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Kilroy
Contributor
Message 1 of 13

Slow PC performance after latest Security Center Update

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I am finding that my system performance has slowed since the latest update to Security Center in my Antivirus Plus. The first issue I had was that my Antivirus Plus crashed after the latest update. The system indicated that it had a problem and needed to close. I clicked OK and tried to reopen AV Plus. Still kept producing this error.  I had to restart my system to resolve this error.  Since that update, my system is very slow when starting up. It takes quite a bit of time for the start\system tray bar to appear. I suspect it is being caused by AV Plus scanning my system upon start up. Which it appears you cannot disable, only choose fast or normal start up (currently set to fast). In addition, when launching Outlook Express it is taking much more time for my email to load and when launching Google Chrome it is taking much more time to do so.  At this point I decided to uninstall AV Plus and did so by deleting it through Add\Remove programs and running MCPR.exe clean up tool.  At this point I am debating on wether to renew my subscription which runs out in 9 days.  After the McSVHost.exe error on shut down from about six months ago and that AV Plus seems to be becoming a bloated application like its competitors (I switched to AV Plus from Norton because of this) I am thinking it's not worth the money. I have installed Microsoft's Security Essentials and testing it out. I have heard that it is reliable AV protection and does not hog system resources like other AV applications. I thought I would post my issues here to see if anyone could offer any suggestions about the issues I am having and renew my faith in McAfee before I "cut the cord" for good.  Thanks for reading.

1 Solution

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Hayton
Reliable Contributor
Reliable Contributor
Message 8 of 13

Re: Slow PC performance after latest Security Center Update

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If the problems are/were with emails downloading into Outlook Express and Google Chrome load times I can confirm that I've noticed this too, although it's not excessive. In Outlook Express there are delays only in receiving mail from my ISP, so I suspect there could be a problem (for myself and the OP) with the mailbox settings.

As far as McAfee programs are concerned, the main culprits for a low-powered XP3 system (like ours) are Mcshield and Mcsvhost, one at least of which has been the subject for extended discussions in these forums.

As Tony says, 1Gb RAM is barely enough these days to ensure reasonable performance. And if anyone can devise a foolproof method to win a lottery - any lottery will do - I'll be second in line behind Kilroy to pick up my winnings and replace this old box with something faster.

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12 Replies
newjack
Former Member
Message 2 of 13

Re: Slow PC performance after latest Security Center Update

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was Mcafee running well before last update?Also if you could list your computer o.s im sure someone can give you some ideas.Such as xp,win 7 64,ect.

Kilroy
Contributor
Message 3 of 13

Re: Slow PC performance after latest Security Center Update

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Yes, my AV Plus was operating properly before the latest update to Security Center. I did also run Virtual Technician which stated no issues found. I will say that since the upgrade to AV Plus 2010 (last year) from the older version I had, the PC performance became slower but not to the extent it has with this last update. Sorry that I forgot to list my operating system which is Microsoft Windows XP Home SP3. I am sure that both Windows and AV Plus were up to date since both are set for automatic updates and that is functioning properly. Thanks for the reply.

Hayton
Reliable Contributor
Reliable Contributor
Message 4 of 13

Re: Slow PC performance after latest Security Center Update

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The symptoms you describe could be caused by a McAfee program problem (in which case you should run MVT and see if it can fix it) or a system that's running out of resources. How much RAM have you got installed?

Apart from the usual response to this sort of thing - run an AV scan in case you've got a malware infection, and another scan by Windows Defender and/or Malwarebytes in case you've picked up some spyware - try running a disk cleanup utility like CCleaner, and then defrag the disk; get hold of Autoruns from SysInternals to see what's being loaded at system startup, and disable anything that you don't need or which looks suspicious; uninstall unwanted programs and remove unwanted Windows components using Control Panel-->Add/Remove.

The above won't necessarily cure the slowdown, but they should help. And if you get SysInternals' Process Explorer you can examine in detail what's hogging your system resources.

Edit - Your post above came in while I was preparing this. XP SP3 is what I'm running, so I can safely say all those things work for me.

Message was edited by: Hayton on 11/06/11 04:18:11 IST
Peacekeeper
Message 5 of 13

Re: Slow PC performance after latest Security Center Update

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Xp sp3 fine but what CPU and importantly what ram amount. Each version needs more ram This a sign of the times. Using the minimum 512Mb really makes the PC slow.

Kilroy
Contributor
Message 6 of 13

Re: Slow PC performance after latest Security Center Update

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Thanks for the reply. I can tell you that I have run VT which did not find an issue. I have run a full scan with AV Plus. I did this both in normal start up mode and in safe mode. No issues found. In addition. I ran Adaware in the same fashion and no issues were found. I have run Disk Clean Up and defragmented the drive (even though the analyzer said no need to do so), I also have check what is loading upon start up via msconfig. Everything in startup looks correct and nothing suspicious was present.  I have also viewed processes running in the Task Manager, didn't see anything jump out at me.  Since things were OK before the latest Securtiy Center update, I really suspect it's AV Plus causing this issue. Mainly since multiple malware\spyware detection programs have not identified any issues. I am using an older system that has 1GB of ram and a AMD Athlon 1800+ 1.53 GHz processor. It may be that the latest version of AV Plus is becoming to much for my older system. I encountered this same issue a few years back with Norton  AV and that was my reason for switching to McAfee AV Plus since it was known not to be as bloated as Norton was at the time. As I stated before, I un-installed AV Plus and loaded MS Security Essentials. That also found no issues with the system. So I may just test SE out for a few days. Currently the issues I was having seemed be resolved with this change. So I may just stick with SE unless things change before my AV Plus subscription runs out in a few days. I am not that PC savvy but know enough to be dangerous.

Message was edited by: Kilroy on 6/11/11 12:07:27 AM CDT
Peacekeeper
Message 7 of 13

Re: Slow PC performance after latest Security Center Update

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AMD 1800+ about equivalent to a P4 1.8Ghz so yes things would be starting to get stretched.. Maybe 2G ram might hold the slowness off but really the writing will be on the wall.

Though funny but specs imply this setup fine. Will ask in our mod call Monday but I do think it is time for a lotto win and a new PC.

Hayton
Reliable Contributor
Reliable Contributor
Message 8 of 13

Re: Slow PC performance after latest Security Center Update

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If the problems are/were with emails downloading into Outlook Express and Google Chrome load times I can confirm that I've noticed this too, although it's not excessive. In Outlook Express there are delays only in receiving mail from my ISP, so I suspect there could be a problem (for myself and the OP) with the mailbox settings.

As far as McAfee programs are concerned, the main culprits for a low-powered XP3 system (like ours) are Mcshield and Mcsvhost, one at least of which has been the subject for extended discussions in these forums.

As Tony says, 1Gb RAM is barely enough these days to ensure reasonable performance. And if anyone can devise a foolproof method to win a lottery - any lottery will do - I'll be second in line behind Kilroy to pick up my winnings and replace this old box with something faster.

Kilroy
Contributor
Message 9 of 13

Re: Slow PC performance after latest Security Center Update

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You may very well be right about things getting stretched at this point.  Unfortunately, I am not in a position to upgrade my system. Additionally, I have maxed out the ram expansion (thank you Compaq!) on my system. Since installing MS Security Essentials my system performance has been back to what it was before the last update to Security Center.  In fact,  I have noticed that both start up and shut down on my system are faster then when AV Plus was installed. So it looks like I am going to have to "cut the cord" with McAfee based on the feedback I am getting here. Thank you for taking the time to respond to my questions.

Kilroy
Contributor
Message 10 of 13

Re: Slow PC performance after latest Security Center Update

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You are correct that the issues are as you described for both Outlook Express and Google Chrome.  In my case the lag time for these two applications to load was significant. In the case of Goggle Chrome it also seemed to intermittently cause a time out issue when loading my home page.  I have taken into account that this issue is partially due to the age of my system however, I feel that AV Plus is starting to get to be a bloated app. and a resource hog much like people have commented about Norton AV.  I switched to McAfee from Norton for this exact reason. It's a shame because over all I was happy with the product until the last few updates. I wish these companies would offer to let you stay with an older version and just provide the virus definition updates so people would not run into these issues.

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