Hi, I've recently encountered a problem with live update. Live Update has been telling me for the last 16 days that I have 173 mb to download. I've never had an download this big with Norton and with a dial-up connection I'd have to stay connected to the internet for at least 10 hrs. And seeing as how I don't live alone, that is impossible.
Usually, whenever I would go offline, and re-connect, my downloads would resume where they left off but now they keep going back to the original 173 mb to download. And as a result, both Norton and windows were sending me messages telling me that my computer may be at risk.
On Saturday, after 13 days of being unable to update my virus definitions, I had my uncle download what I believe was the April 20th dat release, put it on a thumb drive and I then installed it on my computer. Instantly, everything seemed fine, Norton said my computer was now up-to-date, etc.
However, when I clicked on live update, it said that once again I had another 173 mb to download. Did I miss a previous download? Is there a way to get a link to that download so I can manually apply it to my computer?
As it stands, Norton is now telling me my definition updates haven't been updated in 19 hrs and the numbers keep climbing.
Why are the updates so big, and as a dial-up user, what can I do to get my virus definitions up-to-date?
And, for the record, I currently am running Norton Internet Security 2009 and I have Windows XP Home Edition.
It's a bit difficult to guess what LiveUpdate is trying to deliver to your computer without letting the update actually run to completion. While you're trying to troubleshoot I might suggest disabling automatic LiveUpdates (Settings | Computer Settings | Updates | Automatic LiveUpdates | OFF) so that your LiveUpdates are only running when you choose to run them manually.
Do you still have the name of the file your uncle downloaded and installed onto your computer? According to the link here the latest self-extracting virus definitions for NIS 2009 and Win XP is currently 20120423-018-v5i32.exe (149 MB), so the file he downloaded on April 20th should have been named something like 20120420-xxx-xxi32.exe.
Assuming that LiveUpdate is actually trying to upgrade you from NIS 2009 to NIS 2012, the NIS 2012 v. 19.5.1.2 offline installer (116 MB) can be manually downloaded at www.norton.com/nis12. However, I don't think this would solve your problem, because if you manually upgraded to NIS 2012 (see here for sample instructions on how to perform a clean install using the Norton Removal Tool) the first LiveUpdate that the newly installed NIS 2012 performed on your machine would just try to download the full 149 MB virus definitions database over your dial-up Internet connection again and you'd be right back where you started.
Have you tried starting a LiveUpdate late at night and leaving your computer on overnight to see if the download finishes without timing out over your dial-up connection, or is this even an option for you? If you're going to try this you might have to temporarily change the settings for your default power plan so that your computer doesn't go into sleep mode/hibernation in the middle of the LiveUpdate.
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Windows Vista Home Premium 32-bit SP2 * NIS 2011 v. 18.7.1.3 * IE 9.0 * Firefox 11.0 HP Pavilion dv6835ca, Intel Core2Duo CPU T5550 @ 1.83 GHz, 3.0 GB RAM, NVIDIA GeForce 8400M GS
Hi, I've recently encountered a problem with live update. Live Update has been telling me for the last 16 days that I have 173 mb to download. I've never had an download this big with Norton and with a dial-up connection I'd have to stay connected to the internet for at least 10 hrs. And seeing as how I don't live alone, that is impossible.
Usually, whenever I would go offline, and re-connect, my downloads would resume where they left off but now they keep going back to the original 173 mb to download. And as a result, both Norton and windows were sending me messages telling me that my computer may be at risk.
On Saturday, after 13 days of being unable to update my virus definitions, I had my uncle download what I believe was the April 20th dat release, put it on a thumb drive and I then installed it on my computer. Instantly, everything seemed fine, Norton said my computer was now up-to-date, etc.
However, when I clicked on live update, it said that once again I had another 173 mb to download. Did I miss a previous download? Is there a way to get a link to that download so I can manually apply it to my computer?
As it stands, Norton is now telling me my definition updates haven't been updated in 19 hrs and the numbers keep climbing.
Why are the updates so big, and as a dial-up user, what can I do to get my virus definitions up-to-date?
And, for the record, I currently am running Norton Internet Security 2009 and I have Windows XP Home Edition.
There's a new post today here by NIS 2011 user itsme titled Huge Download who was having a similar problem with a 140 MB download by LiveUpdate, and a purge of the cache and temp files seemed to solve the problem. After you've disabled your automatic LiveUpdates (Settings | Computer Settings | Updates | Automatic LiveUpdates | OFF) , try running the Win XP Disk Cleanup utility (Start | Programs | Accessories | System Tools | Disk Cleanup), re-booting, and then running another manual LiveUpdate to see if that aborts the download.
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Windows Vista Home Premium 32-bit SP2 * NIS 2011 v. 18.7.1.3 * IE 9.0 * Firefox 11.0 HP Pavilion dv6835ca, Intel Core2Duo CPU T5550 @ 1.83 GHz, 3.0 GB RAM, NVIDIA GeForce 8400M GS
I tried what you suggested, turning off live update (pulse updates still says its on although it changed from green to black, not sure if that's normal.) And I tried purging my cache and temp files.
The update that my uncle downloaded for me is 20120420-002-v5i32. I'll have to download the latest one you linked me at work tomorrow and put in on flash drive.
As it stands, after turning off live update and purging my temp files, Norton still says it's trying to download 173.79 mb, so I guess it didn't work?
And unfortunately, leaving the computer on all night isn't really an option. I tried it once and it after almost 6 hrs it managed to download 96mb but that still wasn't enough. I had to go to work and disconnected the net and my the time I got home, it was all for nothing because when I ran live update it was right back at 171 mb.
<< ... after turning off live update and purging my temp files, Norton still says it's trying to download 173.79 mb, ... >>
Maybe I'm misunderstanding but you need to turn off more than live updates .... in fact I would leave live updates ON but what you need to turn off is shown in the image in the second message here, from imacri.
You need to disable Automatic Download of New Version which is not the same as LiveUpdate.
This brings down a large file to change you from one yearly version to the next -- eg 2011 to 2012 -- which is then available for when you want to make that change.
What I don't know is whether turning if OFF now will get rid of any "flag" that tells Norton to download .......
Unfortunately, I don't see an option to disable "Automatic Download of New Version" on Norton Internet Security 2009.
Oh -- that did not penetrate my security application <g>
Perhaps it is sending you a message that since it's free it could be time for you to upgrade at least to 2011 if not 2012 since both run OK on XP it if has the right Service Packs:
Operating Systems Supported
Microsoft® Windows® XP (32-bit) Home/Professional/Tablet PC/Media Center (32-bit) with Service Pack 2 or later
You should have those Service Packs uptodate for your own protection anyway.
If you want to move up we can give you help on that .......
I tried what you suggested, turning off live update (pulse updates still says its on although it changed from green to black, not sure if that's normal.) And I tried purging my cache and temp files.
Hi jewel21:
You were correct when you observed that your pulse updates are disabled when you disable automatic LiveUpdates in your settings. If automatic LiveUpdates are turned off you automatically lose the ability to perform pulse updates by default.
I always have automatic LiveUpdates disabled on my machine, and I've just gotten in the habit of running a manual LiveUpdate every morning when I boot up and then leaving my computer alone until the updates have finished installing. On my home dial-up connection this typically takes 15 minutes if the total download is 3 or 4 MB. The reason I can't rely on automatic LiveUpdates is because this is a background task that normally runs when your system is in idle mode, so downloading of updates can be temporarily suspended if you move your mouse or do something to bring your system out of idle. Depending on the settings of your background task delays (go to Settings | Miscellaneous Settings), an automatic LiveUpdate could go on for several days over a dial-up connection if it were trying to complete a large download, and at some point NIS will notice that you haven't successfully installed an updated virus definition for over a week and will decide that it's time to try downloading the full +100 MB virus definition database.
I can't say with any certainty that this is what happened to you, but if this is the case I would have expected that your uncle's solution to install the self-extracting virus definitions (e.g., 201204xx-xx-v5i32.exe) from this link would have solved the problem. If you're going to try this again tomorrow I would make sure that you re-boot your computer immediatedly after installing the latest virus definitions just to make sure that your Windows registry is refreshed before you run a subsequent manual LiveUpdate.
It's also possible that you're having this problem because NIS 2009 is trying to download a full upgrade to NIS 2012. Could you please read my post here in panzer-88's thread NIS 2011 Downloaded on Computer Without Permission and Wants to Install Itself and see if you can find any files in a C:\Users\Public\Downloads\Norton\ folder that might indicate that that the Norton Update Agent (NUA) is trying to install a NIS 2012 v. 19.x upgrade.
huwyngr's suggestion to manually upgrade to NIS 2011 or 2012 using an offline installer might be your best option if someone else in the fourm (or someone at Norton Customer Support) can't provide an easy fix for aborting this large update. Let us know if you'd like to try this, and we can provide you with some special instructions on how to perform the upgrade that will minimize the number of product updates that have to be downloaded over your dial-up connection in order to get NIS fully updated again. If you really want to keep NIS 2009 on your computer and want to try a re-install we can help you with that as well.
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Windows Vista Home Premium 32-bit SP2 * NIS 2011 v. 18.7.1.3 * IE 9.0 * Firefox 11.0 HP Pavilion dv6835ca, Intel Core2Duo CPU T5550 @ 1.83 GHz, 3.0 GB RAM, NVIDIA GeForce 8400M GS
BTW, you can actually save money by dropping your dial-up and going to a broadband connection, if available in your part of the country.
I used to have Earthlink dial-up (53.33kbps) at $21.95/month plus my phone line at $42.41/month, for a total of $64.36/month. I changed to an Earthlink High Speed (10Mb down/1Mb up) via Time Warner cable for a new total of $41.95/month. I'm saving $268.92/year for a 187 times faster connection.
Contact your ISP and see what high-speed options are available to you.
Hi, thanks for the response and all the help. I installed the latest self-extracting virus definitions today and rebooted about a minute after but when I clicked on live update it still said I had a 173 mb download.
I also tried looking at the folder you suggested C:\Users\Public\Downloads\Norton\ but I can't seem to locate it...
And in regard to your suggestion about upgrading to NIS 2011 or 2012, I'm not sure it's worth it right now. Taking into account the fact that my computer is ancient and a lot of the programs either no longer work properly or won't open, and the fact that I only have 49 days of subscription remaining, I might just wait until my subscription runs out and then get a new computer and then purchase/install the latest version.
dfc99, thank you for your suggestion. I live in Canada so I'm not sure if those ISPs are available here, but I would like to upgrade eventually. Money is just a tad tight right now.
Just remember to check what security program comes preinstalled as a trial on your new PC -- it may be Norton or it may not. But depending on what it is and what you want to continue using you may need some help in removing and cleaning up with special tools you can download from the websites of most of the brands .... simple Windows Uninstall is usually not enough.
Just to update you, itsme used CyberScrub Privacy Suite to clear out their cache and temp files and abort their large LiveUpdate download (see post here). I normally use Piriform's free CCleaner program to clean my temp files (I prefer CCleaner to the native Windows Disk Cleanup utility because CCleaner works with a wider range of third-party software) but on rare occasions when I need a deeper clean of my hard drive I run OldTimer's free TFC (Temp File Cleaner) utility. If you think it's worth trying another temp file wipe, useful TFC tips are posted here.
My only other suggestion is that you install the free Malwarebytes' Anti-Malware (MBAM) scanner and run an occasional on-demand scan for malware until you purchase your new computer (see MBAM installation hints here). The first time you update MBAM the full virus definition database download is only 6 or 7 MB and the daily incremental updates (a new feature in v. 1.6.x) are only a few KB in size and will download in under a minute over your dial-up connection as long as you run a MBAM update every day or so. A MBAM Quick Scan takes about 3 or 4 minutes while a deeper Full System Scan might require more than one hour.
My concern is that you won't be able to keep your NIS malware protection up-to-date as long as NIS 2009's LiveUpdate keeps trying to install this large 173 MB download . You can likely keep your virus definitions up-to-date by occasionally running a fresh download of the latest self-extracting virus definitions (e.g., 201204xx-xxx-v5i32.exe) from here as you've been doing - check the Intrusion Prevention in your NIS security history to confirm the current version of your definitions - but all the other updates delivered by LiveUpdate for things like anti-spam, web protection, etc. will soon become out-of-date (see here for a list of the latest NIS 2009 definition version numbers).
It's probably not a huge issue given that you need a new computer anyway, but you might even want to consider using another software program like Microsoft Security Essentials (MSE) for XP for your real-time protection until you purchase another computer (note that MSE requires Win XP SP3 - see system requirements here). I don't know if the installation of MSE would involve another large virus definitions update over your dial-up connection but someone else in the forum might be able to provide some feedback about that.
If you decide to try MSE or some other anti-virus program with real-time protection, be sure to wipe NIS 2009 off your system first. Uninstall from the Windows Control Panel as usual and then re-boot and run the Norton Removal Tool a few times with re-boots between NRT wipe as huwyngr suggested in message # 13. See baldeagleuk's thread here titled Upgraded to NIS 2012 - Lost Internet Access for an idea of how orphaned registry entries and files from old anti-virus software can cause problems.
One last hint. I live in Canada as well (hello from Winnipeg, eh!) and every year Staples puts the latest NIS software on sale for $19.99 on December 26th. If you don't have a Staples near you (or just hate shopping on Boxing Day ) you can purchase NIS online from Staples.ca on Dec 26th and put the CD away until the next time your NIS subscription is about to expire. The product activation key that comes with the boxed CD can be used to renew your Norton subscription for another year without having to re-install NIS on your computer.
Good luck, and be sure to post back if NIS keeps giving you any further grief.
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Windows Vista Home Premium 32-bit SP2 * NIS 2011 v. 18.7.1.3 * IE 9.0 * Firefox 12.0 HP Pavilion dv6835ca, Intel Core2Duo CPU T5550 @ 1.83 GHz, 3.0 GB RAM, NVIDIA GeForce 8400M GS
) you can purchase NIS online from Staples.ca on Dec 26th and put the CD away until the next time your NIS subscription is about to expire. The product activation key that comes with the boxed CD can be used to renew your Norton subscription for another year without having to re-install NIS on your computer.