I am disappointed to learn that this feature has little value now---I was feeling mistakenly more secure with my illusion.
Do you think it has any indemnifying benefits?
Does it use any memory or CPU processing power if i leave it on?
Thanks for the help
I'm surprised you mentioned this as the problem (if you can call it that) is related only to Vista.
The problem has been covered in another topic, in that topic it is explained that that is an issue with Vista.
The thing is that on Vista, the service (ashServ.exe) is isolated from the user's session - so, it cannot check if the screensaver is running, it cannot check if the keyboard is being typed, etc.
So... that explains your observations, I guess (if you set VRDB to generate while screensaver is running, it won't ever generate - because the service doesn't see the screensaver running. On the other hand, if you set it to "when idle", it's generated immediatelly - because the service doesn't see the keystrokes...)
The VRDB doesn't make you any more secure, as it is effectively a recovery from infection, in files that it monitors. There is nothing stopping you from running it manually as I do as part of my regular weekly system maintenance, every third week (the default duration) I do a 'Generate Now.'
So there is a limited benefit, in leaving it enabled with win2k as it uses very limited resources. It may help repair a file if it becomes infected and is one covered by the VRDB Generation.