Hello. I suppose this is the place to report bugs as I cannot find any other place to do so.
I am running XP Pro SP3 and NIS v20.3.1.22 which I presume is the latest update since I just two days ago (May-10-2013) got this update and applied it and that is what my NIS About Dialog is reporting now. After the update completed, right away I noticed a bug on one of my machines (I have a 3 PC license). My XP computer is being used as a disk and web development server on our local intranet using WAMP. It is set up to run the screen saver very quickly (after 1 min), then shut off the monitor after 20 minutes, and finally go to sleep (standby mode) after 1 hour (because nobody sits at that box and uses it). It remains always on.
The latest NIS update has caused a problem that goes like so:
1. Screen saver kicks on.
2. After running for approximately 1-3 minutes (probably 2 min but I haven't timed it precisely so that's just an estimation) the PC suddenly wakes up. Norton's "Performing tasks in the background during idle-time..." notification message is on the screen (or appears for a split second) and then immediately disappears in less than a second. Norton appears to perform no background processing at all anymore.
3. Another minute goes by and then the screen saver starts up again as per its schedule.
4. After about 1-3 minutes...wake up, Norton message flashes on the screen again...go to step 3.
This repeats indefinitely and the PC is never able to reach standby mode or turn off the monitor. I found that if I turn on Norton Silent Mode for 2 hours, then the PC is able to behave as it always has in the past (prior to the latest update). That being the screen saver runs for 20 min, then the monitor turns off, and then the machine goes to sleep 40 minutes later. Unfortunately, there is no setting for permanently turning Silent Mode (SM) on. The max setting is one day and then it turns notifications back on again automatically which causes the problem to re-emerge once again. It is kinda a pain having to turn SM back on every day, but at least I have found a way to work around the issue by using it -- though I would prefer not to.
I am not clear as to whether or not Norton is actually performing its normal background idle-time processing however, and I certainly want it to continue doing that as it always has in the past. I tried reconfiguring the screen saver so it wouldn't start for like 6 hours, no monitor off & no standby ever and, with Silent Mode turned off, found that Norton never seems to notify me that it is doing anything at all in the background like it used to before the update was applied. At least it never tells me that it is whether SM is either off or on. I also tried starting the screen saver after only 20 minutes -- monitor off after 2 hours -- standby after 3 hours, and when the screen saver does kick in, the bug still happens about 1-3 minutes after it starts. I am concerned that whatever Norton used to do in the background during idle-time is no longer being done...ever. Certainly not when SM is turned off. Well if it is, then it is no longer telling me about it.
I have installed no other software on that XP machine in at least 3 months...only this NIS update. The screen saver configured is one of the default ones that ships with Windows XP (the slide show).
The PC I sit at and use every day is running Windows 7 Pro and it does not suffer this problem as far as I know. But then, it is not configured the same as the XP box is and runs on different hardware...so it is possible that the bug is also present there, but that I just never see it. The Win7 box is definitely not being woken up when its screen saver runs. It appears to be functioning exactly as it did prior to the NIS update. Because I discovered the SM work around, I did not take the time to set it up identically to the XP PC and find out for sure (yet I am willing to if you like, although you should be able to try it yourself on your end and see). NIS on my Win7 machine does still continue to notify me about background processing, just like is always has. Therefore I suspect the issue only affects my XP installation...but again that is merely my unverified suspicion. I do not have another different XP machine to test it out on unfortunately. I updated the Win7 PC on the same day I did the XP box and with the same NIS version update (20.3.1.22) so both machines are in sync Norton-wise at the moment.
Anyway I think it ought to be looked into. Also I would appreciate some sort of heads-up concerning whether my protection is being degraded because of it. Let me know if you'd like me to do anything or provide any additional information, but I think I've laid out the problem fairly clearly and as completely as I can.
Thanks,
-- Axe22
P.S. Despite this minor flaw, your product still rocks!