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freddy999
Former Member
Message 1 of 7

On Access Scanning

Sorry if this has been covered but a search didn't show up much in the 1st few pages of results.

A lot of questions are about it turning off and how to get back on....

My problem is - how can I turn it off and have it stay off and not be constantly reminded about it?

Why?  I have a pretty decent laptop (I think) - AMD Phenom II X3 2.1Ghz, 4Gb Ram, ATI 5650 with 1Gb dedicated VRam.  So no slouch.  Programs that run on other laptops ok, have no issue at all on this one.  However, I've recently noticed a slow down in performance and traced it to mcshield - On Access Scanner Service.

What I've done - turned it off via the control panel and set 'Turn back on' to never.

What happens - every time I log in I get a reminder then about every 2-3 hours another reminder 'Your computer is at risk' - what, why? Oh I know about that bit....

Now I'm running a full scheduled scan and it's back on and mcshield is chewing up between 60 and 94% of my CPU and around 2 - 2.5 Gig of ram.  I do hope that it goes back to its off state once the scan is complete.

OK, I appreciate during a scheduled scan resources are going to be taken up, but the one thing I always praised McAfee for was that it did not affect performance in the same way Norton does.  The single reason I won't use Norton is because of it's resource drain.

Again I appreciate that some may fiddle and turn stuff off accidently and a reminder is good, but a check box to stop them would be great.

Thanks in advance.

6 Replies
lakshmanans
Reliable Contributor
Reliable Contributor
Message 2 of 7

Re: On Access Scanning

Dear freddy999,

Well McShield.exe utilizing more cpu usage is not a McAfee problem first of all u need to understand y mcshield.exe utilizing more cpu

the Mcshield.exe will scan all the access files and it ll release after some time period but if there is more no of archived files like zip files it may took quite long time and it wond release the files as the result the MCshield.exe terminate by restarting the service kindly note down when mcshield.exe is causing performance issue also exclude all the critcal applications so that On Access scan will never scan those critical applications and the system performance will be back to normal state.

freddy999
Former Member
Message 3 of 7

Re: On Access Scanning

Thanks for the response.

Your 1st point about it not being a McAfee problem confuses me, is it not a McAfee program?  Also why would an 'On Access Scanner' be scanning zip files, these are accessed once for extracting and that's it (at least the zip files I have).  Obviously I don't understand how it works, but if something is meant to run constantly in the background it should be written in a way to use minimal resources such as checking last access dates and comparing them with the record it has and ignoring it if the scan date is newer than the access date.  If something is called on access it should only scan files when they are accessed.

There is no option to 'exclude all critical application', it has always been set to 'Programs and Documents only'.  Removing all the other options still gives me the nagging "your computer is at risk" due to spyware/potentially unwanted program checking.  The irony being that full scans have picked up 'potentially unwanted programs' that have got passed the on access scanner.  If you could give more info on this to get my performance back to normal state , it would be greatly appreciated.

As to when, during a full scan it turns on (as mentioned) and chews upto 94% of my cpu and remains on after, I had to manually turn it off again this morning.  It is also highly active during my internet activity either uploading or downloading or gaming (around 35% cpu) and when using remote access it goes up to around 50% cpu usage.

Maybe I didn't make myself clear, I'm not interested in having it do anything on my computer.  Scheduled scans, firewall, M$ defender, Malwarebytes, CCleaner have always done what I've needed, I just want to have it turn off and stay off and not keep nagging.

Maybe some suggestions for McAfee:

Add a check box so you can activley stop reminders (even M$ have progressed with this allowing users to choose up to 4 hours between nags to restart)

Add an advanced settings so users can have more comprehensive control of what On Access does and doesn't do

Add an exclusions list.

As a total aside...FF spellchecker doesn't seem to work in these text boxes *sigh*

Message was edited by: freddy999 on 28/12/11 06:01:51 CST

Message was edited by: freddy999 on 28/12/11 06:02:24 CST
freddy999
Former Member
Message 4 of 7

Re: On Access Scanning

Anyone from McAfee care to comment further?

exbrit
MVP
MVP
Message 5 of 7

Re: On Access Scanning

I'm not from McAfee but am a volunteer Moderator.   This nag your are talking about, is that if you turn off Real-Time Scanning?   That will always nag unfortunately.   If you simply turn off Scheduled Scanning then it shouldn't nag at all.

That all said, when scanning it shouldn't be eating up so many resources unless you have lots of zipped files to scan or there's some sort of infection present or you have it set to run at full tilt and not throttle back when the machine is in use by other processes.

I would only use the Custom scan in that case where you can tailor it.

You might want to consult with Technical Support on this - it's a free phone call or you can use online chat - via the link under Useful Links at top of this page.

freddy999
Former Member
Message 6 of 7

Re: On Access Scanning

Thanks Brit.

The nag is...you're not protected...you're not protected...blah blah.  As you have to jump though hoops to turn the bleeder off surely you know!

As for resources, as I said above it's the on access that's sucking up resources and as said, if I'm not accessing the zip files then it shouldn't touch them.  If I reduce the level of the scan in On Access any further it all turns red and starts nagging again.

The other issue is it constantly turning itself back on with no particular pattern.  It's obvious whoever wrote it has no understanding of the meaning of 'Never'

Thanks for your help, I think I'll just contact CS direct.

Shame as it came as part of a package and did convert me back over to McAfee, I refuse to use norton cos it's a resource hog and PITA...

exbrit
MVP
MVP
Message 7 of 7

Re: On Access Scanning

Well I guess it's nice to know we aren't alone (re: McA and Norton).   Yes TS should be able to offer more suggestions than I can.

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