The new allegedly super quick NIS 2009 takes 11 hours increasing weekly (only 20% disk space in use) to do a full scan. I am running Windows XP Service Pack 2, IE7. I only have 50GB of 227GB disk space occupied. The quick scan still only takes about one and a half minutes, it never increases. I'm not supposed to have any viruses at the moment.
I'm having to post under a new ID on here as i can't remember my password and the email account i registered with is no more meaning i can't utilize the forgotten password feature. I posted a thread under the user name Exterminate in April of this year titled Virus takes scan 8 hours and increasing weekly (only 20% disk space in use) http://community.norton.com/norton/board/message?board.id=nis_feedback&thread.id=47302&view=by_date_ascending&page=1. At the time i was using an older version of Norton that was bundled with my BT broadband package, in effect it was several years old.
BT decided to switch to McAfee and i was aware of many complaints about their product. I decided i would instead pay for my own anti virus package and install that. I researched on Google for hours of the various products. nearly every article from computer magazines and reknowned sites praised the Norton Internet Security 2009 as excellent in many, many categories. They were all adamant that it was now lightweight and super quick. Additionally, one can customise it in order to avoid scanning files unnecessarily.
Well we are now in August, i did indeed decide to pass on the free BT anti virus and purchased the Norton product. It installed without any problems and seems to be working ok (except for the pulse updates not working as set). However, get this....my Full Scan now takes 11 (ELEVEN) hours and increases every single week in duration.
Before the full scan i empty temporary internet files etc., i even defrag the disk. I leave the computer alone during the scan. Apparently i haven't got any viruses. The computer itself runs blisteringly fast in all aspects be it internet, or video and music editing and it's a dual core processor.
I have noticed that the vast majority of the scan is spent on the Temporary Internet Files - the INDEX.DAT ones - which can't be emptied (or at least not easily by a long chalk). I am reading up on and studying away on whether to try and empty these files. I stress i don't mean the ones that you can delete quite simply in internet options. I refer to the ones that build up on your computer from the very first day to the last day ever of your computer's internet browsing. They are located in C:\Documents and Settings\User\Local Settings\Temporary Internet Files\Content.IE5\
My only hope is to create a custom scan but i need people's help on two counts. Firstly, i'm very unsure as to how viruses work and invade parts of a computer, or more to the point, where they can hide. My second area of total ignorance and bewilderment is regarding what sort of areas i can safely have Norton ignore.
I take it that under no circumstances can i prevent Norton from scanning the TIF index.dat files as viruses would likely lie in wait or operate from there??? Does Norton scan the MCE tv recordings which today for example account for some 8GB of disk space?. If so surely i can exclude them from the scan.
What about my own photos and music and video files that are not downloaded from the web, or those that have come from the web but been scanned and cleared at the time?. As of right now every photo, video and music file on my computer is clean. Bearing in mind that Norton is always on so if i download any new media from the web that is infected i would get alerted in real time, can i allow for all my video, sound and image files to be bypassed?
I have read the help section but i'm struggling with the wording of some of it. I understand that one is supposed to be able to set it not to scan files if they haven't been changed. But, if i say edit a photo in paint shop pro meaning the file has been changed, would Norton just scan that individual photo/file or would it plough through the whole folder or directories of all photos?.
Also, if a virus enters the computer can it invade a previously clean file such as a picture, video or word document etc.? If so, surely that means one must always run an out and out full scan. However, in another years time it's going to take days to do so at the rate it is increasing weekly.
I know i've put forward a few questions here but it will help many others after me if they can be addressed. It goes without saying sincerest thanks in advance for any help given.