NIS is set up to perform a background scan after 10 minutes of idle time. So is the screen saver. There's been a problem where I would come back to the PC after many hours and find the active screen displayed with the NIS popup in the lower right stating that the NIS background scan is in progress. There is no threat warning, just the popup advising me the background scan is in progress. Since that's the reason I leave the PC on while unattended that's a good thing. Unfortunately that popup also seems to be breaking the XP screen saver.
I submitted a ticket to Norton support and got this response:
Idle time scan and Idle time optimizer are features in Norton which would make use of the idle time to scan and optimize your computer. This is one way of using the resources in the computer very effectively
This being said I can see that these scans are interfering with the screen saver by prompting alerts. We do have a way of turning off these alerts; however it is only for a limited time of 6 hours. It is very important that the alert system is always turned on because it is the one way to make sure everything is fine with your Norton and computer.
So Norton has provided a solution to the problem by providing a work around that does not address the real issue. The background scan popup, it seems to me, should not break the screen saver. Additionally, what good is a popup benign or otherwise if I'm not at the PC? I would expect any real warnings to be there when I come back to the PC and start using it again. It seems to me NIS should be smart enough to stay silent until or unless the screen saver is off due to external use. When I put NIS in silent mode the screen/power save works properly.
So now I have faint burn lines on my monitor because of this "feature" and was wondering if anyone else has had a similar problem and perhaps found a real fix because Norton doesn't seem to have the capacity, ability, or feel the need to fully address the issue.