Having a problem with NIS 2010 doing these Background Tasks, during and after I've run a GHOST 14 full recovery point (about 30-minutes). [NIS puts up this little notice near the Sys Tray that says it's doing Background Tasks. Has an x-out, but doesn't seem to make any difference if I click that.]
NIS just "takes over" my computer for quite a while (10-minutes or so). 70-100% cpu. Can't stop it in any way. Irritating -- esp if there's something else I really need to do at that moment.
I have "Idle Time Scan" turned OFF. And, "Idle Time Out" set to 30-min (max allowed). But, it still keeps doing these Background Tasks (or something -- could it be Idle Time Quick Scans?).
[And, just in general, NIS has been *really* doing a lot of large, long, hi-cpu/HDD d/l's, lately -- freezes up my computer. It's doing one right now. Been going on for around 10-15 minutes, or so, solid. ]
You mention that you are running NIS2010, any reason you haven't upgraded/updated to NIS2011?
Just wondering before I blunder in and make a mess of things
<G> No way you'd make a mess of things.
I have 2011, but haven't installed it yet. Waiting 'til my 1-yr subscription expires on 2010, before putting 2011 on -- In about 1-month.
This is strange. NIS has been taking about 30-70% of the cpu for over 1-hour now. Win XP Task Mgr shows ccsvchst.exe/System having virtually constant activity -- cpu and some HDD. Shows a cumulative cpu time of 2-hrs and 4-min. Nothing else is running at all. Normally this and */Toshiba run when it's doing LU's and after. But, my DSL cable has been uplugged for hours.
Or, maybe it's like NIS is running a Full System Scan. But, "Performance" tab shows nothing like that running. 'Bout at my wits ends on this. Help me Dick.
Having a problem with NIS 2010 doing these Background Tasks, during and after I've run a GHOST 14 full recovery point (about 30-minutes). [NIS puts up this little notice near the Sys Tray that says it's doing Background Tasks. Has an x-out, but doesn't seem to make any difference if I click that.]
NIS just "takes over" my computer for quite a while (10-minutes or so). 70-100% cpu. Can't stop it in any way. Irritating -- esp if there's something else I really need to do at that moment.
I have "Idle Time Scan" turned OFF. And, "Idle Time Out" set to 30-min (max allowed). But, it still keeps doing these Background Tasks (or something -- could it be Idle Time Quick Scans?).
[And, just in general, NIS has been *really* doing a lot of large, long, hi-cpu/HDD d/l's, lately -- freezes up my computer. It's doing one right now. Been going on for around 10-15 minutes, or so, solid. ]
The hardware is a laptop and the OS is XP. There should be no problems with that mix. Have you tried deleting NIS from the control panel, rebooting and reinstalling it? DSL may be a bit slower than cable but it is no less prone to scrambling bits. I think that one of your updates got a bit messed up during downloading and wasn't bad enough to get flagged by Norton so that it would fail and you could try again. It even installed, sort of, and now it isn't able to play well with the rest of the modules.
I'm going to assume that Norton would have recognized any of the preinstalled security software and disabled it. It usually does and then there's the questions about why isn't windows defender or ms security essentials working correctly. So if this fix doesn't fix it we'll have to go back to the tool kit as see what's available in the way of a bigger. badder hammer - just kidding!
Stranger and stranger. Just after I posted my reply to Dick (above), my computer turned itself off. All power supplies are fine. Just the computer went dead.
This is the 3d time this has happened in about the last month. 1st time (6/1/11) was when I was on this Forum and posted about a cyber-warfare article in the Washington Post,asking if *anyone* (incldg Norton) could defend against such things. [I've had a *lot* of "virus," etc, trouble on this computer for several years now -- and had suspected (and still do) an infection from some kind of super-sophisticated root kit on it -- maybe CIA/NSA/government-funded sophistication stuff -- that perhaps has gotten into hands of "civilians."]
Then, just a few days ago (6/27/11) it shut down again. No apparent reason. All power supplies were fine. Was listening to some music on YouTube.
Then today. 3d time. Again, no apparent reason.
Someone here mentioned, after the 1st one, that perhaps my cpu was overheating. That seems unlikely? Nothing feels hot and fans not noticeably active. Yet... this 3d time -- I wonder, since NIS had apparently gone "mad" and was using lots of cpu (30-100%) for several hours -- could this overheat the cpu, and cause a shutdown?
When power went off this last time, and I restarted, at least NIS came back up acting normal -- no excessive cpu, etc. [But, like so many times recently, GHOST wasn't loaded into the Sys Tray. Having a *lot* of problems w/it too -- won't do "incremental" rp's. A long history of such. Rootkit?? Who me? Paranoid?]
The hardware is a laptop and the OS is XP. There should be no problems with that mix. Have you tried deleting NIS from the control panel, rebooting and reinstalling it? DSL may be a bit slower than cable but it is no less prone to scrambling bits. I think that one of your updates got a bit messed up during downloading and wasn't bad enough to get flagged by Norton so that it would fail and you could try again. It even installed, sort of, and now it isn't able to play well with the rest of the modules.
I'm going to assume that Norton would have recognized any of the preinstalled security software and disabled it. It usually does and then there's the questions about why isn't windows defender or ms security essentials working correctly. So if this fix doesn't fix it we'll have to go back to the tool kit as see what's available in the way of a bigger. badder hammer - just kidding!
Hope this helps
Tks for reply, Dick. Our posts crossed; so, there's another problem too -- my computer just seems to shut itself off sometimes.
But.. back to the NIS cpu-issue: I did have some "failed to complete" LU's this morning. And, noticed a bunch of my manual LU's were quite large -- in the 6-8MB range. Several, over a fairly short period. Then all day long, many Pulse Updates -- took a lot of time, seemingly.
But, I'd prefer not to do a reinstall of NIS right now. Probably going to do a Norton Removal Tool, and reinstall, on all my Norton products (including GHOST), fairly soon. That will require some BIG d/l updates (lengthy - only 1.5Mbps DSL) and reconfiguring -- a hassle. But, want to wait on NRT until my NIS 2010 subscription expires, in about 1-month, when I'll install NIS 2011.
I don't know what "windows defender" or "ms security essentials" are. My impression was that all Windows virus protection, etc, s/w should be turned off, when NIS is active?
You can install NIS 2011 at any time - it will pick up the subscription time remaining on your current version. Then, a day or two before the subscription expires, simply click the "Renew" link on the main Norton window and enter the new product key from the NIS 2011 product. No need to wait to upgrade, since you can retain the current subscription until it expires.
Also, I would suggest setting the Idle TIme Out to 1 minute, rather than 30. Some high priority tasks may not be getting a chance to run because the computer doesn't remain idle long enough for them to even start. They may be forced to run in non-idle time if you deny them the opportunity to run when you are not using the PC, and that could be part of your problem (although it sounds like you have additional things going on, as well).
You can install NIS 2011 at any time - it will pick up the subscription time remaining on your current version. Then, a day or two before the subscription expires, simply click the "Renew" link on the main Norton window and enter the new product key from the NIS 2011 product. No need to wait to upgrade, since you can retain the current subscription until it expires.
Also, I would suggest setting the Idle TIme Out to 1 minute, rather than 30. Some high priority tasks may not be getting a chance to run because the computer doesn't remain idle long enough for them to even start. They may be forced to run in non-idle time if you deny them the opportunity to run when you are not using the PC, and that could be part of your problem (although it sounds like you have additional things going on, as well).
Tks SoJ, that's good to know about 2011. So, now all I have to do is decide if I want to do the NRT thing. Probably should, huh. Have had a lot of problems with NIS just really bogging my computer down. Have used Norton's products for around 10-years, w/o any "uninstalls," so residual things may have piled up.
And, i like your info about the 1-minute Idle Time Out. Makes sense. Yet, that's why I set it to 30-minutes -- so NIS wouldn't keep hanging up my computer when I pondered on things for a few minutes or so. Anyway, I set it to 1-minute.
The NRT and 2011 may solve a lot of my problems -- though something of a hassle.
I just took a quick look at your other threads where you were concerned that perhaps you might have a rootkit that was causing you to have other malware on your computer. You had mentioned that you had run the free version of malwarebytes to see if you had a rootkit present or not. Malwarebytes doesn't find rootkts.
Before you go and install NIS 2011, I would suggest that you take the laptop and go visit one of the free malware removal sites and ask them if your laptop is clean or infected. They have the proper tools to determine if your laptop is clean or not. If it is infected, they can help you get it cleaned up. If your computer is clean, then we can give you further instructionsl Thanks.
Please go to one of these free Forums for help in removing your bad malware or rootkits.
Tks floplot, that sounds like a good idea. Unfortunately I've run out of time on this stuff right now (unless my system gets unusable). Have to go on to other things.
But some thoughts... been musing on these weird computer "shutdowns" I've been experiencing -- and think it's possible that the rootkit is doing that. Had two more shutdowns last night, as NIS was doing its "crazy cpu" act again. I wonder if all this cpu stuff is NIS searching for this rootkit, and every time NIS gets close, the rootkit shuts down the computer? Maybe.
In my past efforts to find/remove this rootkit, I've used several other tools that supposedly do such things. And, nearly everyone of 'em either caused my computer to crash/shutdwon, or locked it up. Hmmm. Seems like when something gets close to finding this rootkit -- or probes too deeply -- the rootkit defends itself?
I'll try and get back to this soon, and follow your links.
Floplot, I did briefly look at those links you sent.
But, I'm unclear about when you say "...take the laptop and go visit one of the free malware removal sites and ask them if your laptop is clean or infected."
Do you mean physically take my computer into them? If so, how do I find where they are located? Didn't see this kind of info on their web-page. And... what kind of $$ costs are involved in doing all this. I'm a little "financially challenged" at the moment.
I meant to use the problemsome laptop and go to the websites. After you register with one of them , ask them to test your laptop to see if it is infected. You will work with an expert on a 1 to 1 basis. He will tell you what scans to run and how to do it safely. After looking over the logs you will give to them, they can tell if your laptop is clean or still infected. All 4 of the websites I listed are free ones. They are all experts in what they do. I didn't want you to go to one of the sites with another computer which doesn't have the problem.
I meant to use the problemsome laptop and go to the websites. After you register with one of them , ask them to test your laptop to see if it is infected. You will work with an expert on a 1 to 1 basis. He will tell you what scans to run and how to do it safely. After looking over the logs you will give to them, they can tell if your laptop is clean or still infected. All 4 of the websites I listed are free ones. They are all experts in what they do. I didn't want you to go to one of the sites with another computer which doesn't have the problem.
Tks floplot -- yes, I saw that you said "free" in your earlier post. The "...take the laptop and go visit..." threw me though. <G>
OK, I think I get it. So, you register and then let one of the experts guide you on what to do. That's really cool that they do this stuff -- for free. But -- call me cynical -- do these things usually lead to "premium, etc, services" that eventually cost a lot of $$? A "few" bucks I could afford -- but, not a lot.
And, are there times when you have to give them "remote access" to your computer? If so, I guess I'd do that -- but, would feel a little uneasy about it.
Also, I think I really want to d/l and install 2011 right now. All morning long, NIS 2010 is doing its "cpu hog" trick. Still bogging down my computer. Surely 2011 wouldn't prevent the guru websites from helping me later, w/2011 on??
Those websites offer free help. Of course they would always welcome a small donation if you want to, but that isn't required at all. As far as i know there is no remote access to your computer. Sometimes they may ask you to d/l a program on a pen drive so you can put it into your computer if the malware prevents you from going to a site. If there is any malware on your computer, it would be better to get it removed as soon as possible. That may be what is causing the slow downs also. Malware could also interfere with the proper install of your new NIS 2011. It's always recommended to install a security program on a clean machine. Thanks
Those websites offer free help. Of course they would always welcome a small donation if you want to, but that isn't required at all. As far as i know there is no remote access to your computer. Sometimes they may ask you to d/l a program on a pen drive so you can put it into your computer if the malware prevents you from going to a site. If there is any malware on your computer, it would be better to get it removed as soon as possible. That may be what is causing the slow downs also. Malware could also interfere with the proper install of your new NIS 2011. It's always recommended to install a security program on a clean machine. Thanks
Great info, floplot. Tks. Way cool of those guys (and gals) to help out on things like this. Makes me smile.
But, I went ahead and did 2011. If I have trouble w/install/exe I'll do a NRT on it all. Was sorta planning on doing that anyway.
So if this fix doesn't fix it we'll have to go back to the tool kit as see what's available in the way of a bigger. badder hammer - just kidding!