I recently explained how the Smart Scheduler feature in Norton 360 works to stay out of your way in deciding when to run tasks. The scheduler is so effective that it's common for users to wonder if we're ever performing scans. Neil Rubenking even noted in his PC Magazine review of Norton 360 that "It's so quiet you might begin to wonder if it's doing anything at all."
We want to shed some light on this for anyone (myself included) who can't resist the urge to dig into how things work. We've created a small widget that shows you everything going on behind the scenes:
You can download it here (it's free) and it will work with any active copy of Norton 360 version 2.0. Windows XP users will need to install a copy of Microsoft's .NET Framework 2.0 if they don't already have it.
At the top you will notice a small icon of a person - that's you. Next to it is a timer that starts at 20 minutes and begins counting down after Norton 360 notices you're not moving the mouse or keyboard. Below this is a list of all your computer's resources (CPU usage, disk activity, network traffic, etc...). When the time is right and a scan is pending, you'll see it start up.
When you first run the tool, you might not see any "Pending" jobs. That's okay; it just means Norton 360 doesn't have anything to run right now. In this case, the timer doesn't tick down either. This is for performance - there's no point in the product monitoring user activity if it has nothing to do.
There's one other feature in the widget worth mentioning. In the top right corner, there's a green "play" button. This will make you appear inactive for 5 seconds. Say you're heading off to lunch and want Norton 360 to start its scan now instead of waiting 20 minutes. Click this button, walk away and any pending jobs will start immediately. If you come back before those jobs are done, they'll stop just like normal.
I hope this tool helps provide you with some transparency into the Smart Scheduler feature of Norton 360.
Message Edited by jgonzales on 02-11-2009 06:57 PM
Dear Mr. Davis. I have recently purchased the Norton 360 program and have major concerns. I aquired a malware trojan downloader on my PC and pop ups and interent access are the major issues affecting my PC. Norton 360 would not detect the problem so i downloaded the PC Tools anti virus that quickly detected the problem and would fix the issue for 39.99 (if i bought the full program). I quickly contacted Norton techincal support who advised me to remove the PC Tools software because it could disrupting the Norton program so i did. Still no detection by Norton, the support next explained to me that it would cost 99.99 to fix the malware trojan downloader. After i researched the trojan downloader i found that any sub par antispyware program could resolve the issue. My concerns come from Norton’s ineffective ability not to stand behind there product and fix the issue. THe ability of an inexpensive program to detect and fix the issue concerns me, because Norton 360 could not. It seems to me that Norton program doesnt protect my PC and only serves as a gateway program to more cost on my behalf if an issue arises. I could understand if the problem was caused by a major virus but this is not the case (what i gather from research). This is my first experience with Norton and it has been very trouble some. I was not sure who to contact over my concerns, so i decided to try this blog. The ineffective ability of Norton not to stand behind there product and fix minor issues or design the program to fix the issues concerns me. Thanks you and hope to hear a reply from you soon. Vince Liberato
Thanks Evert and welcome to the Norton blogs! That’s exactly what we were shooting for – small and simple but full of information to show you what’s going on behind the scenes of your product. Thanks again for your feedback.
Hi citacomp, I’ve sent you a PM.
Hi Njinau, thanks for the update. I am glad everything is working as expected now. Don’t hesitate to get in touch in again if you have other concerns/comments.
To answer your other question above, “PM” is forum-speak for Private Message. You can send any user on this board a direct message by clicking on their user name and choosing to “Send this user a private message”
Collin
Very nice!!
Some questionmarks are easily being removed and uncovering what is actually going on.
A peace of mind comes into the users of N360.
Genious !!
Kurt
Colin,
Further to my comment/request above, I now find that I cannot replicate the problem. This is possibly because I’ve since used Registry Mechanic to Optimize Services. I note that the RM function changed some services from “disabled” to “manual”. Please treat the problem as “User Error”.
yes, they have .net framework installed (1.1 w/hotfix kb928366, 2.0 sp1 v2.1.21022, 3.0 sp1 v3.1.21022). The error is the standard windows program crash error. “Norton360Status has encountered a problem and needs to close. We are sorry for the inconvenience.” When I click on the “what does the error report contain” link it gives the following information in the error signature section “AppName: Norton360statuswidget.exe AppVer:2.2.2.0 AppStamp:47d86948 ModName: kernel32.dll ModVer:5.1.2600.3119 ModStamp:46239bd5 fDebug:0 Offset:00012a5b” There is also the full contents of the error report which is too long to post here.
Thanks for your reply Colin,
I didn’t really want to have this running on startup, is there no other way to “find it” if you have closed it with the “corner x” ?
I am running XP SP3 with Framework 2.1.2102. The widget clock has no face and is not counting down.
Any suggestions please.
Hi vinsanity, I apologize for this inconvenience. Your previous post has been moved to the Norton 360 board at the following location:
http://community.norton.com/norton/board/message?board.id=Norton_360&message.id=157
Colin,
What a PM? What sort of information would you like in it?
As I said before.. very useful tool.... One small question....
Is it possible to have also net-work activity in a small bar... (out- in going) With this 360 is round in respect to information...
Evert Maurer (The Netherlands)
Message Edited by emaurer on 04-13-2008 01:22 PM
Hi vinsanity, the experience you describe is very concerning. I want to get to the bottom of it as soon as possible.
I would like to keep this discussion on the topic of the scheduler widget. I've arranged to have your post moved here:
http://community.norton.com/norton/board/message?board.id=Norton_360&message.id=157
We'll follow up shortly in that forum.
Thanks.
[edit: URL updated to reflect new Norton 360 board]
Message Edited by collindavis on 05-08-2008 01:28 PM
Message Edited by Tony_Weiss on 05-22-2008 05:52 PM
Very cool tool idea but…I tried to download it three times and failed. Error window says Norton 360 has quit working.
I’m using Win Vista Home Premium SP1.
Disappointing 
Ron
Moving to NAV/NIS board for better exposure
Hi Ron,
This widget is really still in the “beta” phase, but it definitely should not interfere with your base Norton 360 product. I’ve sent you a PM to get some more information and help you sort this out.
Collin
Just what I was hoping for. Thanks!
Dear Mr Davis, I am pleased with your interest in my concerns but I am having problems reaching the link that you placed on your response, it has been deleted. All I want is for my PC to be fixed due to the problem that Norton failed to fix. Thanks Vince Liberato
Nice informative utility - Thanks
However, it stops my PC from shutting down. I’m running Win XP Pro SP3 with about 90 concurrent processes. When I choose Start/Shutdown some processes stop (about 20) but then the Shutdown proceeds no further. New programs can be activated, but new Shutdowns will not shut any more. The PC is not hung. Once I stop Norton360status then a new Shutdown will complete the operation.