I tried searching other topics and was dissappointed to find out that it's not possible to disable Idle Quick Scans. And while I think that is a bunch of bs (it's my computer, I should be able to tell norton not to scan my computer if I don't want it to). But what I haven't seen mentioned in any of these other topics is the thing that bothers me the most: they run when the computer is NOT idle.
The Idle Quick Scan will decide that the best time to run is when my computer is already running at near 100% processor capacity (the computer is getting pretty dated, only single-core so it doesn't have much processing power to start with and a game like WoW pretty much uses all of it). And when norton decides that this is the perfect time to run an Idle Quick Scan it causes serious performance issues. And while these quick scans normally only take a few seconds, when Norton and WoW are fighting over the processor it can take up to 20 minutes unless I close WoW and just let Norton have its way.
I would just write it off as it being a case of the computer not going idle long enough that Norton decides that it can't put it off any longer, except that the one day I left the computer idle for about 4 hours, came back and started playing and not 10 minutes later the quick scan starts up. I check the activity chart in the Norton Tasks interface and low and behold for all those hours that the computer sat idle Norton never went over 20~30% processor, but right after I start using the computer again it decides to jump up to 90+% processor to run it's IDLE quick scan. Why did it not decide to run it's precious quick scan while the computer was Idle?
Even putting Norton into Silent Mode, which is supposed to turn off ALL background tasks, doesn't help it. Even if the Idle Quick Scan is such a high priority that it can't be disabled, Silent Mode should at least prevent the automatic update which would mean that Idle Quick Scan shouldn't be triggered. What is the point of Silent Mode if all of the background tasks run anyways? And another question, why is there a button to stop the Idle Quick Scan on the Norton Tasks window when the scan is just going to restart itself 5 seconds later? Why give us a false sense of control over our computer by letting us stop a scan that cannot be stopped?
I guess my biggest issue is the name of the scan. It does not run during idle, it does not wait for the computer to be idle, it does not even care what the definition of the word "idle" is. So why in the world would anyone ever even consider putting the word "idle" in the name of the scan, aside from as some sort of cruel joke. They might as well have called it the Macaroni and Cheese Scan, because it's got just as much to do with macaroni and cheese as it does with idle.
While we're on the topic of misnamed features, the setting to turn off "idle time scans" really should just say "idle time full scan" since that is the only thing it affects. It's only natural to assume that the phrase "idle time scans" would apply to both types of scans with the word "idle" in them, if it only affects one type of scan then the setting should refer to it specifically, not use a generalized term that misleadingly implies it affects both.
Hello phiefer3
Welcome to the Norton Community Forum
As you can see by my avatar, I am an online gamer. I use NIS 2011. I have my idle time down to 1 minute. I also have listed UT under In Miscellaneous Settings, under Silent Mode Settings, User-Specified Programs, I have listed the .exe file for my game.I have never had an Idle quick scan run while I am playing. The Idle Quick Scans only run a few times a day when the antivirus definitions come out. I don't get any interruptions from anything while I am playing. I do have most things turned off when playing also and don't have too many automatic updates even set to on. Of course Norton's is turned on all the time, but I do have UT.exe set in that User Specified setting and that has stopped them from running. As soon as I stop playing and if there is an antivirus definition about to be downloaded, then it will run when I am finished playing.
If it's been a while since you received any antivirus definitons, you can always run a live update and see if you get the antivirus definitions at that time. If you do get them, then you will know a minute later, the idle quick scan will run if you have it set to 1 min. and get it over with. Thanks.
I tried searching other topics and was dissappointed to find out that it's not possible to disable Idle Quick Scans. And while I think that is a bunch of bs (it's my computer, I should be able to tell norton not to scan my computer if I don't want it to). But what I haven't seen mentioned in any of these other topics is the thing that bothers me the most: they run when the computer is NOT idle.
The Idle Quick Scan will decide that the best time to run is when my computer is already running at near 100% processor capacity (the computer is getting pretty dated, only single-core so it doesn't have much processing power to start with and a game like WoW pretty much uses all of it). And when norton decides that this is the perfect time to run an Idle Quick Scan it causes serious performance issues. And while these quick scans normally only take a few seconds, when Norton and WoW are fighting over the processor it can take up to 20 minutes unless I close WoW and just let Norton have its way.
I would just write it off as it being a case of the computer not going idle long enough that Norton decides that it can't put it off any longer, except that the one day I left the computer idle for about 4 hours, came back and started playing and not 10 minutes later the quick scan starts up. I check the activity chart in the Norton Tasks interface and low and behold for all those hours that the computer sat idle Norton never went over 20~30% processor, but right after I start using the computer again it decides to jump up to 90+% processor to run it's IDLE quick scan. Why did it not decide to run it's precious quick scan while the computer was Idle?
Even putting Norton into Silent Mode, which is supposed to turn off ALL background tasks, doesn't help it. Even if the Idle Quick Scan is such a high priority that it can't be disabled, Silent Mode should at least prevent the automatic update which would mean that Idle Quick Scan shouldn't be triggered. What is the point of Silent Mode if all of the background tasks run anyways? And another question, why is there a button to stop the Idle Quick Scan on the Norton Tasks window when the scan is just going to restart itself 5 seconds later? Why give us a false sense of control over our computer by letting us stop a scan that cannot be stopped?
I guess my biggest issue is the name of the scan. It does not run during idle, it does not wait for the computer to be idle, it does not even care what the definition of the word "idle" is. So why in the world would anyone ever even consider putting the word "idle" in the name of the scan, aside from as some sort of cruel joke. They might as well have called it the Macaroni and Cheese Scan, because it's got just as much to do with macaroni and cheese as it does with idle.
While we're on the topic of misnamed features, the setting to turn off "idle time scans" really should just say "idle time full scan" since that is the only thing it affects. It's only natural to assume that the phrase "idle time scans" would apply to both types of scans with the word "idle" in them, if it only affects one type of scan then the setting should refer to it specifically, not use a generalized term that misleadingly implies it affects both.
Yes, I put the WoW.exe in the user-specified list for automatically turning on Silent Mode long ago in hopes of solving this issue, but it simply doesn't work. Updates are still downloaded and "Idle" Quick Scans are still ran even while the game is running. And I've even tried turning Silent Mode on manually while running the game (as in right-clicking the icon in the taskbar and turning Silent Mode on from there) and still they persist.
As for my Idle timeout setting, back when the issue first...became an issue...I set my timeout to the maximum 30 minutes in hopes of preventing the scans by trying to prevent Norton from thinking the computer was idle. Since browsing some of the topics I mentioned in my first post I have lowered the setting to 5 minutes in hopes that giving it more opportunities to run that it won't be running them while I play. But honestly I don't have high hopes of it making a difference, since as I said in my other post I've already left my computer idle for several hours (well over the 30 minute threshold) and Norton still decided not to run the updater and quick scan until I came back and started up my game (which should have put it into silent mode as well).
The whole thing doesn't make any sense at all (if it did, then I'd have probably found a way to fix it long ago and wouldn't be here). If "Idle" quick scans are a must, then what I'd really prefer is that the liveupdate run when I first startup the computer and the quick scan do it's thing then (I walk away from the computer for 10-30 minutes after turning it on anyways) and then not run at all the rest of the time the computer's on. I turn the computer off each night anyways, so it'd still update and scan once a day, I don't think I'd run into any problems because an update was delayed for one day until I restarted the computer.
It's getting to the point that if I can't get Norton to start behaving properly I'm going to just drop it and find something else to use instead. I don't mean that as a threat of loss of business or anything (I'm getting Norton free through Comcast anyways), but if it's not working the way it's supposed to or how I want it to, then I'd rather find something that does.
Hello
Oh, you have Comcast Norton Security Suite. That is a different program than NIS 2011 and is more like N360 which isn't as tweakable as NIS 2011 is. I am going to have this thread moved over to the Other Products section of the Forum since that is where it should be. Tnanks.