Norton Internet Security 22.5.2.15 / Windows 7 x64
NIS.EXE process consumes nearly all of the CPU of a single core when the computer is NOT IDLE and NO (obvious) SCAN is in progress... [[ NOTE: updated this as I was able to find what NIS was doing... If you traverse the NIS GUI's windows correctly: click on 'Settings', then select "Antivirus", click "Scans and Risks", then click on "Configure" for the "Full System Scan" entry under "Computer Scans", you are likely to see the "Full System Scan" line's "Status" indicating "Running...". WTF? I have to go that deep to see that a SCAN is in progress (when I didn't start it and IT IS NOT SCHEDULED TO START UNTIL this Sunday???). My guess is that NIS "A S S U M E S" everyone wants a complete scan after the UNAUTHORIZED upgrade (but didn't think the user should be made aware of that and not given an easy to find indicator of a scan is in progress....????) WTF?!?! ]]
NIS.EXE starts out not using much CPU, but some time later, after interrupting the screen saver, NIS.EXE consumes ~13% of the CPU (~1 core out of eight) and continues to do so until the computer is rebooted. If all I had was a Core 2 Duo machine, my guess is the CPU utilization would impact the system's performance. I've even tried disabling "auto protect" and the "firewall", but it won't stop with the high CPU utilization until a reboot... but then eventually resumes high CPU utilization (i.e., it resumes the full system scan)... and since I have terabytes of backups, installation packages, and virtual machines, it is going to take some time to complete...
RECOMMENDATIONS:
a) Add an easy to find indicator (on the main NIS GUI perhaps?) to signify when a scan is in progress.
b) ASK the user if they want to NIS to automatically perform a FULL SYSTEM scan as well as allow the user to indicate what drives and/or folders to "not scan".
This whole upgrade Norton pushed out is getting me a bit more perturbed... (I value my time off from work... and this upgrade is WASTING IT!)