CD Drive Spinning

KremmenUK · 31 Oct 2010

At random times my CDROM drive will spin up and never stop.

This has happened with various OS's and the only common factor I think is the AV.

I reckon that the AV is detecting that there is a CD in the drive and spinning it up to check it.

Having fired it up it never stops spinning unless I open and close the drawer.

I know the easy answer is to remove the CD but I leave it in there as it's usually the CD for the latest game I'm playing. When I start playing the game it does spin up momentarily but then stops when authenticity has been detected.

I could do with a simple desktop utility to stop it spinning - any ideas ?

karlsnooks · 31 Oct 2010

Kremmen,

The easiest and best solution, in my most humble, experienced, and biased opinion is, ditch your present AV and use the AV that most of us use, namely, Microsoft Security Essentials:
MSE - Microsoft Security Essentials

KremmenUK · 01 Nov 2010

Thanks for the info but I'm quite happy with Norton. I've been using it since about 2001 and it's never given me any problems.

I also don't pay for it any more as I have a family member who works for Symantec

I suspect that any AV that performs random idle scans will spin up a CD to check ? It's just that it doesn't spin down afterwards.

karlsnooks · 01 Nov 2010

I purposely do not use Norton, but I'll wager that there is an option to not check the CD drive and then you only check the drive when you desire.

Of course, the best people for answering questions about Norton is Symantec.

I've never had the problem you describe with MSE, Kaspersky, Comodo, ZoneAlarm, Panda.