Submit Hint Search The Forums LinksStatsPollsHeadlinesRSS
14,000 hints and counting!

Kill Symantec AntiVirus scan-on-connect windows Apps
Some of you may be lab managers. Some of you may be in a lab using Norton AntiVirus. Some of you may be using external FireWire hard drives with multiple partitions for re-imaging and re-mirroring computers via Carbon Copy Cloner or Super Duper.

If you're one of these people, then you understand how utterly annoying it is to plug in a drive with about five or six partitions on it, and have five or six different Virus Scan-On-Mount windows pop up all at the same time. It eats the CPU, slows down the machine, and makes your FireWire drive go nuts.

For the longest time, I couldn't figure out how to make it stop, short of individually hitting Cancel on each window. Then I found a much faster way:
  1. Open Terminal (and you must be in an admin account to do this in 10.4.x.)
  2. Type sudo killall SmallScanner, press Enter, and provide your password.
  3. Do whatever you need to do.
In 10.3.9, Symantec AntiVirus (the product version I'm using is version 10, but this works in version 9 as well) spawns the SmallScanner windows under the ownership of the current account. In 10.4.7, the windows are processes owned by root, which is why you have to use sudo to kill them. Therefore, you must be in an admin account to use sudo.

[robg adds: I can't confirm, as the author didn't leave contact info, but I imagine that killing this process prevents scanning from occurring, in addition to simply killing the windows.]
    •    
  • Currently 1.00 / 5
  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • 4
  • 5
  (2 votes cast)
 
[13,817 views]  

Kill Symantec AntiVirus scan-on-connect windows | 8 comments | Create New Account
Click here to return to the 'Kill Symantec AntiVirus scan-on-connect windows' hint
The following comments are owned by whoever posted them. This site is not responsible for what they say.
Kill Symantec AntiVirus scan-on-connect windows
Authored by: syko on Sep 06, '06 09:13:47AM

People actually still give $ to these companies?

The last time I ran a virus program was Virex back in the OS 9 days.



[ Reply to This | # ]
Kill Symantec AntiVirus scan-on-connect windows
Authored by: CajunLuke on Sep 06, '06 10:36:30AM

Well, I actually get Norton for free whilst I am a student at the University of Wisconsin, but I do intend to keep a virus scanner on my computer even after that, although I plan to switch to Intego's product or ClamAVX.



[ Reply to This | # ]
Kill Symantec AntiVirus scan-on-connect windows
Authored by: CajunLuke on Sep 06, '06 10:30:51AM

Yes, this does work, and, yes, it does end the scan.

I use this to automatically dismount a partition of an external disk that I don't want cluttering up my desktop. (It is set to run with Do Something When when the other martition mounts - aka, when I plug the disk in.)


display dialog "Unmount Vingilot?" buttons {"Yes", "No"}
set choice to the button returned of the result

if choice is "yes" then
	try
		do shell script "killall SmallScanner" user name "root" password "--" with administrator privileges
	end try
	try --suppress error messages
		set output to do shell script "diskutil unmount /Volumes/Vingilot"
		if output contains "failed" then
			do shell script "sleep 16;diskutil unmount /Volumes/Vingilot"
		end if
	end try
else
	--do nothing
end if


[ Reply to This | # ]
Kill Symantec AntiVirus scan-on-connect windows
Authored by: Bassman59 on Sep 06, '06 01:25:24PM

So, please tell me: what, exactly, is a Mac anti-virus program looking for?



[ Reply to This | # ]
Kill Symantec AntiVirus scan-on-connect windows
Authored by: plink53 on Sep 06, '06 02:54:16PM

Macs run anti-virus software to maintain the defense-in-depth aspect of a large, multi-platform (way too many PCs) system. Anti-virus software is also a forced requirement for many, if not all, US government computer systems. By running SAV, my Mac is able to locate and quarantine Windows-only viruses sent to me, keeping the network safe.

Ok, a little tongue in cheek but this is how I keeping telling myself it's ok to run SAV.



[ Reply to This | # ]
Kill Symantec AntiVirus...PERIOD
Authored by: johnq on Sep 06, '06 09:48:40PM

If there are PCs on the network that aren't already running antivirus software, tough shit for them, I say.

What good is stripping out virii on a Mac if they can be injected into the TCP stream via hacked/pwned routers or servers along the way?

Why this should force Mac users to have to run otherwise-useless antivirus software just smacks of corporate/governmental IT stupidity.

Secure your Windows PCs, leave the problem-free Macs alone.

I will happily never run Symantec products again (haven't in 5 years now).

Don't believe the FUD.

Lie and say you use AV if you have to.



[ Reply to This | # ]
Kill Symantec AntiVirus scan-on-connect windows
Authored by: lynxie on Sep 06, '06 05:28:09PM
Yeah, I know the feeling - you plug in your external drive and Symantec kicks in scanning. To top that, you also get Spotlight indexing the drive. Definitely not fun...
A note: by default, Symantec AV installs a preference pane that will allow you to configure what type of disks are scanned when mounted. Here's a screenshot:
http://www.ecu.edu/cs-itcs/mac/images/8NAV10Prefs.gif

[ Reply to This | # ]
Kill Symantec AntiVirus scan-on-connect windows
Authored by: Todd at Symantec on Sep 08, '06 03:52:27PM

I think y'all are confusing Symantec AntiVirus for Macintosh (SAV Mac) and Norton AntiVirus for Macintosh (NAV Mac).

SAV Mac is a managed endpoint security solution for enterprises.
NAV Mac is our consumer product.

If you have SAV Mac, then ask your administrator create and push out an Auto-Protect preference set with Mount Scan disabled to your SAV Mac client.

If SAV Mac is not managed, then you will need to download the unmanaged component from our FTP site:
ftp.symantec.com/misc/tools/mactools/Symantec_AP_Prefs_Installer.zip

This will install the System Preferences Auto-Protect pane, where you can configure (among other things) Mount Scan.

If you are running NAV Mac, then you already have the Auto-Protect pane to turn off Mount Scan.



[ Reply to This | # ]