disble the norton?

[Leonard F Kiesling]

just a general question about anti virus programs: using windows xp home
edition. new dell pentIV, 3.0 gig desktop. 2004 norton anti virus program.
should the norton be disabled when
1) downloading & installing programs off net?
2) installing programs from a disk?
i tried writing symantec, however they were prompting to download a trouble
shooter. i don't have an AV problem, just an inquiry.
any input appreciated.

(i posted this last nite but it didn't post)
thank you, len kiesling

 

[Paul Smith]

just a general question about anti virus programs: using windows xp home
edition. new dell pentIV, 3.0 gig desktop. 2004 norton anti virus program.
should the norton be disabled when
1) downloading & installing programs off net?
2) installing programs from a disk?
i tried writing symantec, however they were prompting to download a trouble
shooter. i don't have an AV problem, just an inquiry.
any input appreciated.

Sometimes virus scanners can get in the way of installations (so current
thought goes), especially heavy/intrusive virus scanners like Norton.
Although personally I've never encountered any trouble with leaving one on.
But I do use AVG, which is pretty light compared to most.

Probably best to see how you go, if you get problems or if the program
you're installing requests it off, then disable it while you install.

--
Paul Smith,
Yeovil, UK.
http://www.smirnov.demon.co.uk/
http://www.doom3portal.com/ A Doom 3 fansite.

*Replace nospam with smirnov to reply by e-mail*

 

[JD]

I've wondered the same thing about Defrag. Should the NAV scan be turned off
before running it?

 

[Nicholas Hall]

Some programs recommend disabling your anti virus program when installing
them.

I myself have not had a program that has required me to turn NAV off and as
such all programs have been installed with NAV running (all programs
installed and are running OK).

NIK

 

[Paul Smith]

I've wondered the same thing about Defrag. Should the NAV scan be turned off
before running it?

I see no reason to turn it off, unless defrag is reporting it's not being
able to defragment some files.

--
Paul Smith,
Yeovil, UK.
http://www.smirnov.demon.co.uk/
http://www.doom3portal.com/ A Doom 3 fansite.

*Replace nospam with smirnov to reply by e-mail*

 

[Phil \(a.k.a. purplehaz\)]

Leave the av on ALL the time.

 

[Test Man]

I wouldn't bother turning it off for any installations, unless you were
installing something big like Windows XP Service Pack 1. In that instance,
I'd scan the file manually first, then turn it off before installing it on
Windows, then once finished, I'd turn it back on.

 

[francis gerard]

Leave the av on ALL the time.

agreed. it seems to be rather foolish to disable the antivirus software,
even temporarily, before installing ANY software. even if you trust the
software publisher, there is no guarantee that the installer and/or
application itself hasn't been tampered with (aside from digital
signatures). imo, leave the AV running at ALL times, *especially* during
software installations. imagine how stupid you're gonna feel if you
inadvertently infect your system with a virus/worm because you disabled the
AV service before installing a piece of software. i have only encountered
one situation where NAV identified an .msi script (from microsoft no less)
as a possible threat, but since i knew it wasn't, i just pressed the button
that allowed the installation to continue. there is only ONE exception i
would make to leaving the AV service running at all times, and that is when
installing an operating system service pack. in the case of a service pack
installation, you want absolutely *nothing* to go wrong, so i disable the AV
just *after* the service pack files are unpacked/decompressed, just before
pressing the Next button on the SP dialog window. for the record, i have
installed service packs without first disabling the AV service, and have had
no problems, but i don't like to tempt fate when it comes to installing
service packs.

btw, there are alternatives to using NAV (norton), a popular favourite is
AVG from Grisoft (http://www.grisoft.com) and the personal edition is FREE.

 

[Darrell]

Norton works with most programs. But I found I have to disable it if I want
to update my American Airlines flight schedule program online. If I don't
disable it I have to first save it to my hard drive and install the update
from there.

 

[Alex Nichol]

just a general question about anti virus programs: using windows xp home
edition. new dell pentIV, 3.0 gig desktop. 2004 norton anti virus program.
should the norton be disabled when
1) downloading & installing programs off net?
2) installing programs from a disk?
i tried writing symantec, however they were prompting to download a trouble
shooter. i don't have an AV problem, just an inquiry.
any input appreciated.

You ought not to need to disable AV for installing general applications:
it is advisable when installing a major system update like a Service
Pack. Also make sure that any AV check made at boot is disabled. This
all dates from the days when any change made in files was regarded as
being likely to be a virus activity - design of AV packages is now more
sophisticated. Just how far to go depends on the AV you use; the one I
use - eTrust - seems happy always, but others may be more aggressive,
and I specifically do not trust Norton.