MCShield.exe CPU hog

Thanks Mike,

I will try your solution and get back with results.

I recommend totally removing the product and going with another Internet security product like ESET SmartSecurity.  McAfee and Norton are resource hogs and will slow down most PCs.  Yours is a bit older and is more susceptible to resource allocation issues.  ESET's products are light on the resources and are every bit as capable as McAfee or Norton.  Maybe better.

If you think there is a virus or other malware affecting your machine, go to

http://www.eset.com/onlinescan/

The scanner there will not only find malware, but remove it.

I would suggest to troubleshoot a bit more.  There are a few things you may try, while staying with your AV.

- find out what the process is exactly trying to do at the time of peak usage, from the log files.  McShield is known to use a lot of CPU/memory, when it's actively doing scanning for a lot of scanning while doing read/write for archives.

- you may use tools like processmon/filemon, process explorer (sysinternals) for some help on troubleshooting.

Let me know if that helps.

ananddotiyer -

If the software is causing that much trouble and it is known that it takes up lots of resources when it scans, then why NOT change?  The biggest issue I run into (I work mostly with homeowners, not businesses), is that the big M and the big S software packages are resource hogs and slow down even new PCs with 2GB or more RAM installed.  dgs0807 is running an older PC (slower processor, bus speed, RAM, and hard drive), which is MORE susceptible to the piggishness of McAfee than a new PC.

While I agree that it is usually prudent to troubleshoot slowdowns attributed to software, in this instance, we KNOW McAfee and Symantec products are hard on older PCs.  Why spend time on it when a little money (very little) will probably solve the problem?

this is dgs0807: thanks to all who have made suggestions.  I have run the "scrubbers" MikeHolcomb suggested.  They did come up with some junk McAfee has failed to find, but nothing that suggests a serious infection that would be stealing as much cpu time as I have observed.  I agree with ananddotiyer that M seems to have gotten so piggish that it is not worth the $$ any longer. Not to mention the fact that it is more than annoying that M creates an environment that requires customers to go to the lengths I have had to simply to protect computing resources from its "protection".

Could I get a consensus from you folks on what would make the best replacement? How much do you know about/ what are your thoughts on MS's new Security Essentials?  Is there something else that you think would work better for my environment: a home network with 3 desktops with wired internet support and 2 laptops with wifi all serviced via Charter Cable's 10 mb service?

Thanks again

ESET's SmartSecurity (as I mentioned above),has very good pricing for two-year subscriptions for multiple PCs.  I can (if you like) see what they charge for five PCs.

I am a reseller of ESET (to be in full disclosure).  I chose them because, after over 15 years of looking at Big S, Big M, and many others, I find them to have the best security product on the market for the cost, with one of the least impacts on system resources.

To be sure, there are others out there that can claim (rightfully so) the same. There will likely be no consensus from those of us here, because we each have different experiences.  However, MY experience with ESET over the last two years, including going through an upgrade without incident on over 300 PCs, is excellent.

And it was I that talked about the piggishness of McAfee and Symantec, not ananddotiyer.