slow file/network access with Vista and Norton Internet Security 2

[ctc]

I am experiencing a significant slowdown when sharing files over a
home network. Here is the scenario:

5 computers: 3 have Vista sp2, 1 has Windows 7, 1 has XP sp3

All computers are running Norton Internet Security 2009.

1 of the Vista computers (host) is set up to share documents via the public
folder.

When the XP computer accesses shared files on the Vista computer, there are
no problems. But when using either the remaining Vista computers or Windows 7
computer to access the shared files on the Vista computer (host), there is a
significant slowdown. It takes a long time for the file to open. From what I
can tell, Norton is doing a full scan on the shared file before
it "downloads" it. For example, in Excel 2007 there is a status bar in the
bottom right corner while the file opening/downloading over the network.

If I disable Norton autoprotect the problem goes away, but obviously this
isn't the way to fix the problem.

I recognize this is probably an issue with Norton, or at least the way
Norton is interacting with Vista, but I have no idea how to fix it, other
than removing Norton and using another virus software. Contacting Norton has
gotten me nowhere.

All computers have the latest MS updates. I have tried uninstalling and
reinstalling Norton, with no success. I have also replicated the issue all
the other Vista computers, by setting them up as the "host" computer, to rule
a problem specific to the original Vista computer - same problem occurs.

Is there a way to fix this problem, or is it just a function of Norton and
Vista interacting poorly? Just to be clear, there are no issues when
accessing the internet via the same shared router. I also just added a Window
7 computer to the network, with Norton 2010, and the same problem occurs (the
file eventually opens after a long lag/once scanning completes).

Norton is the biggest anti-virus company out there. I just can't believe
this is a known issue that hasn't been fixed. So I'm hoping I'm doing
something wrong.

Thank you.

 

[ctc]

sorry for the 2nd post - the MS server acted as if my first post didn't go
through.

 

[Jack [MVP-Networking]]

Hi
Disabling the 3rd party security software is not really getting it out of
the Network' stacks. You would have prevent it from loading at startup, or
totally uninstall it in order to see if it is the culprit.
Jack (MS, MVP-Networking).

 

[ctc]

Hello,

After a ton of testing/experimenting, I think I've given up. I've removed
Norton and installed MIcrosoft Security Essentials, and the problem is now
gone. For the record, here is what I did:

-restored NAV to all default settings, reset firewall

-uninstalled/reinstalled NAV

-somewhat narrowed the problem down to the issue occuring when the computers
resume from sleep. if all the computers were off, then turned on, the problem
did not occur. once a computer had been put to sleep and then woken up it had
trouble with file access (very slow access to opening shared files). this
happened with both a Vista and Window 7 computer. this was replicated across
machines.

-at all times if I disabled "AntiVirus Auto-Protect" (right click on the
norton icon in system tray) I have no problem accessing shared files, even if
the computer has been sleeping.

This was also posted on the Norton forums: http://bit.ly/6CzCfH

Thanks for your help. I never had this problem with Norton and XP so who
knows what the solution is.

 

[ctc]

As a follow-up, in Norton the only way to exclude a network file path is to
first map the drive, then exclude it from auto-protect (you can't exclude a
drive using UNC). Even after excluding the network drive the files still
opened painfully slow. The only fix, other than uninstalling Norton, is to
temporarily disable auto-protect.

Thanks.