performance and speed

[jamesbrown]

hi, my home built system: vista ultimate 64x, GIGABYTE motherboard, NVIDIA GeForce 9800gt, Seagate 500Gb, Hitachi 1TB, 4GB DDR2 RAM, intel core2 QUAD cpu @ 2.40GHz.

 

...is getting slower by the day. Like all new systems, it's been extreamly fast from day one, however since i installed norton internet security, it's just been getting slower. It's a very powerful pc, and it seems a shame that it should be slowed down by silly bits of software.

 

Please tell me what i can do to boost performance.

 

thanks.

[snow]

Hi jamesbrown, welcome to Extreme Tech Support - Free PC Help

 

Installing Norton internet security will slow your computer to a grinding halt. It is a huge resource hog that has only gotten slightly better in recent years, but I'm pretty sure that is the main source of your problems.

 

The protection it provides can be replaced by free products, or better security suites.

 

Anti-virus (free):

Free antivirus - Avira AntiVir

 

Firewall (free):

Download Comodo Firewall

 

OR

 

In my option the best current internet security suite with both antivirus and firewall (not free):

Kaspersky Lab UK :: Antivirus software

 

 

I know that if you've just went and spent money on a subscription to Norton that it's annoying to just remove it, but your performace problems will probably vanish if you do. The products I listed will do a better job of protecting you, without punishing your computer in the process.

[Dalo Harkin]

In my option the best current internet security suite with both antivirus and firewall (not free):

Kaspersky Lab UK :: Antivirus software

 

 

Based on what?

Virus Bulletin : VB RAP testing results

[Goku]

Based on what?

Lol Dave, Snow means 'in his opinion'. And by the way, Kaspersky is a good alternative, at least better than Norton. :D

 

Don't mean to knock off your post. :)

 

(Hope I am right Snow! :eek:)

 

hi, my home built system: vista ultimate 64x, GIGABYTE motherboard, NVIDIA GeForce 9800gt, Seagate 500Gb, Hitachi 1TB, 4GB DDR2 RAM, intel core2 QUAD cpu @ 2.40GHz.

 

...is getting slower by the day. Like all new systems, it's been extreamly fast from day one, however since i installed norton internet security, it's just been getting slower. It's a very powerful pc, and it seems a shame that it should be slowed down by silly bits of software.

 

Please tell me what i can do to boost performance.

James, that is a very excellent system. If the system is slowing down to a crawl, then it must have been quite sometime before some maintenance operations were performed on it. However, we will get back to that later.

 

For the time being, can you please try and disable Norton and see if some of the lag goes away or not. The newest version is rumoured to have a much lower resource footprint but let us verify if it is the actual hog or not.

 

Await your response. :)

 

-- Goku

[Dalo Harkin]

Just make sure you dont use the internet when you disable Norton :eek:

 

Goku,

 

I am aware that it was Snows opinion and I wanted to ask what it was based on thats all and am sorry to snow if I came across as rude

[Goku]

Goku,

 

I am aware that it was Snows opinion and I wanted to ask what it was based on thats all and am sorry to snow if I came across as rude

Oh, then I am the one who should be

 

When I read the words, 'in my opinion' I generally take it that the user's personal experience with the program is the basis of the review. And Snow being a security specialist would have come plenty of users who sweared by Kaspersky and had much less infected logs than those who had other security programs installed. Of course, I am just blabbering so I will shut up till Snow comes and clarifies. :D

 

And as I said, I was not knocking your post or sneering in any way. Wouldn't dare to do that with the expertise you have got. :p

 

-- Goku

[jamesbrown]

 

If the system is slowing down to a crawl, then it must have been quite sometime before some maintenance operations were performed on it.

 

Thanks very much. I will try disabling norton but will not be able to do that until this weekend (i'm away from my computer).

 

What other maintenance can be done? please give me a list of things i can do when i get back to my pc.

 

Is dissabling norton one of my only options? I'm slightly annoyed that this might be slowing my machine down because i did spend some cash on this virus protection. I won't normally pay for virus protection, but my laptop died a horrid death because i virus got past AVG. I gave in to the DELL sales man, and he said this is the best protection :(

[Tootech]

Perhaps that link and its results are a little misleading Dalo - only one of those tests are based on a Windows workstation scenario - Red Hat Linux, Server x64 Enterprise are not too common in the home PC world.

 

For XP, GData@94.7%, Avira@92.3%, Kaspersky@92.2% down to Onecare@81.2%, results defined in the April 2009 tests.

 

Perhaps Vista would give a different result, but Snow's advice holds in my opinion - Kaspersky or Avira are spot on.

 

Microsoft Security Essentials is looking like a handy piece of software, and I watched it stop a Personal Antivirus infection a few days ago - thats the pav.exe spyware.

 

Worth a look

 

http://www.microsoft.com/Security_essentials/

[Goku]

Hello James. Here are a few maintenance operations you can perform on your computer when you get back to it. Best do them in the order provided to reduce the time as much as possible.

• Scandisk
  
• Disk Cleanup
  
• Uninstallation of old / unused programs
  
• Deletion of older outdated / useless files
  
• Emptying Recycle Bin
  
• Disk Defragmentation

And please perform a battery of security scans if you have not already done so. It might be a Malware infection for all the symptoms you have stated.

 

I gave in to the DELL sales man, and he said this is the best protection

Well, they are commisioned to sell those products so you can't expect anything else from them. Sorry to know that you learned this the hard way, but next time please do some research beforehand so that you are not burned again.

 

Hope that helps. :)

 

-- Goku

[Dalo Harkin]

Microsoft Security Essentials is looking like a handy piece of software, and I watched it stop a Personal Antivirus infection a few days ago - thats the pav.exe spyware.

 

 

Not bad going for someone who said MS security products were pretty rubbish :rolleyes:

 

I have used pretty much all Security suites, tested them on my servers and the only decent one I have used that completely protected the server is the Norton Enterprise Version

Now given that I HATE norton with a passion owning Sygate they must be doing something right - the consumer market is a different matter and I have seen first hand what the likes of Kaspersky doesnt stop and a quick google search will enlighten you to its 'underperforming' abilities

[Tootech]

Not bad going for someone who said MS security products were pretty rubbish

 

Here we go again - misquoting, misrepresenting and confrontational.

 

Indeed, you linked to the VB report Mr Dalo, and on closer inspection it correlated with Snow's advice - which is what I was saying.

 

Of course you have your opinion, and I respect that, but VB report didn't actually say what you first suggested.

 

Now, as you are back posting on FPCH its time for me to leave. I was glad when you ran away to the softies forum, so welcome back and goodbye :)

[RandyL]

Hi jamesbrown;

 

Please perform the steps suggested by Goku in his last post as they are basic steps and should be the first thing to start with.

 

Also uninstallling old unused programs can help as Goku mentioned especially if they are running at startup and using resources.

 

If after performing those steps and temporarily disabling Norton the computer is still slow it might well be wise to run some security checks as Goku said to see if malware might be causing it.

[RandyL]

Guys I think that any discussion on other areas might best be suited in off topic perhaps.

[snow]

I didn't mean to express my opinion as absolute; just what I thought would be best for JamesBrown to try.

 

I have also used most of the security suites out there, and based my judgement on not just the raw virus detection statistics, but the whole experience when using the program.

 

Symantec Enterprise was very good on detection when I tried it, and lighter than Norton, but it still seemed excessively heavy on CPU use to me, and slowed system startup by a good 30 seconds or so. Also, buying a license for it is not really viable for a single home user.

 

Kaspersky is quiet and unobtrusive, letting you safely ignore it while it's running. It sits in the system tray, updates itself seveal times a day, and only bothers the user if an expeptional thing happens (program installing low-level drivers, etc).

 

The only other anti-virus that I've seen update itself as much is NOD32, which is also good, but can be more confusing to use, and doesn't include a firewall.

 

Kaspersky's firewall is updated with intrusion detection signitures not unregularly, and I've yet to have it's anti-virus let me down. It scans incoming HTTP traffic, stopping infected items before they even get on the system, and it automatically restricts applications from accessing protected user data.

 

On my system it is using two processes, with a total of 118MB of memory used. My machine hasn't been re-started for nealy a week now, so I'm pretty happy with that.

 

Avira Antivir is an excellent antivirus as well. When used in free mode it pops up with adverts, but the protection it provides for free is well worth some small annoyance.

 

Also, I'm hardly a security expert (I'll leave that one to Chiaz), so this is purely from the research I've done and the experiences I've had.

 

 

Microsoft security essentials is indeed looking good, as tootech said:

First look: Microsoft Security Essentials impresses - Ars Technica

 

Although MSE might not boast as many features as OneCare did, it is a lot better at what it does do. It's free, and it requires no registration, trial versions, or license renewals. It really does automatically stay up-to-date. Most core functions can be activated with a single click. It is also very lightweight.

Based on what we've seen so far, we have to recommend that you at least give the product a download. Everyone currently using free antimalware software should give it a shot, and those with paid solutions should think about taking MSE for a spin before renewing subscriptions.

 

I know that is a only one reveiw, but it does seem like they've impoved on onecare (which was bad, no doubt there)

 

This is another free option you could try insead of Norton.

[Dalo Harkin]

Snow, first off thank you for the explanation as to why you like Kaspersky, I do respect peoples views and all I asked for was what you provided :)

 

Scott,

 

This is the DIRECT QUOTE you gave:-

Microsoft do have a rather bad reputation for creating naff security products - take Windows Defender for example - well don't actually http://computerhelpforums.net/images/smilies/rolleyes.gif

 

Their Live Onecare started out as a load of rubbish, and version 2 did get better, although no where near as good as the market leaders.

As for me being back posting, its a matter of my personal preference. You leaving is yours. Everyone is entitled to an opinion and if you don't want to debate, then its your problem and not mine. :)

[jamesbrown]

thanks very much everybody. i will look at all your advice and will post results here when done. i still must get rid of norton first. but before i do that i will look at some alternative freeware/shareware. then i'll get rid of norton and note system performance. I will then do some maintanance on the system and see what happens.

[jamesbrown]

how do i perform further security checks?

[snow]

Have you uninstalled Norton, and installed any other security software?

 

If so, then a good starting point would be to re-boot the computer in safe mode, and run a full system scan with whatever anti-virus you have.

 

If it detects anything, you can create a thread in malware and have Chiaz take a closer look.

[Plastic Nev]

Hi, if you do get rid of Norton or intend doing so at some stage, have a look here at our recommendations.

http://extremetechsupport.com/forum/security-questions-av-firewalls-etc/3597-free-pc-help-recommended-security-products.html

 

I will add that the free "Malwarebytes" is very good and if there is any problem with malware that one will quite likely find it.

If it does, please do start a thread in the malware removal section and post the log it provides. Chiaz will take it from there.

Nev.

[jamesbrown]

ok

 

i'll do that, but will not be able to until next weekend (away from my computer)

 

Just a very important side not for you all, i've just installed Avira on another machine that i have, and it's slowed right down! why! are there no antivirus softwares out there that don't completly ruin the performance of your machine?????

[Plastic Nev]

I am surprised Avira has slowed things down it is not a known thing about it.

However most antivirus programs do use some amount of RAM, so if you have less than 500MB of RAM, then that could be the reason. For general purposes I will recommend an upgrade to more than 500MB. The days when a windows machine could run happily with around 250MB of RAM are long gone.

[snow]

I use Avira myself, and know for a fact that it is quite light on system resources.

 

Unless you are trying to run it on a pentium 3, you shouldn't notice much of a performace hit. The computer may take slightly longer to start, and as Nev said some more RAM will be used, but it should not slow a machine right down.

 

Check the 'Processes' tab in task manager to see if anything is using a large amount of CPU.