Norton Systemworks setting for music PC?

Hangee_77 · Post by **Hangee_77** » Tue Nov 29, 2005 1:33 am

I have just installed the Norton SystemWorks 2006 to my PC (which also my DAW). I always turn off the Norton AntiVirus & The Norton Protection Center only when I run my music applications, but I still fell that my PC runs slower than before.
Does anyone know is there any setting in Norton that I still have to configure in order to really more maximize my PC power to be allocated to my music applications?
FYI, I have tweaked my PC according to the musicxp.net tips.

hc.

djmicron · Post by **djmicron** » Tue Nov 29, 2005 2:18 am

in my opinion, the best thing is to have a clean installation for audio only, without norton etc.

Micron

Post by **garyb** » Tue Nov 29, 2005 2:29 pm

AVOID NORTON SYSTEMWORKS! or any of that ilk.

if you must connect to the internet, use an antivirus and firewall, but stay away from those bundles like systemworks. norton products are very invasive and impossible(almost) to fully uninstall. i'd start over with a fresh install after repartitioning and formatting with a fresh, clean install of everything...

a free antivirus program that works pretty well: http://www.free-av.com/ and don't forget anti spyware(free) : http://www.safer-networking.org/ http://www.javacoolsoftware.com/spywareblaster.html

of course, when doing music, antivirus should be off.....

Hangee_77 · Post by **Hangee_77** » Wed Nov 30, 2005 12:05 am

I was thinking of another alternative like adding more RAM, does it help?

Post by **garyb** » Wed Nov 30, 2005 12:46 am

i don't know how much ram you already have. my guess is "no". norton products might be good for servers, but norton products sure don't help your daw.....

if you feel you must run the antivirus ok, just disable it when making music. the rest of the systemworks package will just take up resources and won't keep your computer from having problems. in fact, most likely it'll be the opposite. uninstalling EVERYTHING that norton puts on your computer is nearly impossible. i don't like that.

how's your computer running now?

[ This Message was edited by: garyb on 2005-11-30 00:49 ]

at0m · Post by **at0m** » Wed Nov 30, 2005 8:25 pm

Hoi,

The only usefull thing Norton ever made IMO was the Norton Ghost, which is on a floppy inside my PC so I can restore a working copy of the C drive if I screwed up some software.

For the rest, no Norton application will ever be installed on any of my machines. So, if you ask me, it's only good feature is 'uninstall'. But since that doesn't work properly as GaryB says, Norton likes to get inside everything it shouldn't, the only right thing IMO is to not install it at all.

If you do need an anti-virus program, I'd advise the -free- http://www.grisoft.com AVG. It never complains, and is a very clean installation, can be easily disabled/shutdown etc.

Again, more has been done with less,

at0m.

[ This Message was edited by: at0m on 2005-11-30 20:28 ]

Hangee_77 · Post by **Hangee_77** » Thu Dec 01, 2005 12:22 am

I have 1GB of RAM right now and was thinking to double it later.
Ok I guess I'm gonna remove the Norton & try the Grisoft.
Thanks a lot for the info.

hc.

pseudojazzer · Post by **pseudojazzer** » Thu Dec 01, 2005 3:07 am

Hangee - i have norton systemworks on my Daw as well, or rather i have disabled it.. there are two options that you can do if you want to keep it and have a daw that works well,IMHO, the best option would be get yourself another small hard drive and have a dual boot system one for the internet and one for scope, however you would still need to uninstall and reinstall norton - i wanted to try this but havn't so dunno if it works but in theory it should be good.
What i have done is rather painstaking but you can go through all of the norton and symantec services and stop them from running and switch them to manual (or disable them). use start-run-"servies.msc" and do this. then go into the same menu and disable them at startup (run-msconfig.exe). Now when my computer starts up it takes seconds!! and if i want to use any norton products i still can just by double clicking, but i rarely use it (cos it tries to attach itself to startup again).
Hope this helps - its what i've done - and i can say that it frees up ram for audio, cos i found with all the norton stuff running there were a whole load of processes running that were norton/symantec related that i couldn't disable any other way (you get an access denied thingy in task manager).
Ideally you should uninstall, and AVG it probably better (and free) but if you still want to keep it its an option...
Cheers
Tom

Post by **hubird** » Thu Dec 01, 2005 6:22 am

you obviously gave the perfect arguments to NOT use it...

Counterparts · Post by **Counterparts** » Thu Dec 01, 2005 6:26 am

The Norton installation disks make very good coffee coasters.

I am completely unaware of any other viable use for them, however.

Seriously, strip any and all Norton software from your machine, using an angle grinder on the hard disk drive if necessary. It's rubbish.

Royston

Counterparts · Post by **Counterparts** » Thu Dec 01, 2005 6:56 am

If you're a single user, then you can get yourself a copy of AVG Free:

http://free.grisoft.com/doc/1

It's a pretty good piece of AV s/w, is constantly updated and...free!

[ This Message was edited by: Counterparts on 2005-12-01 06:57 ]