Hi, I am new to the forum and hope that someone can help me with a problem I have been having lately. It is identical or related to the problem described here:forums. Usually it goes through about 2 cycles PID changes but name remains the same.
It is NOT the weekly defragmenting process. My schedule is set to Wednesdays 1 am and this will go about every Wednesday without a problem. Deactivating the scheduled scan does not affect the automatic start of DfrgNtfs.
About two days ago I experienced the following: the process would start automatically and would not stop again. As soon as one Process DfrgNtfs. This went on for about 3 hours. I recently discovered that the Windows Disk Defragmenter dfrgntfs.
I am also certain that there is no partially completed manual WDD defrag running on my system that could be re-starting during idle. Does Windows Vista automatically perform some sort of system files optimization routine after boot-up that would cause WDD's dfrgntfs. I'm not certain, but this idle-time WDD defrag seems to runs for longer periods after I perform a full disk defrag with Defraggler and I'm wondering if this "silent" WDD defrag is relocating of some of the system files on my hard disk after Defraggler finishes its full disk defrag.
Well, there is something about optimizing layout of boot files using Prefetch data. It can be disabled. Imacri is apparently seeing the prefetch defrag. In the prefetch folder is a text file called Layout. At three-day intervals, when the pc has been idle for at least 10 minutes, Windows invokes its defragger to defrag the files listed in Layout. This is all done by default, although it could be disabled if one should so wish. Aethec's link pointed me to something I wasn't aware of, that Windows XP onwards does a boot-time defrag as well as and separate from the prefetch defrag.
I've looked, and it's enabled on my box and has been doing its stuff for years without me noticing. PF prefetch file and not all those application files found in Layout. That would be sensible. My instinct says that the boot files would be not changed very often, or in my case hardly at all, as I don't modify my machine's boot behaviour at all, or very rarely.
PF is included in Layout. So one could turn off the boot-time defrag and perhaps speed up boot time a fraction.
On the other hand, does defragger look at the files at boot-time, discover that they are already defragged, and ignore the command, in which case stopping it would have negligible time gain. All these questions. Disabling that allows third party defrag tools less work, and less moving around of files, i.
Thanks to everyone for the excellent feedback. I followed up on the replies to my original post and found an article in the MSDN library see Disabling Disk Defragmentation that indicates that there are at least two registry changes required to disable "silent" idle-time Windows defrags at least in XP :. According to this article, the disk defragmentation service rearranges data on the disk to create contiguous sections of data, while the the auto-layout service moves the most-used data closer to the center of the disk to expedite boot time.
A second article on the Microsoft TechNet see Disk Defragmenter Tools and Settings has more detailed information about the BootOptimizeFunction key and states that "Windows automatically optimizes the file location for boot optimization. This optimization occurs automatically if the system is idle for 10 minutes.
Boot optimization improves startup time by locating startup files in contiguous clusters on the volume, reducing the movement of the disk head when reading the volume. It sounds to me like this "silent" Windows idle-time defrag is designed to reduce boot times, so I'm not going to do any registry hacks until I get a definitive answer from Piriform. Given that this background Windows defrag by dfrgntfs.
SYS "status files" - whose integrity is critical for stable background scanning. Recipe for disaster? Another problem with unstable Hard Disk Controller Drivers is file-corruption if a Live-Update or worse, a Windows Update is interrupted by a "going to sleep" operation.
Can you see a pattern here? The best time to catch this is during the initial Windows install. Often, it is not possible to determine-in-advance whether or not a particular Hard Disk Controller Driver is stable-or-not - until a freshly-installed program puts demands on the Hard Disk Controller Driver that have not been made before. Any program that does extensive background-processing which is true of all real-time anti-malware solutions will stress the system's Hard Disk Controller Drivers more extensively than typical user operations.
This is "the nature of the beast" - and cannot be avoided. The above is why I consider an Image Backup Program to be a mandatory part of every user's arsenal. During an initial Windows installation, I perform image backups at every major stage of the installation process - so I can conveniently return to the desired point in the installation process if I get "gotcha"d somewhere further downstream.
This saves endless hours of reinstallation frustration. I can then go about the process of solving the problem without having to reinstall-from-scratch. This is especially reassuring when there is suspicion that a Live Update or a Windows Update is implicated in the "wonkyness".
Thanks for your comments. The problem seems to be more prevalent on bit systems, which is why elsewhere has asked users having this same issue to post a screenshot showing their high idletime CPU activity labeled as "No Acitivity" in the Performance graph as shown in my original post and provide additional information about their system configuration.
As noted in message 19 , I have performed two clean re-installs of NIS v. SYS re-occurred immediately after each re-install on my system. I have also never experienced the error message that Apostolos described for his own system in message 20 so until his AutoFix results i.
If the manual and the idle quick scan take the same time to complete with the same pattern of HDD led blinking then the product works correctly. On one pc the product installed correctly, about 2 months now and both manual and idle quick scans take exactly the same time about mins, on the other pc the issue started immediately when the first set of virus defs was downloaded and the idle quick scan was triggered.
I suspect that at this moment the product is left in the auto-pilot by Symantec, no product update for about 3 months. Other issues are also pending, Vulnerability Protection is still bit NO bit, double icons Systray and others.
Your NIS. Could you please follow elsewhere's troubleshooting steps described in message 29 and post your screenshot and AutoFix results if what you are seeing resembles the screenshot is message 1 [i. I had NIS. As I said, I observed this issue with one of my pc's and I'm smart enough to know when it happens to immediately uninstall the product because there are chances that it's harmful for the system.
I truly hope that you do not rely on this useless applet to "see" if your product is working correctly or not. Also you mentionned about Autofix results, what do you mean? Please see elsewhere's comments here on how AutoFix can be used to collect and post basic details about your system information when you're troubleshooting on the forum.
My AutoFix results are posted at the bottom of message 36 , per step 8 and 9 of elsewhere's instructions in message Hi, Apostolos. You have two systems, one of which works properly and one of which does not. This is the ideal situation for comparative analysis - where the "wonky" system gets modified to be as close to the "good" system as possible - to see if the problem goes away.
Then each item is returned to its "standard" state until the problem recurs. At that point, it is possible to analyze just exactly what is triggering the problem. Running sfc tells Windows to "revert to standard". This means reverting to the Registry Entries for the system - as set up by the initial installation of Windows from either the CD or the Laptop's Factory Restore process.
It is significant that the problem does not show up until restart. This means the issue is part of the fundamental NIS-to-Kernel interface - which cannot be modified "on the fly" - and requires a reboot to implement. Because the system breaks no matter which option for sfc is selected - this tends to indicate the problem is related to the Registry Entries which sfc reverts when sfc is run.
Finding out what changes are imposed by sfc will give useful information as to where the problem is located. Note: The default Hard Disk Controller drivers installed by the W7 installation CD - are commonly not the drivers used in a system which has been updated to SP1 - and then to current levels by Windows Update.
There were a bunch of bugfixes in the controller driver updates for SP1 - and having sfc revert to its version of "standard" may revert the Registry Entries for those items back to something which is not optimal. Simply knowing what gets modified may give major clues as to where to look for the problem.
For example, the Product Key entries in the Registry are not normally removed - unless that Registry Branch is totally corrupted. It is entirely possible the NRT is "unaware" of a particular Registry Entry it should remove - or modify - in order to resolve a particular problem - because this has not yet been tracked down.
After installation is complete, NIS must also be able to detect user activity and hard disk activity so it can pause background quickscans - which means NIS gets its tentacles into lots more different places in the OS than is obvious.
Please note this is true for every Anti-Malware application with real-time scanning capability. Problems occur when the programmers writing Anti-Malware apps think they understand what Microsoft is doing - but actually they don't. Microsoft's SDK for Windows does not always tell the truth about what's really going on - and the programmers relying on that information to design their programs will trip over the discrepancies.
Documented Theory and Physical Reality are not the same in many Microsoft products these are collectively known as "errata" - thus the potential for "gotcha"s goes up enormously. As a result, the procedures needed to solve this kind of problem commonly must be run in reverse from effect to cause in order to detect the flaw. So - with the above background info in place - can you please list the hardware for each of the two systems?
From the above info, I will see if I can find anything which could trigger the process-loop "stall". I apologize for the delay -- our team has been testing this issue and are working to resolve it. I'm sorry for not letting you know about this sooner.
Both laps have Nvidia I know, I lose the digital signature because of the modded. See section "downloads" for the updates, but I must say that most of the Sony apps are uninstalled at the exception of 2 or 3 essential for the pc's to run properly and the Fn functions to work. The links are fine - I've already looked at them. However, I can't find any info in this thread as to which of your two laptops is the one that works properly - and which is the one that's wonky.
Please advise. The AW series laptop is the one having the issue with NIS, but I must say that it's used as primary, working every day.
The second one, I use it times per month and I have to download a new set of virus x64 set but it's normal, however since the use is very limited maybe this is the reason why I do not see the issue. Idle or manual quick scans are finishing after 3 minutes without a problem.
No prolonged idle activity. Same for the Diagnosis scheduled task and the famous WinSat which before set to disabled, decided sometimes to run when pc was idle while I was watching a movie and you can imagine the inconvenience. You should probably already know that even if you opt not to participate in the CEIP program via Control Panel, the scheduled tasks attached to it, continue to run when pc is idle, if the user is not manually disabling them, both triggers and tasks.
Back to top. Reg: May Kudos 2 Stats. I have the same question 0. Kudos 0. Dick Evans Guru Norton Fighter Reg: Apr Hi, Isn't v21 the current version? Is there a reason why you are still using v20? Apostolos Norton Fighter Reg: Jan Things are far better with NIS F 4 E Guru Norton Fighter Kudos 1 Stats.
Please investigate and resolve. Thanks Norton Internet Security Imacri and elsewhere, I've passed this on to Symantec for investigation. Things happen. Hi peterweb: Norton's Idle Time Optimizer is disabled in my settings and my Norton Tasks window confirms that the Insight Optimizer task has never run on my machine. Imacri, Be sure to have a complete System backup Image because in my case, this activity corrupted the taskbar and some other Windows essential files.
If Symantec cannot fix it then give us the ability to disable the idle Quick scans. Have an excellent day. Hi, all. Reg: Feb Hi F4E, I wondered the same thing - however, if the Performance window were left open the Norton activity would be shown as yellow, so I think this issue is probably something different. I believe Norton is optimised for either? F4E wrote: Could it have anything to do with system differences?
Hi Imacri, I had the same issue with both my W7 x64 machines but after an idle quick scan which I know from experience that it takes about mins I used to suspend the prolonged SRTSP activity by using my keyboard. Kind regards,. On my current desktop, I've had NIS onwards, right up to the current version. Just a hint to users who might be wondering if they have the same issue on their computer: If you see this constant level of "blue" CPU activity in your Norton Performance graph during idles that cannot be accounted for i.
Hello Arter looking over an article about this sort of thing, may I recommend that you stop off at one of the malware removal sites to make sure that it isn't some malware that is masqurading as that system. Success always occurs in private and failure in full view.
Windows 10 Pro 64 bit N DaveH Guru Norton Fighter Sorry I can't help. Both of you deserve a big thanks for your hard work. It needs to be investigated and resolved. Hi lmacri Just a quick clarification; all of my systems are bit and I'm seeing this issue on all of them.
To reproduce : Make sure that you have changed the Idle Time Out setting as described above. In the list of updates, look for a Norton Virus Definitions update. If a Virus Definitions update is present, then close LiveUpdate and proceed to step 4.
Leave the computer or better still, lock it and let it idle for 15 to 30 minutes. After the 15 to 30 minutes has elapsed, open NIS and click the Performance link.
Check for the 'No Activity' behaviour described earlier in this thread hover over and click on any blue CPU usage shown after the Quick Scan during Idle time. Reply to this thread and upload a screenshot of your NIS Performance window showing the 'No Activity' or otherwise behaviour. Select the 'Copy to Clipboard' link in the 'Norton Autofix' window when Autofix completes and paste this copied information below the screenshot you posted above.
Hi elsewhere, I have a fresh installation of NIS 21, 3 days , and it doesn't occur. I left my pc idle, W7 x64, for an hour and only some windows idle tasks. Hopefully, some users will add their input here, because this issue needs to be fixed asap. Hi Apostolos Things may be a little quiet in this thread, at least until Christmas Day has passed.
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