We have Spyware Doctor and McAfee ona Win XP PC and it crawls!
As it says, we have both prodcuts running on this XP SP2 laptop and it runs like treacle/molasses. How do we speed things up?
We its them causing it because under safe mode, when both are disabled, the laptop runs quite well...
many thanks.
We its them causing it because under safe mode, when both are disabled, the laptop runs quite well...
many thanks.
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If you're removing McAfee product, I would recommend using their removal tool:
http://download.mcafee.com/products/licensed/cust_support_patches/MCPR.exe
This will ensure that all traces of McAfee are removed from your hdd, and will eliminate any chance of conflict with whichever av product you choose.
I personally use AVG 8.0:
http://free.avg.com/ww.download?prd=afe
and Superantispyware:
http://www.superantispyware.com/
They are both free, work well, and are MUCH lighter on resources than the setup you have at the moment.
http://download.mcafee.com/products/licensed/cust_support_patches/MCPR.exe
This will ensure that all traces of McAfee are removed from your hdd, and will eliminate any chance of conflict with whichever av product you choose.
I personally use AVG 8.0:
http://free.avg.com/ww.download?prd=afe
and Superantispyware:
http://www.superantispyware.com/
They are both free, work well, and are MUCH lighter on resources than the setup you have at the moment.
I can't speak to AVG, but I see it recommended by many people here and other places. However, unless Spybot has vastly improved in the last few years I would not depend on that as a good anti-spyware tool. Yeah, it's light and the price is right, but sometimes you get what you pay for.
well if u do not like spybot u can always is adaware from lavasoft.de
and personally I use spybot / avg / avast home
"...and personally I use spybot / avg / avast home..."
Er...avg AND avast home? If you are using avg anti-virus and avast on the same pc, the two will conflict and impact on performance.
It is never a good idea to run more than one av app.
Er...avg AND avast home? If you are using avg anti-virus and avast on the same pc, the two will conflict and impact on performance.
It is never a good idea to run more than one av app.
In the past I have used both Spybot and Adaware. As you say, they are light and the price certainly is right. But as spyware has gotten more insidious and sophisticated I found that they did not seem as up to the task as they had in the past. I don't keep up with them any more, so they could have been improved immensely, but, barring that I would not put my data under their protection. Yes, the commercial products are more costly and usually have bigger fingerprint, but sometimes that's the cost of good protection.
Take a look at these:
http://anti-virus-software-review.toptenreviews.com/
http://anti-spyware-review.toptenreviews.com/
http://www.consumersearch.com/www/software/anti-spyware-reviews/
http://www.pcmag.com/category2/0,1738,1639157,00.asp
Take a look at these:
http://anti-virus-software-review.toptenreviews.com/
http://anti-spyware-review.toptenreviews.com/
http://www.consumersearch.com/www/software/anti-spyware-reviews/
http://www.pcmag.com/category2/0,1738,1639157,00.asp
Er...avg AND avast home? If you are using avg anti-virus and avast on the same pc, the two will conflict and impact on performance.
It is never a good idea to run more than one av app.
^^^^
in theory, you would be correct, but in actuality your are wrong...I have seen NO performace hit...and what I have found by using 2 av apps is that ONE virus definition library will not have EVERY single thing that another virus def library that another company has...yes they will have a vast amount of common ones, but there are others that are not on both of the lists....
I have seen absolutely NO conflict, and absolute No impact to performance... :)
It is never a good idea to run more than one av app.
^^^^
in theory, you would be correct, but in actuality your are wrong...I have seen NO performace hit...and what I have found by using 2 av apps is that ONE virus definition library will not have EVERY single thing that another virus def library that another company has...yes they will have a vast amount of common ones, but there are others that are not on both of the lists....
I have seen absolutely NO conflict, and absolute No impact to performance... :)
ASKER
Said laptop then burned its disk - its impending demise might have had some effect on performance. Now re-built with AVG free 8 only. I have Spyware Doctor available on another PC which I can import if necessary... Problem solved. Which is what devarioj suggested...
Many thanks for the informative debate, tough!
peter
Many thanks for the informative debate, tough!
peter
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Anti-virus software was originally developed to detect and remove computer viruses. However, with the proliferation of other kinds of malware, antivirus software started to provide protection from other computer threats. In particular, modern antivirus software can protect from malicious browser helper objects (BHOs), browser hijackers, ransomware, keyloggers, backdoors, rootkits, trojan horses, worms, malicious layered service providers (LSPs), dialers, fraud tools, adware and spyware. Some products also include protection from other computer threats, such as infected and malicious URLs, spam, scam and phishing attacks, online identity theft (privacy), online banking attacks, social engineering techniques, Advanced Persistent Threat (APT), botnets and DDoS attacks.
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Second. what kind of resources do you have on your PC? When the PC is fully up, open Task Manager and take a look at the Performance tab. See how much RAM is being used vs how much is installed and then look at the processes tab and see what's using the most CPU and RAM. This will give you an overview of how things are running.
You probably don't need both McAfee and SWD if you're running the newest one because it has a fairly nice antivirus program built in.