Manual Scan Makes CPU "Overheat" For Awhile

Norton Security | Norton Internet Security
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Last night I ran a manual full system scan, which takes about an hour on this pc (over half of which is typically spent scanning and re-scanning compressed files in Windows\Installer -- apparently from going many levels deep within those files, per some input I got on the forum about a year ago)..

 

I had closed all other programs and left while the scan ran.  When I came back the scan had finished, with no malware reported.  But my CPU temperature monitor had opened, which means that sometime during the scan my laptop's CPU had reached at least 90 degrees Celsius, which is abnormally hot (and of course not great for the health of the pc).  I looked at the CPU meter in Norton Tasks and saw that NIS was using tons of CPU during about 20% of the scan, clumped approximately in the middle.  At one point it was 99% (with the other 1% being used by the temperature monitor).  It appears that during the remainder of the scan NIS was using at most 50% of the CPU.  My laptop's CPU is Intel Pentium M 2.00Ghz.

 

While I often hear the CPU chugging pretty hard during a full scan, this is the first time I recall seeing it make the CPU run hotter than the warning point.

 

Any ideas on what the problem could cause this or how to prevent this from happening?  I have the latest version of NIS 2010 on Windows XP SP2.  Thanks.

 

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You can turn off compressed files scan to increase scan time and CPU usage. You will still be protected don't worry about this. I always turn off this option and additionally exclude other drives from manual scan than the boot volume (usually C:). Auto-protect does it's job anyway.

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While I often hear the CPU chugging pretty hard during a full scan, this is the first time I recall seeing it make the CPU run hotter than the warning point.

 

Ardmore, the CPU will not make chugging or any other kind of noises during a scan. If you are hearing noises from the PC during a scan they are likely coming from either the hard drive or a defective cooling fan. If they are coming from a defective CPU fan that would also help explain the high CPU temps that you are seeing.

 

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Thanks for the ideas, cgoldman and vejdin.

 

It IS a laptop - Asus z70Va that is about 4 years old.  I had it cleaned and fan replaced about a year ago (shortly before I got Norton) by the Asus specialist I bought it from.  He also ended up replacing the mainboard after discovering that there had been some improper soldering when it was originally custom-built (long story, but that was perhaps the main contributor to the much worse noise it had started making back then.).  Anyway, all the work really quieted things down, although it has gotten a bit noisier again...maybe already needs some more cleaning.  (OTOH, this has often been considered a noisy model).  Also, it seems that it is more prone to noise and maybe heat after it's been on all day, and I did this scan late at night.  Anyway, I'll try some of your hardware-related hints, cgoldman.

 

One reason I thought it might be NIS related rather than just hardware is a similar experience I had a few years ago -- same pc, different AntiVirus & Firewall.  That AV's tech support told me that updating to the latest version of their AV would solve the problem.  Well, I never did have the overheat with that AV after that, though I'm still not convinced the program update was what did it.  Fyi I already have the latest version of NIS 2010, though no one has suggested that the issue could relate to having an older version.

 

As for SP3, it was absolute mess when I tried to update to it after it first came out.  Fortunately I got the mess untangled and decided "no way" re SP3.  But I guess I'll need to steel myself and try again anyway since MS is ceasing support of SP2 in July.

 

Vejdin, I do get the impression that the compressed file scanning makes my pc chug harder (and of course makes the scan take a lot longer).  Back almost a year ago when I first posted about how my scans seem to spend "forever" re-scanning parts of compressed files in Windows\Installers, there was STRONG disagreement about whether or not it is advisable to disable the compressed file scanning.  Tech support and some of the experts on the board agreed with your current advice to disable it -- that realtime scanning will handle any possible malware in those files.  But several other experts insisted that this was a definite no-no, and that disabling compressed-file scanning would clearly leave my system more vulnerable.  Since the extra scan time doesn't really bother me I decided to go the conservative route and leave it enabled.  But it it's causing the CPU to spike too much these days, maybe I'll revisit the disable-compressed scanning option (or at least make Windows\Installer a scan exlusion).  So far at least, all the malware detected by NIS in the year I've had it has indeed been with the realtime protection..

 

 

EDIT: Turbo's post appeared after I posted this.  When I say "chugging" I refer to what I believe is the fan blowing hard (I can feel more hot air blowing out) and sometimes whirring louder.  Nothing "ratchey" sounding like what had developed before the repair, though.  I do know that after I got the laptop worked on the average CPU temperature dropped by about 7-10 degrees celsius.  And I know others who have this model, and again it is very noisy -- kind of a continual low-level windstorm noise.  Maybe it's a design flaw.  Anyway, I'm going to keep an eye on the temp to see if it's going back up in general.  I do frequent imaging as well to be on the safe side.  Thanks for the suggestions.

 

BTW, if anyone else ever experiences higher CPU temps when scanning, please post about it.

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Ardmore,

 

What is the amount of memory installed on your laptop?

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I have an Asus laptop (cant remember the model and too lazy to go fetch it! lol) but in the summer it gets so hot that I have to have an electric fan blowing over it. Worse still when travelling in hotels I can use a hairdryer on cold setting.

The machine doesn't need clearning it is just not efficient. Asus want to be no 3 but in my view they have a long way to go in terms of support and I am surprised how many of their top tech guys dont speak English...

7

Last night I ran a manual full system scan, which takes about an hour on this pc (over half of which is typically spent scanning and re-scanning compressed files in Windows\Installer -- apparently from going many levels deep within those files, per some input I got on the forum about a year ago)..

 

I had closed all other programs and left while the scan ran.  When I came back the scan had finished, with no malware reported.  But my CPU temperature monitor had opened, which means that sometime during the scan my laptop's CPU had reached at least 90 degrees Celsius, which is abnormally hot (and of course not great for the health of the pc).  I looked at the CPU meter in Norton Tasks and saw that NIS was using tons of CPU during about 20% of the scan, clumped approximately in the middle.  At one point it was 99% (with the other 1% being used by the temperature monitor).  It appears that during the remainder of the scan NIS was using at most 50% of the CPU.  My laptop's CPU is Intel Pentium M 2.00Ghz.

 

While I often hear the CPU chugging pretty hard during a full scan, this is the first time I recall seeing it make the CPU run hotter than the warning point.

 

Any ideas on what the problem could cause this or how to prevent this from happening?  I have the latest version of NIS 2010 on Windows XP SP2.  Thanks.

 

8

 

Vejdin wrote:

Ardmore,

 

What is the amount of memory installed on your laptop?

 

2GB

 

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Thats good, 3gb is the max.

10

 

cgoldman wrote:

I have an Asus laptop (cant remember the model and too lazy to go fetch it! lol) but in the summer it gets so hot that I have to have an electric fan blowing over it. Worse still when travelling in hotels I can use a hairdryer on cold setting.

The machine doesn't need clearning it is just not efficient. Asus want to be no 3 but in my view they have a long way to go in terms of support and I am surprised how many of their top tech guys dont speak English...

 

I haven't been following these things, and just assumed that with Asus's increased visibility, availability and promotion over the last few years that some of those issues would have been addressed by now.  Maybe not.  Other than tech support (especially online) the noisiness issue (which, as I said, seems less of an issue earlier in the day since I had the repair), and a few minor beefs, I've been extremely pleased with this model and remain glad I bought it.  The irony about tech support is that Phone tech support has been very good much of the time.  I've often been able to get through quickly to knowledgeable, English-speaking tech support people in California, and I don't have to go through voice mail hell, wait on hold, or give a book's worth of identifying informatiion.

 

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Ardmore wrote:

 

I've often been able to get through quickly to knowledgeable, English-speaking tech support people in California, and I don't have to go through voice mail hell, wait on hold, or give a book's worth of identifying informatiion.

..........

Luckt you are can/us. If you were in Europe you would get different response.

 

12

 

cgoldman wrote:
Ardmore wrote:

 

I've often been able to get through quickly to knowledgeable, English-speaking tech support people in California, and I don't have to go through voice mail hell, wait on hold, or give a book's worth of identifying informatiion.

..........

Luckt you are can/us. If you were in Europe you would get different response.

 

 

I should add that I haven't tried calling in quite awhile, so I can't be sure whether I'd have the same quality phone support experience today.