What is Rtvscan.exe? Is Rtvscan.exe spyware or a virus?

How to fix Rtvscan.exe related problems?
1. Run Security Task Manager to check your Rtvscan.exe process
2. Run Registry Booster to fix Rtvscan.exe related errors
3. Run Spyware Doctor to remove persistent malware

Process name: Symantec AntiVirus or Norton AntiVirus
Product: Symantec AntiVirus or Norton AntiVirus Corporate or Symantec AntiVirus Client or Symantec Client Security or Symantec AntiVirus Server or Norton AntiVirus Client or rtvscan or Kerch.NET AntiVirus or Symantec Endpoint Protection
Company: Symantec Corporation (www.symantec.com) or Guidance Software
File: Rtvscan.exe


If you want a detailed security rating about your Rtvscan.exe (and all other running background processes) read the following user opinions, and download the free trial version of Security Task Manager.

Note: Any malware can be named anything - so you should check where the files of the running processes are located on your disk. If a "non-Microsoft" .exe file is located in the C:\Windows or C:\Windows\System32 folder, then there is a high risk for a virus, spyware, trojan or worm infection! Check it out!


Users Opinions

628 users ask for this file. 2 users didn't rate it ("don't know"). 59 users rated it as not dangerous. 3 users rated it as not so dangerous. 25 users rated it as neutral. 12 users rated it as little bit dangerous. 9 users rated it as dangerous.


All comments about Rtvscan.exe:
D. Kalnæs Symantec/Norton Antivirus - The file system real-time scanner
It's an Antivirus
Charles Jaster Was running and using 100% of CPU usage.
Anand Real Time Virus Scan
Netrade rtvscan.exe is an executable of the Symantec Internet Security Suite. It is responsible for the execution of real-time virus-scanning in order to detect virus infected files as they enter your system. This program is important for the stable and secure running of your computer and should not be terminated.
Peter Lechner Im Benutzerhandbuch des Herstellers steht geschrieben: "Die Hauptkomponente von Symantec Client Security. Die meisten der im Zuisammenhang mit Symantec Client Security sthenden Serveraufgaben werden von diesem Dienst ausgeführt." Sofern man einen Symantec AntiVirus Client zum Schutz vor Computerviren einsetzt, ist dieser Dienst notwenidg.
Buggy Takes up a lot of RAM
wries My PC was very slow and "rtvscan" was using 98%+ CPU. No viruses found. Ran Adware & Spyware removal programs and problems went away. "rvtscan" using 1% CPU.
jarek w rtvscan is causing of 99 percent processor using.It hapeen with microsoft windows 2000
Andy it's a process hog
Gene It's a real time scanner for Symantec's Anti-Virus software. It can protect your computer, but sometimes slows things down. To make changes to it you must be in 'Safe Mode'.
edislasm If I don't put a CD in the drive, it would keep giving me error msgs asking for a CD in the drive. Annoying
Joe M Rtvscan is a good program in theory. It provides us with a means to combat viruses as they enter our computers or networks, but it also slows most computers that only have 512 or less RAM. That stinks. I am getting 100% CPU usage. I had a computer running it that had 1G of RAM and it still took up 40-50% of my RAM. So it might have been a good idea by Symantic but comeon guys make it a little less of a hog!
Ovidiu Symantec Antivirus - duh -  See also: Link
Mick Psyphon I know it's part of the Symantec AV software, but it often hogs up to 100% of my CPU resource. There should be a way to set it as a background task, but all efforts to that effect so far have resulted in "Access Denied".
Doriak It is essential for Symantec Antivirus. It requires more memory, but it is essential.
Technology Coordinator Memory Hog
Gman Was hogging memory too
nando it is a CPU hog
Doug I know that this file is associated with the Symantec Antivirus. It takes up a large majority of CPU usage on fairly up to date systems (Which it shouldn't). As an administrator, you should be able to end the process yet... i could not. Could this be a weakness in the Symantec Antivirus Scanner that a virus or worm exploites? Up for opinions
Nick Its Symantec software.....but its really slows down my PC. I would rather have a virus than this crap. So its uninstalled.
Ramona My computer is slow as heck during this scan. Our network does it while we work. If they could do it at night then I would be happy.
Lola Takes up a ton of room and makes all processes extremely slow.
Jeff H it's Symantec's anti-virus real-time scanner - it has a tendency to be a process hog on occasion, but it's not inherently dangerous and is protecting your PC from viruses
lovinit Get a Macintosh computer! Doesn't have to scan for viruses all the time.  See also: Link
sirius It ran at a high CPU %, but only for a couple of minutes
Slim Shady Symantec Essential But Also A Memory Hog
TMM Symantec Antivirus Auto Protect
Mike S Version 9 and up - Those who run into a 100% utilization is having a problem with a corrupt definition file - The rtvscan gets hung on it and causes the CPU to peg. Go to the c:\documents and settings\all users\application data\symantec\[which ever version name]\7.5 - Now delete all .VXD and .WDB files and empty the I2_LDVP.VDB folder - Now do a live update and reboot - rtvscan will take very little CPU as it should
BD I'd like to run other apps too...it would be nice if it didn't slow my computer to a halt
ginsingsullivan Symantec needs to fix this
Joey D Symantec Virus Scan. If you don't like it hogging memory, uninstall it..
ilias real time virus scan from the corporated edition some times hogs the cpu but thats because it automatically scans (server side gives the command so you cant avoid it unless you shut it down) just leave it 5 to 20 minutes depanding on the system and the hdd and will be ok
Jerry pos memory hog; try another anti-virus program :-\
rick scanner --- very frikkin annoying (especially when typing online)... trying to input passwords and such and well, it sucks....
mgd Slows down my PC, but i can't deinstall it :/ it's on my work machine and their i have no admin rights.
RTVSCANprobstoo Hey, someone else should write something like "memory hog", "CPU hog", or "takes up lots of RAM". I don't think that has been thoroughly iterated.
ed wood always shut this one off if you're running a production server, or an application that requires lots of resources such as a 3d game.
nbcool its from Norton Antivirus. If it takes up a lot of RAM you should consider changing to another lighter antivirus. Perhaps AVG. Nevertheless Norton is a very good antivirus so it is a no win situation.
Jim F. Norton has always been a solid antivirus solution if you arent worried about performance. That should say it all.
Lora for the people who could not stop it: just disable the real-time protection option from the antivirus program itself. yes, it takes a 100% cpu but it does only the first 2-3 minutes after boot. it goes normal after that!
Scott Sure its Symantic, but that does NOT mean it isn't garbage. Tried uninstalling it from the home machine, it did not want to die, ended up using hijack this to rid myself of it... Now running F-Prot, to hell with the control freaks at symantic!
Carl rtvscan is a bear that renders my computer useless for long periods of time.
AJ It may take up a lot of RAM; that's why you need enough RAM in your system to do what you do on your computer. It's needed to protect your system from viruses as files are created/accessed on your computer
redsai This is not dangerous from a security standpoint. Period. (Though It may be dangerous from a stability standpoint)
know I heard of some issues with users noticing their pc's locking up last week, my pc was also slow. This is what I found on my PC this morning.
Wulfi Here is a link that solve my problem.  See also: Link
Manishankar Its indeed a process hog. takes 98% of my cpu usage. (i have a 512 MB RAM). All steps to stop theprocess ends in "Access Denied".
Haha This process is located in the WINNT\System32 folder, named csrss.exe, showing itself as Rtvscan.exe error, and the Symantec Rtvscan is in the Symantec Antivirus folder. So I think its dangerous.
TF uses 4x more mem than photoshop cs - now that's a mem hog
Mo Is there a way to stop it temporally then on again later
Trying to Work The scan makes my computer safe, but I can not do anything until it stops keeping me safe. One would think "helpful" software would not be so harmful to productivity
Jason This is annoying. The network administrator in my building Requires us to have symantec installed and running, but I don't want this!
Amy Well, had I not had it running on my notebook, I would be notebook shopping now or paying money I don't have for someone to help me fix my hard drive. It is slowing things down, yes, but it has also caught some pretty shady Trojan and Highjack attempts. Nothing in life is perfect. If it wasn't this, it would be something else. So deal with it.
James Takes up a ton of room and makes all processes extremely slow.
Faisal It is CPU and memory hog. However, its important for system stability and security
Bob the Tailor Symantec realtime scan. Takes up lots of cpu, moderate memory usage. Annoying, but very safe.
Adrian Bloody RAM HOG. They really need to do something about this. I hate using Norton but its an office pc so I have to live with it.
Aris This is critical to Symantec but its takes up more power than oblivion to run it so you have to choose, symantec, or use of your computer.
Networker I consider it "corporate spyware" when it is in "CPU Hog" mode, use "TCPView" and you'll see that it also has established a connection with a corporate server (even if you're on VPN). You can't kill the process, but you can kill the connection using TCPView.... at which point it stops hogging resources. It is "phoning home" with a great deal of data.
William Only hungry when an actual "full scan" being run, pretty insignificant the rest of the time. I suggest changing when you have system scans run to a time that suits you better. Difficult on large networks where you have to run during the day so everyone is on, our organisation uses Friday lunchtime which is best for most.
john realtime symantec avs... nothing wrong with it but the damn thing hogs memory
Tre Well it's not dangerous in the sense that it's not a virus, it's nortons realtime scanner, but the thing eats Processor usage like there's no tomorrow. Depending on what your doing it could cause whatever program your using to freeze. Also you can't make any modifications to the program outside of safe mode
Mike RTVSCAN is a part of Symantec AV Scanner - it is a memory hog and it hides itself and makes itself almost impossible to stop to thwart malware that would try to stop it.
smiley memory hog big time
Simon Symantec Realtime Virus Scanner
reijo rtvscan.exe takes too much RAM
stupidwindows Takes up alot of CPU and mem.. pisses me of
Larry Williams Runs unscheduled in the middle of the day disrupting all work. An obviously poorly written piece of doodoo. God help you if you have a number of VMWare images.
Mitch B Eats up CPU time so much that other apps become unusable, particularly if system has been on for a while. Rebooting system appears to reset it from its CPU hogging ways. Symantec really, really, really needs to fix this problem.
When it runs all the time and Symantec AV is not on the machine, then we have a VIRUS or malware of some sort
dakmatt it slows my pc,i can't switch to safe mode as the symantec has been locked by my admin at office.
franz.kuhn Symantec-Norton Virenscanner
slows down your PC's performance while running
marabunta Its indeed a process and memory hog. All steps to stop the process ends in "Access Denied". But there is still a way, go to run and type services.msc , find the service named Symantec Antivirus and stop it. i didnt get any access denied message there. and it also kills the RTVSCAN process
oobug The RTVScan process is used to automatically scan files as they're being downloaded. It's basically the heart and soul of Symantec Anti-virus. If you're not downloading files or manually running a scan, yet RTVScan.exe is still hogging your CPU, the most likely reason is that you've just downloaded a new virus definition file and a Quick scan running automatically. This auto-scan can't be disabled using the Symantec Anti-Virus control panel, but there are steps for making it stop (mostly) on the following website:  See also: Link
Someone Else CPU HOG, takes up lots of RAM, memory hog.
Bryan It is the realtime scanner for Symantec Antivirus  See also: Link
G it's a symantec on demand scanner, it can use a lot of sys resources (~90% CPU / Mem usage)
vaibhav Dreamweaver application error -The memory could not "written"
IgFtz Symantec AntiVirus mit seinem Rtvscan.exe frisst zuviel. Besser deinstallieren und einen anderen Virenscanner benutzen.
Amir Hayat Symantec Antivirus service: Takes lots of memory
Doug memory and cpu hog, slows computer to a halt on startup
Shoaib Alamgir I am also facing such memory hog problems by this file from 18 months. If a virus & anti virus both slow down your PC then why we put extra load on HDD for an anti virus? So we all should request symentec to fix this problem untill we leave them.
ydkcool Its a Real time symantec virus scanning. If you disable it, some or other vulnerability will exploit your system.  See also: Link
Bender Essentially a virus created by Symantec. Uninstalling, as I'd RATHER have a virus than this POS virus scanning software, brings system to a crawl, and is difficult to kill without uninstallation.
Raymond Seah Windows Task Manager
It is the Symantec Corporate Anti-Virus edition  See also: Link
bunky It is most likely a necessary program, but is a memory HOG! Unknown if there is a simple way to schedule during off hours.
BoboTehClown Scanner for Norton Antivirus - Crap, really
memory hog
cpu hog memory hog, takes up lots of RAM

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Is Rtvscan.exe spyware or a virus, trojans, adware or worm? Is there a known Rtvscan.exe error?


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Rtvscan.exe [all processes]