McAfee VirusScan makes mp3/CDs jump !

You could exclude *.mp3 to the virus scan exlusions

WillHudson,

The problem is not the scanning of mp3 files, it is the sudden increase in CPU usage when a new page is being downloaded.  So it would seem that it is the scanning of the temporary internet files directory causing the trouble.  Could it be the fact that my internet connection is too fast ?  Doubtful.

I have tried your suggestion anyway and it has no effect.

Thanks anyway though.

Have you got internet filtering running?

Er, cannot find a setting that states that, but I am scanning all inbound and outbound files, so it is going to be scanning the internet traffic.  I have watched the statistics and the last file scanned is usually in the temp internet files dir when downloading, so I think that it is a yes.

Right-click the Vshield in your system tray, go to Quick Enable and Untick Internet Filtering. See if that helps

I don't have that option in my context menu; I only have Launch, View, Disable and About.  I do have the professional version of VS; maybe that is why.

Either way it sounds like what you are suggesting could be somehow lowering the security of my machine; I am all to aware of the fact that disabling the file scanning would get rid of the problem, but that would not be a good idea due to the risks involved.  A quick fix would be just be to prevent scanning the temporary internet files directory, but that does still not solve why this is happening.

I suppose I am looking for someone to say it is a well documented fact, and you can fix it by downloading a patch or something.  But will that happen ?

I have tried getting really low level and changing the thread priority of winamp/whatever is playing the music, setting it to real--time, but this still has no effect.

-- Annoyed

I looked at your other post and saw your system stats, and I agree with you.  That virus scanner could scan every process and file going through, it shouldn't slow anything down with the resources that you have.  A gig of ram and 2 ghz processor!  So I agree with you it must be a bug and I will do a little research on mcafee.  Although, I have norton, and have found it to be more stable, reliable, and still keep a small footprint and not effect what I need to do on my computer.

I must mention, why such low points?  20 points will get you help, but experts are far less likely to spend time researching your question...  Just a heads up  :o)

Sorry 20+50 would be 70... my fault  :o)

Couple of quick questions:

1. Have you got all the latest updates for internet explorer?

2. What program are you using to play your music?

OK, I just lost my entire post twice and it took me about 10 minutes per post.  I'm too agrivated now to redo it a second time... better luck later?

Is EE refreshing pages automatically or something now??????

Basically:

1) make sure ur engine is updated - http://ts.mcafeehelp.com/default.asp?siteID=1&cnrcheck=done&resolution=1024x768

2) delete ur temp inet files i choose to do it manually so go find the directories and delete files

and what version are you using

WillHudson:

1.  I have got all of the updates for IE that I can see from visiting the Windows Update website.  None of the ones listed for me are IE related; I am not going to install these however as they are to do with things that do not apply to me, eg Jet Updates W2k+3 servers etc.

2.  I use Winamp 2.91 to play mp3; CDs it is Windows Media player.  I have also tried with RealOne player; the music still jumps.  All of these programs are up to date.

jonnyz0109:

1) I have run the autoupdate program that comes with VirusScan; and it says it is up to date.
2) Done - still no effect.  I tried altering the size of the temp internet files dir (currently set at 30mb) and it had no effect either.  I usually set it to be so low to save disk space; since I have fast download speeds I figured it would be a good idea.  Increasing to 300mb had no effect though.

3)  Complete facts and figures for VirusScan - as from Help->About:

Product Name:      VirusScan Professional Edition
Product Version:      7.02.6000
Company Name:      Network Associates, Inc.
Legal Copyright:      Copyright © 1995-2003 Networks Associates Technology, Inc. All rights reserved
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
License Name:      'McAfee VirusScan Professional' (VSP)
License Type:      Retail/OEM
License Started On:      07 August 2003
Update Days:      262 remaining
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Files:      Version:

Actilog.dll      7.02.6000
Alogserv.exe      7.02.6000
Avconsol.exe      7.02.6000
Avsynch.dll      7.02.6000
Avsynmgr.exe      7.02.6000
Cfgcom32.dll      7.02.6000
Config32.exe      7.02.6000
Edisk.exe      7.02.6000
Hawkalert.dll      7.02.6000
Hawkex.dll      7.02.6000
Hawkscript.dll      7.02.6000
Mcpie.dll      2.00.2002.0
Mcrtl32.dll      1, 0, 0, 10
Newschdll.dll      7.02.6000
Ntclient.dll      6.0.0
Scancomp.dll      7.02.6000
Scanemal.dll      7.02.6000
Scanutil.dll      7.02.6000
Syncutil.dll      7.02.6000
Vscfgdll.dll      7.02.6000
Vscoffice.dll      7.02.6000
Vscpop.dll      7.02.6000
Vscshellextension.dll      7.02.6000
Vscui.dll      7.02.6000
Vshctrl.dll      7.02.6000
Vshwin32.exe      7.02.6000
Vsmain.exe      7.02.6000
Vsstat.exe      7.02.6000
Vsui50.dll      7.02.6000
Vsutil.dll      7.02.6000

Of course; points are not a problem; I kept it low (70) to start with since it may have been a case of a simple patch that I did not know about.  

More research by experts = more points !  This has flumoxed me, so hopefully someone else can solve it !

Thanks again !

jonnyz0109,

The refresh problem you detail of may be down to viewing the page from the hotmail links if you get notification via hotmail - they insist on opening all links contained in mails in one of their framed windows, and they expire after a set time.

I just copy the link and paste it into a new IE window, or set the time out in hotmail to be very big.  Either works.

I posted at the McAfee forum, we'll see if they have any ideas.  I will venture to say, it's probably normal for a split second for CPU to go up because it is scanning whatever you are doing.  But 70-80% seems high, and certainly playing music should not be effected.

jonnyz

mrwad -
1) Do you have any sort of firewalls running on your computer?
2) Assuming you have a VShield icon running in your taskbar (blue or red), please right click on that icon and go to about.  Apparently it is supposed to reveal some different information then what you provided from Help > About.  Please post whatever is in this area.

Jonnyz

Firstly, sorry about the delay.

jonnyz0109:

1) I have the McAfee firewall running.  It comes with the VirusScan professional as part of the installer.
2) The information that the About dialogue gives me is:

Serial Number
Virus Definitions version: 4.0.4305
Created On: 19/11/2003
Scan Engine: 4.2.60

The program version is 7.03.6000

Any ideas ?

Thanks again.

Try reducing the amount of temporary internet files you have.

In Internet Explorer, goto Tools -> Internet Options

Click Settings in the Temporary Internet Files section.  Move the slider all the way to the left (to make it 1 MB)

I'll get back to you.

For kicks and giggles, try temporarily disabling the firewall and see if you are still having problems.

WillHudson,

nice suggestion but already tried; has no effect.
jonnyz0109,

> "kicks and giggles" <- ?!?!?

Still has no effect.  CPU usage momentarily rockets causing the skip.

GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR

> > "kicks and giggles" <- ?!?!?

You haven't heard that expression?  ;o)

This is one of those that you just don't want to give up on!!  Have you heard of anyone else having this problem?  I can't find evidence of it so far...

> > "kicks and giggles" <- ?!?!?

You haven't heard that expression?  ;o)

This is one of those that you just don't want to give up on!!  Have you heard of anyone else having this problem?  I can't find evidence of it so far...

lol - I have not actually no.  Not yet....

Keep trying folks  - points are in abundance !

Ok, here's another idea.

Have your player program (in my example i'll use Windows Media Player).
Press control+alt+delete and go to Task manager. Look for Windows Media Player in the applications list.

Right-click it and choose Go to Process. This will open up the processing tab and will automatically high-light the programs Process (in this case it is wmplayer.exe).

Right click the process and go to Set Priority. Select RealTime.

Hopefully this will help :-)

I have a post on the other end... will research and get back to you.  Some links were provided.

OK.  I have already tried that WillHudson, setting the priority of the application playing the audio has no effect.

Right I have spent some time enabling a demonstration of the problem, and have managed to do so by finding a (freely downloadable) mp3 file, playing it and recording the audio output of my computer when downloading a webpage (a.mp3) and when not viewing a webpage (b.mp3).

Basically the two clips are about 12seconds long, the only difference being that when b.mp3 was recorded, I viewed the results of searching for "Experts Exchange" on google.com, and refreshed the page three times in the twelve seconds to really let you see the effect on the audio.  You can clearly distinguish the three distortions that occur.

Now, when you listen, you will probably think "My god, is that all it does ! That is not enough distortion of audio to worry about!"; but believe me, when you are flicking through 100+ pages and on each page load you get the distortion, it begins to get slightly irritating, especially when you cannot see why it is occuring !

Anyway, you can download the files mentioned from :

http://homepage.ntlworld.com/d.billingham/TEST/

Cheers !

(PS the clip does not demonstrate music of choice !)

Well that is smaller then what I expected by the way you explained... *BUT* that is what it should be for a 2 ghz machine.  I have a feeling you might just get a "hey that's normal" answer but I'll forward on the clips (as attachments to keep your website annon.) onto the other thread.

But again think about that - you are scanning every file for a virus and if thats the only impact that it is having then it may be completely normal...  I'll get back to ya  :o)

Cheers thanks for that it is appreciated.  On the contrary, I tried updating my sound card drivers as suggested in the second thread that is running this question, and found that when I do so the jumping disappears but the track randomly speeds up and slows down....just as annoying really, but interesting none the less.

The sound card I have is called

Avance AC'97 Audio for VIA (R) Audio Controller.

Anyone know where I can get an updated driver that is past 5.10.0.3870 ?

:)

From a "Volunteer Moderator" over at McAfee:
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Just a suggestion and I don't have any guarantees....

The CPU spike seems to occur only on some machines. Ask the other user to "tinker" with the settings a little. Does it help to disable the HAWK e-mail scanner? How about disabling the HAWK ScriptStopper? Try to disable the "Heuristics" scanning and set the scan to "Default files", instead of "All Files" on the background scanner settings ONLY. Leave the "On Demand" scan settings so that "All Files" and "Heuristics" are still enabled and a RIGHT click scan would still check for everything.
______________

Because resources are a critical issue and conflicts can arise when unnecessary programs are running in the background. Please try using the instructions at the links below to disable unnecessary services in Win2000:

http://www.techspot.com/tweaks/win2k_services/ 

http://searchwin2000.techtarget.com/tip/1,289483,sid1_gci778742,00.html 

http://www.aumha.org/win4/a/loads.htm 

Hope this helps.

Grif
----------------------------------------------------------------

My guess is the above doesn't apply to you as it sounds like you have a pretty good knowledge of what is going on in your computer.... but figured I should put the post in its entirety, as it may be helpful...

jonnyz0109,

I have tried all of the suggestions here and of course the only thing that succesfully works is when I disable the scanning.  All other combinations of options fail.

I have had a look at those sites but was already aware of how to kill unecessary programs running; but as I mentioned before with system stats like mine I don't think that I should be getting this problem unless I have several real-time priority applications running in infinite loops etc..

I will leave this question (and the original one in the Misc section) open for a little longer then I Will split the points over the suggestions that have been posted.  I think that a solution is not going to rear its head on this one.  Shame, but you can't win em all !

Cheers again.

jonnyz0109,

Yeah thanks for that; I have downloaded a newer driver and it appears that the problem has been resolved - I even tried shifting the priority of Winamp down to the lowest possible (low) and refreshing a page of Google results (as detailed above) *several times repeatedly*.  The result was no jumping at all !

What I am going to do hence is give it a few more days to fully test it, then I will increase the total points to 100 and split them between yourself and SheharyaarSaahil, who posted the original suggestion of updating the sound driver over in the second saga located at http://oldlook.experts-exchange.com/questions/20803777/McAfee-VirusScan-makes-mp3-CDs-jump-when-browsing.html

Many many thanks for what looks to be the solution !

Will come back very soon !

Great, glad to hear that worked!  Let us know if any further problems arise.

Jonny

Tested enough; all ok.

Thanks a load Jonny !

:)