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  4. My Symantec AntiVirus is using 1.7 GB

My Symantec AntiVirus is using 1.7 GB

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  • S Offline
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    Sam Hobbs
    wrote on last edited by
    #1

    I have had Symantec Antivirus 2006 about 4 months and the virus definitions are occupying 1.7 GB and growing. I keep moving stuff off the drive to make room and it keeps complaining that it needs more. I am not asking for a solution; I just want to know if this is typical. Does Symantec Antivirus 2006 use GB of storage for the virus definitions? They are at: \Program Files\Common Files\Symantec Shared\VirusDefs

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    • S Sam Hobbs

      I have had Symantec Antivirus 2006 about 4 months and the virus definitions are occupying 1.7 GB and growing. I keep moving stuff off the drive to make room and it keeps complaining that it needs more. I am not asking for a solution; I just want to know if this is typical. Does Symantec Antivirus 2006 use GB of storage for the virus definitions? They are at: \Program Files\Common Files\Symantec Shared\VirusDefs

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      MatrixCoder
      wrote on last edited by
      #2

      I've never used Symantec, but I have used a couple of other Anti-Virus programs before, and they've never taken up over 50-60 Mb. Symantec is notorious for being bulky, and will take up quite a bit of HD space.


      Trinity: Neo... nobody has ever done this before. Neo: That's why it's going to work.

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      • S Sam Hobbs

        I have had Symantec Antivirus 2006 about 4 months and the virus definitions are occupying 1.7 GB and growing. I keep moving stuff off the drive to make room and it keeps complaining that it needs more. I am not asking for a solution; I just want to know if this is typical. Does Symantec Antivirus 2006 use GB of storage for the virus definitions? They are at: \Program Files\Common Files\Symantec Shared\VirusDefs

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        A Offline
        A
        wrote on last edited by
        #3

        I have used symantec Norton internet security 2006 and the definitions folder never took up a gig. Each version of virus definitions takes about 30mb per date. What is the biggest folder inside \Program Files\Common Files\Symantec Shared\VirusDefs?

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        • A A

          I have used symantec Norton internet security 2006 and the definitions folder never took up a gig. Each version of virus definitions takes about 30mb per date. What is the biggest folder inside \Program Files\Common Files\Symantec Shared\VirusDefs?

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          Sam Hobbs
          wrote on last edited by
          #4

          The largest folder has 32.6 MB. There are about 30 folders with about 30 MB and about 10 more with nearly 30 MB. Most of the folders have a tmp extension. I have not looked at the contents of the folders.

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          • S Sam Hobbs

            The largest folder has 32.6 MB. There are about 30 folders with about 30 MB and about 10 more with nearly 30 MB. Most of the folders have a tmp extension. I have not looked at the contents of the folders.

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            A
            wrote on last edited by
            #5

            So altogther 30mb*30 + say 29mb*10 = 1190mb so around 1.2 gb of folders are definition folders. If you want to save space or you are running out of space turn automatic update off on norton antivirus. This will mean though, that norton antivirus won't download the latest antivirus updates and you will have to manually download these from (Or manually run liveupdate in norton antivirus). Link: http://www.symantec.com/downloads/index.jsp[^] Although this may prove time consuming if you have alot of computers. Note: The files sizes you have specified are usual for definition files. If you are unhappy with these files sizes change to another antivirus solution such as: Nod32 [^] or Avg [^] Or another one of your choice.

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            • A A

              So altogther 30mb*30 + say 29mb*10 = 1190mb so around 1.2 gb of folders are definition folders. If you want to save space or you are running out of space turn automatic update off on norton antivirus. This will mean though, that norton antivirus won't download the latest antivirus updates and you will have to manually download these from (Or manually run liveupdate in norton antivirus). Link: http://www.symantec.com/downloads/index.jsp[^] Although this may prove time consuming if you have alot of computers. Note: The files sizes you have specified are usual for definition files. If you are unhappy with these files sizes change to another antivirus solution such as: Nod32 [^] or Avg [^] Or another one of your choice.

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              Sam Hobbs
              wrote on last edited by
              #6

              Most of what you say is obvious or at least I already know. The one thing that would help is an answer to my question. Are your virus definitions that large? More specifically, how large is your VirusDefs folder?

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              • S Sam Hobbs

                Most of what you say is obvious or at least I already know. The one thing that would help is an answer to my question. Are your virus definitions that large? More specifically, how large is your VirusDefs folder?

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                A
                wrote on last edited by
                #7

                Sam Hobbs wrote:

                Are your virus definitions that large

                My definitions files are around 30 mb (some are nearly 32mb), this seems to be the usual amount for Norton antivirus definitions.

                Sam Hobbs wrote:

                how large is your VirusDefs folder?

                Currently my virusdefs folder is around 610mb. I manually download mine every week, But as well as symantec i use spybot search and destroy for adware/spyware and lavasoft Ad_aware SE for adware and spyware. I find that these together protect me from things that one can't detect, one of the others does.

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                • S Sam Hobbs

                  The largest folder has 32.6 MB. There are about 30 folders with about 30 MB and about 10 more with nearly 30 MB. Most of the folders have a tmp extension. I have not looked at the contents of the folders.

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                  Dan Neely
                  wrote on last edited by
                  #8

                  the .tmp folders are almost certainly temporary files that your POS AV program isn't bothering to automatically delete. Move them to another location and if it doesn't start spitting out errors delete them after a week or so.

                  -- Rules of thumb should not be taken for the whole hand.

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                  • D Dan Neely

                    the .tmp folders are almost certainly temporary files that your POS AV program isn't bothering to automatically delete. Move them to another location and if it doesn't start spitting out errors delete them after a week or so.

                    -- Rules of thumb should not be taken for the whole hand.

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                    Sam Hobbs
                    wrote on last edited by
                    #9

                    Of course that is a guess and I am capable of guessing like that too. If you have specific knowledge and/or experience that they can safely be deleted or moved then that would help. I would expect Symantec to tell me I can delete them. I asked them and I have not received a response. I will likely try asking them a second time but if I don't hear from them I will likely move the files to another drive where I have plenty of space. I figured that out all by myself.

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                    • S Sam Hobbs

                      I have had Symantec Antivirus 2006 about 4 months and the virus definitions are occupying 1.7 GB and growing. I keep moving stuff off the drive to make room and it keeps complaining that it needs more. I am not asking for a solution; I just want to know if this is typical. Does Symantec Antivirus 2006 use GB of storage for the virus definitions? They are at: \Program Files\Common Files\Symantec Shared\VirusDefs

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                      Vasudevan Deepak Kumar
                      wrote on last edited by
                      #10

                      And their scanner is very much memory hogging too. I prefer AVG.

                      Vasudevan Deepak Kumar Personal Homepage Tech Gossips

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