T1B

That Norton virus scan is a marathon.

Schedule it to run at 3am or whenever you plan to be away from the computer for a while.

Yeah, get a real puter.

If it takes 2.5 hours and its a fairly new machine, try defrag'in your drive sometime.

First of all, the larger the drive and the more information there is the longer it will take obviously.

1. As its been suggested, run it when you aren't using the computer anyway.
2. Only run it once a week at best. If you are running Norton, its checking every file executed.
3. If you are running it while using the computer, you can limit the cpu utilization so you won't notice it, but of course that will make it run longer. Alternatively, you can make sure it runs when you aren't there and set it to use a high cpu utilization, but then it will be limited by your HD speed.
4. Defragging your HD is always a good idea, although with ntfs 5 its not as huge a problem as it once was. (win2k and XP)
5. Making sure that there aren't other programs to slow norton down by using system files should help.

Realistically, if you are running norton and checking all files as they get used and you have some type of a firewall (preferably on your external router) then you should be good, even without any scans. In other words, if a virus or worm actually runs on your computer, a lot of them disable norton anyway nowdays so as long as norton is doing its active scan duties you are in good shape.

-ET

How do you do the defrag with XP?

Control panel/administrative tools/computer management/storage/disk defragmenter.

Click and run.

good idea to defrag regularly.

Or
Right click with your mouse on My Computer.

Choose 'Manage' fromt he pop up menu.

Find Disk management and then defrag under there.

-ET

ElTaco wrote:3. If you are running it while using the computer, you can limit the cpu utilization so you won't notice it, but of course that will make it run longer. Alternatively, you can make sure it runs when you aren't there and set it to use a high cpu utilization, but then it will be limited by your HD speed.

Let me translate. Run it at night and get rid of your fancy screensaver. Set it to "none" or Blank and it might run a heck of a lot faster.

ElTaco wrote: 4. Defragging your HD is always a good idea, although with ntfs 5 its not as huge a problem as it once was. (win2k and XP)

I totally disagree. I have seen XP systems that were "un-defragged" since their conversion and they are a slow mess.

Junkman wrote: I totally disagree. I have seen XP systems that were "un-defragged" since their conversion and they are a slow mess.

Yeah but who in their right mind converts to XP? It has enough problems just bring installed and we all know when you move from an old MS OS to a new one you increase your chances of problems by about 100.

-ET

Plus, the defrag seems to take longer than the virus scan.....

TS,

Defrag and virus scan are two different animals. You need both.

Defrag takes all of your files that are saved in fragments over time (this does happen) and it puts them back together. Picture, if you will, a game of chinese checkers. Scatter the different colored marbles across the board. That is your computer now. Reassemble the marbles by color back in their home section. That is your computer after Defrag. All the small pieces of one file (color) are reunited, taking up less space, and making the computer faster because it does not have to work as hard searching all over for all the pieces.

Virus scan searches for bad programs. Picture your front lawn as your computer, with nice grass, and dandelions and dog turds scattered all about. Virus scan checks the lawn and removes the dandelions and dog turds, making your lawn act more like the lawn it is supposed to be, with no interference from unwanted elements.

Hope those weird allegories help. :)

Hey ET,

I gave him the extended link thru the Control Panel so maybe he'd see that there is a whole 'nother world down there below his desktop.
You can't learn if you don't jump into the deep end, right? ;)

quick virus scan:
options
manual scan
select your windows folder,program files

defrag
right click your C drive>Properties>Tools Defrag

The Seer wrote:Plus, the defrag seems to take longer than the virus scan.....

If your defrag is taking longer than 2.5 hours you've got some issues.

I would first run the disk cleanup utility to get rid of all the temp files and clutter. Then disable your A/V and your screensaver and make sure your power settings aren't going to shut down any drives after X minutes and run a defrag through to the end. It sounds like you're not too hip on system maintenance, so this is going to take a while.

Once that is completed your A/V scan should run a lot faster. Get in the habit of running the disk cleanup and defrag periodically, though.

I defrag my C drive once a day.
usually takes 15 mins at most.

doesn't hurt to run chkdsk occasionally either

doesn't hurt to run Fedora Core 3 occasionally either

Martyred wrote:doesn't hurt to run Fedora Core 3 occasionally either

Naw, I use these boards to waste time on. I don't need a waste of an OS.

The Seer wrote:That Norton virus scan is a marathon.

You have a lot of shit running as services. The other stuff written here is true but knock down the crap that doesn't need to be run.

norton never has been the fastest but I've always found it to generally be the best.

diT wrote:norton never has been the fastest but I've always found it to generally be the best.

War that, War you and war the subscription extender you turned me on to a couple years ago.

Good to see you Dave.

Hope everythings going well, Bro

Junkman wrote:

Martyred wrote:doesn't hurt to run Fedora Core 3 occasionally either

Naw, I use these boards to waste time on. I don't need a waste of an OS.

My bad.

Clearly, to you, the pinnacle of modern computing is tickling your chat-queer buddies
on sub-par message boards.

Here's to you, and your epic waste of a life.

The McAfee is a pain in the ass too. Mine lasted almost all day long.

Martyred wrote:Clearly, to you, the pinnacle of modern computing is tickling your chat-queer buddies on sub-par message boards.

The irony of the above is astonding.

But I guess you spend your life in jealous hope that your "skillz" will be noticed by someone. Meanwhile, you spend your time setting up obscure OS's, thinking you're smarter than everyone else because you got it to run.

Have fun with your "packages". I'll concentrate on getting the job done.

AVG is free and it works as good as Norton's. It's all I use on stand alone computers.

Norton's Corporate is on my server and it takes care of my domain computers and I never have to worry about viruses. Norton's update the definitions every Wednesday for at least the corporate subscribers.

AVG updates whenever they need an update.

Most of the problems can be avoided if you find that link diT originally put up and someone here posted.

KC Scott wrote:

diT wrote:norton never has been the fastest but I've always found it to generally be the best.

War that, War you and war the subscription extender you turned me on to a couple years ago.

Good to see you Dave.

Hope everythings going well, Bro

What's this subscription extender you speak of? Might there be a link to be had?

need an email addy and it's yours.