I got this email from a friend of mine.
I use Norton AntiVirus 2009. I like that it automatically updates, but its habit of doing a lot more than that without asking me is really bugging me and getting in my way.
I power on my computer each day for one to three or four hours. When I'm done using it, I power it off. I feel that if it is not on, little can happen to it. Also, it uses less power that way. Not infrequently there are days, sometimes a few, when I don't turn the computer on at all. I am using Windows XP Home and have 1 gig of RAM. My processor is 3.06.
When I do boot up, I understand that NAV needs to update, and that I can expect a delay of a few minutes while it does this, using up computer resources and making my computer unavailable for most use during this time. But then it decides to do a full computer scan after this, essentially preventing me from using the computer for an even longer period of time. I am prevented from using my computer for about 30 minutes sometimes, while NAV does it thing.
I would really like to have a bit more control. How about letting me decide to put off the system scan until I'm done using the computer and then, as with Windows Updates, let it do that and then turn off my computer when it is done?