FileSaver slow-down in Norton Utilities for Macintosh (NUM) 4.x

Todd Somers discovered that whenever Netscape Communicator emptied its backlog of cache files, "page loading would halt for a few seconds. Emptying the trash from the Finder was also hellishly slow, about 4 minutes to empty 75Mb/1300 files (one file at a time: tick, tick, tick). This symptom completely disappeared after disabling Norton Utilities' FileSaver." He notes that this problem occurs in version 4.x of Norton Utilities, but not in 3.x versions.

Symantec attributes this to the method FileSaver is using to track trashed files for later recovery using UnErase. For the Communicator problem, they advise setting up cache files on a RAM disk (or an unprotected partition). They are investigating the possibility that a future upgrade would include separate options for FileSaver's Volume Recover and UnErase tracking. Currently, you either have to choose both or neither.

Paul Ripley adds: "Symantec suggested the same thing to me: disable FileSaver. However, there is a very useful option already built into the program. In the Preferences section, go to the Hot Keys tab. Make sure the Bypass Deletion Tracking option is selected. The default hot keys are Option-Command, but you can select other combinations. If you hold the hot keys down while emptying the trash, the files are deleted normally. If you release the keys any time during the deletion process, Deletion Tracking will begin immediately." Vincent Jalby concurs.