Norton Idle TIme Optimizer is set to OFF, but Norton Tasks says it ran 2 days ago

Norton Security | Norton Internet Security
1

I installed a new SSD 2 months ago, and reinstalled Vista Home Premium and Norton Internet Security 2013. I turned off windows defrag, and in Norton settings, I set Norton Idle TIme Optimizer  to OFF.

 

But last night I noticed that the Optimizer still ran on Oct. 8, according to Norton Tasks. I verifed that under Settings the Optimizer is OFF.

 

Seems impossible. I'd like to be sure that Optimizer won't run, since defragging is apparently not good for a solid state drive.

 

Any solutions? I used online Chat with tech support, but they couldn't solve it.

2

Hi doug7840

Can you check in the Norton history to see if the optimiser process completed?  From my understanding Norton will recognise its a SSD and will not run the optimiser tool.

 

I have NIS 2012 so I don’t know what is available on the 2013 version.  Do you have Norton utilities installed, check in windows add/remove programmes?

 

What trial security software came with the computer as you have reinstalled vista?

 

 

ATB

 

intesec

3

d:

>  reinstalled ... Norton Internet Security 2013

>  I turned off Windows defrag

>  in Norton settings I set Norton Idle TIme Optimizer to OFF.

 

Here's a possibility.

 

After the (re)install perhaps you then did the liveupdate and restart process a couple of times (like they advise).

 

After there were no more updates you _then_ went into settings to set them the way you want them.

 

But in the meantime, unknown to you, during the time that NIS was running on your computer -- ostensibly updating -- it also did its "normal routine" of checking the settings (which you had not changed yet).  And NIS set the flag to run Idle Time Optimizer.

 

Someone posted in this forum some time ago that once ITO has "begun" that it has to complete.

 

If that is true, then you want to keep checking your history to see if ITO runs again (or not).

4

I've been checking every week to verify Optimizer wasn't running; for about a month Norton Tasks indicated that it had never run, and then a few weeks ago I noticed it ran for 18 seconds, and did not complete. I took this as a favorable sign, that NIS identified it as an SSD, and so terminated. 

But then last night I noticed that it had run again the prior evening, and history says 'complete'. It only ran for 4 minutes, but the SSD is new and probably not very fragmented. But even so, the task was completed in that 4 minutes.

 

I've increased the 'idle time out' to 30 minutes, rather than the default 10 min. I'll try to remember that if I'm not using the computer, to put it in sleep mode.

 

If I'm streaming a video, or watching youtube, or a DVD, but not moving the mouse or using keyboad, is that considered 'idle time'?

5

doug7840, have you installed many new applications as it states in the Idle Time Optimiser info, that it normally runs when a new application has been installed and when the system is idle. I realise you had it set to off, but this information may help to decide which settings best suit you

 

Idle Time Optimizer lets you configure Norton Internet Security to defragment your boot volume or the local disk that contains boot volume when your computer is idle. Norton Internet Security automatically schedules the optimization when it detects the installation of an application on your computer and your computer is idle. If you start using your computer again, Norton Internet Security stops the optimization task, and starts optimizing the next time that your computer is idle. This way, the background job of optimization does not affect the performance of your computer.

Optimization rearranges file fragments into adjacent or contiguous clusters in the hard disk. It improves the computer performance by reading the files into the memory faster. Optimization also maximizes the usable free space on a disk by grouping most frequently used files and infrequently used files. In addition, it consolidates free space to avoid fragmenting newly added files.

You can use the Idle Time Optimizer option to optimize the boot volume during the idle time. To access the Idle Time Optimizer option, go to the Norton Internet Security main window, and then click Settings > General > Norton Tasks > Idle Time Optimizer.

6

f:

> I realise you had it set to off

 

Because that's what he (and many others) wanted.

 

> this information may help to decide which settings best suit you

 

The best setting for defragmenting is off.

 

That allows the user, not some program set to auto, to decide when it should run.

 

> If you start using your computer again, Norton Internet Security stops the optimization task, and starts optimizing the next time that your computer is idle.

 

Which means that the user could have been doing absolutely anything in the meantime: installing software, uninstalling software, copying files, deleting files, etc.

 

I prefer to manually start defrag and let it run to completion without "confusing" it.  lol

 

The average user has no need to run defrag a) automatically or b) often.

 

On a computer that I use daily, I manually run defrag quarterly.  The last time I ran it, the pre-analyze feature said that it was only 4% fragmented.  Hardly worth it, but since I have multiple computers to use, I did it anyway.  Quarterly.

 

And it is better to use a product that is superior to MS's default product, defrag.exe, which NIS calls.

 

There is consensus that Defraggler is better than MS's.  Get it from www.piriform.com, not from some third party website.  The free version is fine.

7

Hi doug7840:

 

Is your SSD the only drive on your system?

 

As intesec stated in message # 2, Norton products should not attempt to defrag a SSD. The documentation for the Idle Time Optimizer leaves something to be desired, but there is one N360 support documentation here that states:

 

"Disk optimization does not run on PC with solid state hard drive"

 

I've heard of reports in the forum where the the Idle Time Optimizer (Settings | General | Norton Tasks) seemed to lose its setting and the Insight Optimizer task would start during idles even though the setting was set to Off.  Try toggling the switch for the Idle Time Optimizer to On, save and exit the settings, and then immediately go back into your settings and toggle it back Off.  Then change your Windows power settings to delay sleep mode (see here) and leave your computer in idle mode for a few hours to see if that solves the problem.

 

EDIT:

 

...and further to your question in message # 4 about streaming video and watching DVDs, it depends on the circumstance but there is a feature in NIS called Full Screen Detection (Settings | General | Silent Mode Settings) that will put NIS into "Silent Mode" and suppress background Norton idle tasks like Insight Optimizer if you are running an application in full-screen mode.

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MS Windows Vista Home Premium 32-bit SP2 * Firefox 24.0 * IE 9.0 * NIS 2013 v. 20.4.0.40
HP Pavilion dv6835ca, Intel Core2Duo CPU T5550 @ 1.83 GHz, 3.0 GB RAM, NVIDIA GeForce 8400M GS

8

Thank you for the replies.

 

Yes, my laptop has only the SSD and a DVD drive, no others.

 

Re:"Disk optimization does not run on PC with solid state hard drive"

I had read that also when searching for help, and that is why it seemed impossible. I suspect it may have something to do with the fact that this computer is still running Vista, rather than windows 7, and probably there are not lots of people using SSD drives with Vista, so perhaps things didn't get tested too thoroughly.

 

Re: delay sleep mode  and the link mentioned--I will try this; it seems useful

Also, the Full Screen Detection feature should be helpful. 

 

I'll tinker with the settings a bit, and monitor the automatic features carefully, i.e. make it less automatic and more 'manual'.

 

Again, I appreciate the suggestions. Thanks.

9

Hi doug7840:

 

Let us know if toggling the Idle Time Optimizer switch doesn't work.  Users occasionally report that a corrupted NIS installation will cause the the Insight Optimizer task to run constantly (see comments by BugOutMachine and ghjbox here), and you might even be having problems with your Vista BIOS or device manager recognizing your new drive as a SSD.

 

Regardless, I have the Idle Time Optimizer set to Off in NIS v. 20.4.0.40 and the Insight Optimizer task has never attempted to run on my 32-bit Vista system.

 

NIS 2013 Insight Optimizer.jpg

 

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MS Windows Vista Home Premium 32-bit SP2 * Firefox 24.0 * IE 9.0 * NIS 2013 v. 20.4.0.40
HP Pavilion dv6835ca, Intel Core2Duo CPU T5550 @ 1.83 GHz, 3.0 GB RAM, NVIDIA GeForce 8400M GS

10

I'm wondering if doug7840 overreacted to the trigger word "Optimizer".

I run Windows 7, and keep NIS updated and upgraded.  I don't have an SSD.  Through the changing versions, the settings have not changed in regards to the "Idle Time Optimizer".  That has always been off.  (Microsoft Defrag--I use a 3rd party utility.)

Specifically to the problem at hand, on my PC, "Insight Optimizer" is listed in Performance/Norton Tasks.  If "Idle Time Optimizer" was turned on, what would be listed in Performance/Norton Tasks?  If the answer is NOT found listed on doug7840's PC ...

11
neigh-ho-ma wrote:


Specifically to the problem at hand, on my PC, "Insight Optimizer" is listed in Performance/Norton Tasks.  If "Idle Time Optimizer" was turned on, what would be listed in Performance/Norton Tasks?

Hi neigh-ho-ma:

 

The Insight Optimizer task shown in the Norton Tasks window (Performance | Norton Tasks) is also known as the Idle Time Optimizer.  It is Norton's disk defragmenting task and is scheduled to run during system idles each time you install a new application on your system.

 

This Insight Optimizer task is controlled by the Idle Time Optimizer setting at Settings | General | Norton Tasks.  If Idle Time Optimizer is set to Off, as shown below, this should prevent the Insight Optimizer task (i.e., the NIS disk defragmenter) from running during system idles.

 

NIS 2013 Idle Time Optimizer.jpg

 

 

The Idle Time Optimizer is turned On by default, but like you I prefer to turn this feature Off and let the native Windows Disk Defragmenter (or a third-party defragmenter like Defraggler) handle my disk defragmenting.  That is also why the screenshot of my Norton Tasks in message # 9 shows that the Insight Optimizer task has never run on my system.

 

So to answer your question, if the Idle Time Optimizer setting was turned On, the Last Run date of the Insight Optimizer task in the Norton Tasks window would show the last date and time that Norton ran a disk defrag on your system.

------------
MS Windows Vista Home Premium 32-bit SP2 * Firefox 24.0 * IE 9.0 * NIS 2013 v. 20.4.0.40
HP Pavilion dv6835ca, Intel Core2Duo CPU T5550 @ 1.83 GHz, 3.0 GB RAM, NVIDIA GeForce 8400M GS

12

Thanks, Imacri.  I learned something new.

 

I think Symantec/Norton needs to stop throwing the word "Insight" around willy-nilly.

 

I did a search on "Insight Optimizer" and had only one hit, one mention in one paragraph and nowhere else.  And I have no insight on why "Insight" was used for boot volume defragmentation.  It's misleading and not even trademarked.

 

Anyways, on my PC, I have Microsoft Defrag disabled.  So that's why Insight Optimizer always fail to complete.  NIS tries and goes nowhere.  Oh well.

13
neigh-ho-ma wrote:

Anyways, on my PC, I have Microsoft Defrag disabled.  So that's why Insight Optimizer always fail to complete.  NIS tries and goes nowhere.

Hi neigh-ho-ma:

 

If you mean that you have disabled scheduled defrags in your Windows Disk Defrag as shown below, this should not prevent Norton's Insight Optimizer task from running.

 

Windows Disk Defragmenter Disabled.jpg

 

 

You can schedule an Insight Optimizer defrag manually by going to Performance | Norton Tasks and clicking on the yellow run button next to the Insight Optimizer task.

 

Norton Tasks Run Button.jpg

 

 

As F4E noted in message # 5, once an Insight Optimizer defrag has been scheduled it will run to completion - even if you turn the Idle Time Optimizer switch in your settings from On to Off in the middle of the defrag.  If you move your mouse or do anything to take your system out of idle the defrag will temporarily pause and the Ran During Idle status will change to Cancelled (which I find confusing since the task is only paused, not cancelled).  Once your system goes back into idle the defrag will resume until your system finally stays in idle mode long enough for the defrag to run to completion.  This is why I suggested in message # 7 that doug7840 temporarily adjust his power settings and leave his system in idle mode for a few hours, since he might have actually delayed a scheduled Insight Optimizer defrag from running to completion by increasing his Idle Time Out setting to 30 min.

 

Once an Insight Optimizer defrag has run to completion, the status of the task will change to Complete and the task should not run again as long as the Idle Time Optimizer switch in your settings is set to Off.

------------
MS Windows Vista Home Premium 32-bit SP2 * Firefox 24.0 * IE 9.0 * NIS 2013 v. 20.4.0.40
HP Pavilion dv6835ca, Intel Core2Duo CPU T5550 @ 1.83 GHz, 3.0 GB RAM, NVIDIA GeForce 8400M GS

 

14

Hi neigh-ho-ma:

 

...and further to my previous post, I should point out that most Norton background tasks, including Insight Optimizer, have a default configuration that prevents them from running during system idles if your computer is not plugged in.  This is done to conserve the battery power of mobile devices.  Each task that has a green icon shaped like a power plug in the Power Source column requires your computer to be plugged in before it can run in idle mode.

 

Norton Tasks Power Source.jpg

 

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MS Windows Vista Home Premium 32-bit SP2 * Firefox 24.0 * IE 9.0 * NIS 2013 v. 20.4.0.40
HP Pavilion dv6835ca, Intel Core2Duo CPU T5550 @ 1.83 GHz, 3.0 GB RAM, NVIDIA GeForce 8400M GS

15

I'd like to jump in and explain about the Power Source with-n the Tasks Table.  From Help you get the fopllwing information:

 

"Displays the power source that Norton Internet Security uses to perform a Norton Task when the computer is idle.

By default, Norton Internet Security performs the Norton Tasks only when your computer is connected to external power. However, you can also configure Norton Internet Security to perform the Norton Tasks if the computer uses external power or battery power."

 

This means that you can in fact change that option by clicking on Configure[+] for the task you wish to change and then changing it as shown in the following image:

 

Power Source.PNG

 

Now why someone may want to run a task that takes a bit of time on battery power is hard to figure out - but it is possible!

16

XP and Vista do not support the "trim" command sent from a SSD.  Without that support neither the operating system or Norton can automatically disable defrag and you need to manually turn it off.

 

The setting shown on post #11 will turn off the Norton optimizer and the one on post #13 should turn off the windows defrag.

 

If the defrag (optimization) has started to run and was manually canceled you may need to let it finish for it to be disabled.

Defragging your drive once in a while is not going to kill it, all the overblown talk about the damage it can cause may have been true for the very fist SSD's but the new ones have such a longer life expentancy that it's not going to hurt it.

In fact, for non-trim aware operating systems I have seen reccomendations for a defragger to be used occasionaly to "consolodate free space" in order for the SSD's "garbage collection" to work better and thats basically a partitial defrag.

 

Dave

 

 

 

17

Please stop!  I'm not in need of help!  I was offering a perspective on OP's problem, which I found out my perspective to be wrong, being misled by the word 'Insight'.  I don't want to hijack the OP's thread.

 

I DO have Microsoft Defrag disabled, both in Task Scheduler and Services.  My choice.  {No SSD}  NIS can call the module.  'Fail to complete' makes sense as a logged response.  If the OP chooses to follow my route, he no longer has to worry about 'Insight Optimizer' calling the Microsoft Defrag module.