasks window complete in its entirety. From that point forward the setting to disable the IDLE full scan should be honored.
Please do let us know how it goes, even if all is well.