What's best way to temporarily disable NIS when installing software?

Some programs, during installation, say to end/disable any other programs that might be running and sometimes recommend turning off antivirus programs, etc. during the installation. So as far as disabling NIS, does anything need to be done besides turning off Auto-Protect via the icon in the task bar or do any of the firewall features need to be turned off? I’m talking about OFFLINE installation of other programs in general, so I 'd only be disabling any features while unplugged from the Internet. And part two, if one were to temporarily turn off the smart firewall while offline, does it retain all of its previous settings such as program permissions, etc. when it is turned back on? i.e., is it just a “toggle” that doesn’t change any underlying settings when disabled/enabled? Thanks!

Hi Huylum:

 

Short answer.  I think it's safe to just disable the Antivirus Auto-Protect.  The intent is to disable your real-time protection so your antivirus software doesn't mistake the rapid disk read/writes and registry changes as a possible malware attack and abort the offline installation.

 

Long answer.  Just to be on the safe side I disable both the Antivirus Auto-Protect and Smart Firewall from the icon in the system tray when a manufacturer recommends that antivirus protection be turned off during an offline installation.  I also temporarily turn on Silent Mode until the installation is finished just as an added precaution, but I doubt this is really necessary because your system shouldn't be going into idle mode and launching background Norton tasks during a software installation.

 

I've never heard of the Smart Firewall loosing a setting after being temporarily disabled, but I just use the default settings on my firewall and haven't configured any advanced settings, so I can't say with 100% certainty that this would never happen.

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Windows Vista Home Premium 32-bit SP2 * NIS 2011 v. 18.6.0.29 * IE 9.0 * Firefox 6.0
HP Pavilion dv6835ca, Intel Core2Duo CPU T5550 @ 1.83 GHz, 3.0 GB RAM, NVIDIA GeForce 8400 GS

Some programs, during installation, say to end/disable any other programs that might be running and sometimes recommend turning off antivirus programs, etc. during the installation. So as far as disabling NIS, does anything need to be done besides turning off Auto-Protect via the icon in the task bar or do any of the firewall features need to be turned off? I’m talking about OFFLINE installation of other programs in general, so I 'd only be disabling any features while unplugged from the Internet. And part two, if one were to temporarily turn off the smart firewall while offline, does it retain all of its previous settings such as program permissions, etc. when it is turned back on? i.e., is it just a “toggle” that doesn’t change any underlying settings when disabled/enabled? Thanks!

Huylym,

 

If you really do need to do it -- and you may not need to despite what the software source says and certainly should not do it unless you are absolutely certain that the software is malware free -- then the SIMPLEST way is to right mouse click on the Norton Icon in the SYstem Tray  at the bottom right of the screen and select Disable Antivirus Autoprotect ...

 

It will then ask you for how long and give you some choices .... but if you are finished before that time is up go back and re-enable it.

 

If you are working on a downloaded file or one that someone has given you it would be very prudent to get Norton to scan the file and check that it is clean. Find the file in Windows Explorer and SINGLE mouse click on it then select the line with the Norton product name on it and then Scan Now ....

 

Good luck and practice Safe Computing ....

Hi Huylym,

 

As a software engineer I can say that only rarely will AV software get in the way of installing a program and in particular I can only remember one time (years ago) when Norton actually got in the way and that was for a major Windows Update.

 

In times past it was more common for AV software to get in the way of installing a program but things have changed a lot since then. AV software in general - and Norton in particular has gotten smarter and with a whole new technology in play compared to the old days. AV software is smart enough to know that you have chosen to install said software and will in general stay out of the way provided that the software does not contain malware. Then it WILL get in the way, but of course you would want it to in that case. :smileyhappy:

 

Even for the day to day Windows update you won't normally need to disable your AV. As Bombastus said earlier, I would only recommend it as a routine if you were updating with a major Windows SP.

 

Hope this helps.

 

Best wishes.

Allen

Thanks to all!

Hi Huylym,

 

You are most welcome. :smileyhappy:

 

Best wishes.

Allen

Huylym,

Housekeeping request. Please indicate that your problem has been solved so others won't stop by and try to assist.

Thanks