Resolved Smart Update popup could be Norton NIS

I've spent quite a bit of time trying to track down a mysterious popup window titled "Smart Update" that appears when I bootup.

The info I have found from searching the web discusses only two possible sources, namely HP Smart Update Manager (comes with several HP products) and Skyscape (comes with Skyscape software).

When I did a full search of this computer for files containing the text string "Smart Update" (including hidden and system files), it turned up a set of Norton Internet Security files with file extension ".ini" intended to assist in checking for language updates.

Twenty demerits to Norton for failing to endow the popup box with a clear indication that the Smart Update pertains to Norton Internet Security. This would have saved me quite a bit of time. (I was being cautious having been stung by malware that piggybacked with an app called Ilivid).

 

Hi boblite49, Welcome to BBS.
Have you decided NIS is your perpetrator?
If so, I would visit their Symantec Forum to see if others have been annoyed by the popup.
I personally gave up on Symantec after 5 years when NIS 2007 took one of their Techos 3.5 hours to clear the junk from my HD to enable NIS 2007 to finalise.
I've been using MSE for about 3 years now and have no bad feelings about it at all. It works very smoothly and doesn't become a Resource hog on the system.
Let's know if you find an answer to your Popup problem. Cheers Neil.

 

Yes, Norton is the perpetrator, but it's Norton Utilities 14 and not Norton Internet Security, though the two are bundled together.

It turns out that tHe incarnation of "Smart Update" that I encountered is part of Norton Utilities 14, and can be started manually by starting Norton Utilities, clicking Administer, then clicking Smart Update. Doing this reproduced the window that popped up unexpectedly, and almost definitely proves that Norton is the source of my initially mysterious popup.

I posted this note to inform people that if they find a Smart Update message box unexpectedly popping up, it may be from Norton rather than HP Smart Update Manager (comes with several HP products) or Skyscape (comes with Skyscape software).

Interesting to note that you have been happy with Microsoft Security Essentials. Up until 2009 I was a Luddite operating Win 2000, so I could not use MSE, and I was quite happy with Kaspersky for a year then several years with McAfee. Then in 2009 I acquired several XP machines, and ran McAfee internet security for 2009-2010, based on price (about $25 per year for 3 seats) and performance, then got Norton Internet Security for 2011 and 2012, based on reviews that said that these versions of NIS had many virtues and had lightened demands on system resources, and also on low price of about $25 per year, through shopping on Amazon.

Overall I have liked NIS and the bundled Norton Utilities prog, and the information and management facilities that NIS provides to my network. But as I say, 20 demerits to Norton for inflicting unannounced popups on users, without any indication that the popups belonged to Norton products, and without any explanation of why the updates are recommended.

What Norton should have done was to suggest to users that they start Norton Utilities and run the Smart Update applet that is included. THis method would make very clear that the update is a legitimate Norton operation, and not some malware artist trying to install something nasty through masquerading as an update. I should add that I had not even realized that Norton Utilities contained an applet called Smart Update until I googled "Norton Smart Update ", which told me that such a thing existed and how to access the applet.

Cheers

Bob L.

 

As I said in my post, I found Norton was an absolute resource HOG! It got so bad, that on start up it took up to 5 or6 minutes before I could start a program.
MSE does the job really well and there are no pop ups.

If you consider this Thread is Resolved, would you please mark this accordingly. Cheers Neil.

 

Hi Neil:

I agree with you that earlier versions of Norton Internet Security were resource hogs. But reviews of more recent versions have indicated this has changed. In my own case I am not feeling any sense of resource problems or slow startup, possibly because I am running quadcore computers.

Anyway, in about 9 months time my current NIS subscription expires, and at that point I will re-examine whether it will make sense to move to MSE. As you point out, it has the great advantage of being free, though if you are careful in how you buy Norton, the cost is small.

I will follow your request and mark this thread as resolved.

Cheers

Bob