Norton

[anonymous]

I am having huge problems with system performance ever
since I loaded Norton Internet Security 2004. My system,
running XP, has come to a screetching halt despite plenty
(I think) of processing power and memory.

 

[Ron Martell]

I am having huge problems with system performance ever
since I loaded Norton Internet Security 2004. My system,
running XP, has come to a screetching halt despite plenty
(I think) of processing power and memory.

Norton has been problematic in this way for many users.

Try uninstalling Norton and using one of the free antivirus products
and also the Windows built-in firewall and see if that helps at all.

You can get a fairly interesting report from the Windows Task Manager
which might show what is actually using your CPU time.

Open Task Manager (Ctrl+Alt+Delete) and go to the Processes tab. Use
View - Select Columns and click on the checkbox for CPU Time to add it
to the the display.

Click twice on the CPU Time column header to sort the process list in
descending order based on total CPU time used. After the computer has
been running for 8 or 10 hours you may see some informative figures
for CPU time used. For example, unless I have done a complete virus
scan my computer shows CPU time as 0:00:00 for my AVG antivirus.

Hope this is of some assistance.

Good luck


Ron Martell Duncan B.C. Canada
--
Microsoft MVP
On-Line Help Computer Service
http://onlinehelp.bc.ca

"The reason computer chips are so small is computers don't eat much."

 

[Ed]

Same here. Installation of SP2 went off without a hitch. Everything worked
great! Even speeded up my PC. So, I thought I'd do a complete update and
last week purchased Norton AV 2004. As if last year's 2003 didn't slow me
down enough, but I just lived with it. I "thought" it was worth having the
protection. NAV 2004 had my computer speed down to a crawl and my high
speed cable connection seemed like a waste of money. So, I ditched Norton
and installed the free version of AVG Anti-Virus. It feels like I have a
brand new computer!!! For the past year or so, I thought it was SP1 and
other numerous Windows updates that were slowing me down, but all the while
it was Norton! I was just too stupid to get rid of it. I'm glad it works
for some people and I don't mean to bash Norton...but what can I say, after
two or three years of using their product, I uninstalled it and finally got
my computer back!

 

[Bob Harris]

I agree that Norton can waste a lot of time chekcing things in the
background. But, it can be controlled. I have opted for checking the whole
PC for viruses once a week, but individual files upon access (read, copy,
excute). That seems to provide tolerable performance.

Also, Norton Internet Secutiry is more than antivirus protection. It also
includes a firewall, something you really want, especially with a
high-speed, always-on connection to the internet. Again, there are probably
setting to play with. (I use the free Zone Alram, version 4.5, so I can not
advise about Norton's firewall.)

 

[Unknown]

But with XP SP-2 you don't need any of that garbage.