Ugh I never knew IM programs slow down your comp so much. And Norton is garbage.

I have McAfee and Stopzilla but ive only been running Stopzilla for a good while now as to me it seems to catch crap whenever anything happens. Does any1 have a comparable chart of these 2 programs as to which takes up more memory to run. Also if one is better then the other or even if I should remove both and replace them with something else?

(always trying to get the most out of my PC for my gaming)

for stuff like KIS and Norton antivirus how bout just make them not start when u boot then start them?

As for my last post KIS 2009 does make it take like an extra 20 seconds to boot up my laptop.

Great article!

I personally do the following:

1. Install Windows 7 and additional drivers
2. Install Firefox 3.5, Java Runtime, Flash Player, Microsoft Office, Photoshop, Skype, Daemon Tools Lite, K-Lite codec pack 5, Nero 7.7, Winrar, Foxit PDF reader.

- You really have to pay attention to what exactly you are installing while installing these programs, 'cause if you just press NEXT all the time you'll end up with UNBELIEVABLE amounts of different kinds of toolbars and extensions in all sorts of programs such as Microsoft Office, Firefox, Windows Taskbar and Windows Services.

Example with CCleaner:

http://img197.imageshack.us/img197/4082/004mr.png

I uncheck everything and leave the shortcut on the desktop so that I can add this to my quick launch toolbar.

3. AVG Free Edition, Spybot, Malwarebyte's Anti-Malware, CCleaner, Defraggler.
4. Update Windows, Run AVG scan, Spybot Scan, Malwarebyte's Anti-Malware Scan, CCleaner sweap and have Defraggler defrag the hard drive(s)
5. Setup a schedule defrag in Defraggler for 0:00 am every day and the same thing for AVG but to 1:00 and Malwarebyte's AM to 2:00. Like this I just leave my PC on throughout the night once a week or so and let it defrag and scan itself for malware and viruses. I also swipe clean the TEMP folders with CCleaner every day or so (it just takes 5 seconds to do).
6. I go to START -> RUN (if you don't have this then just enable it in taskbar options or press WINDOWS KEY + R on your keyboad) and type MSCONFIG
7. Navigate to the STARTUP tab
8. Here I manage which programs start and which don't, I just disable everything that I don't need, like DEAMON tools, NERO, Photoshop, Java, Quicktime, MS Office, Adobe Updater, etc...

This is how it looks like after the cleaning:

http://img690.imageshack.us/img690/4748/003y.png

9. I open START -> Programs, extract the shortcuts that I need to the quick launch toolbar and subsequently delete everything that I do not need, like the folders useless Internet explorer shortcuts and so on.

The toolbar looks like this.
http://img685.imageshack.us/img685/6228/005q.png

The start menu looks like this:
http://img197.imageshack.us/img197/8690/006at.png

Although it is very tedious for some once you get the hang of it it shouldn't take more then 2-3 hours. I only do this ONCE and that's it. After all of the above I end up with a dramatic increase in booting speeds.

In any case I once again thank LNCPapa for the subject and everyone for contributing some of their know-how

Arthur

Thanks Arthur

But these two are my least favorite: AVG Free Edition and Spybots
Actually I'd even say that AVG will slow down your system (but since Ver9, it only a bit higher in resource than Avira)

My recommendation is to remove Spybots (useless old program now)
Use free Malwarebytes to scan your system when you want
And uninstall AVG and then run the AVG Remover (as it won't uninstall fully without it)
Then install free Avira (oh and do an updated scan to find things AVG usually misses)

Result: System Boost

Kimsland, thanks for the recommendations. Due to the fact that I've not used Avira ever in the past, I decided to give it a try so I went ahead and changed my AVG to Avira. We'll see how it goes, although during the updated scan it found 2 trojan backdoors in my downloads folder.

It's too early for any conclusions but I still want to thank you for the heads-up.

Arthur

Thanks Arthur, I have found that often from doing the exact same thing on Malware affected computers I have worked on
But, I'm not allowed to recommend doing this in the Malware removal forum, as AVG is supposedly so respected, and users who run the free version of AVG just feel like I'm giving Free Avira some type of plug, and I must work for them or something ! (of which I don't)
Actually I'm happy to state which is the best at the time, not exactly a respected anything User

But since you mentioned it in your reply (AVG) regarding slow downs, I jumped at the opportunity And killed two birds with one stone, so to speak
Note: Not everyone finds Malware from doing this. Except I do every single time, on servicing Users computers with Malware, and AVG says nothing found (How strange!)
Edit: Yet the other way around (as I've proven by testing) AVG does not find anything, when Avira scans cleanly

Oh the first few updates can be annoyingly slow, but free Avira will be ok after that.

douple post again... sorry

So far so good. The updates took me about 30-40 seconds due to my 15Mbit connection at home. There are constant ad pop-ups during updates but I am not complaining about those as this is a free program and these guys have to earn for their daily bread somehow, right?

I decided to experiment further with Avira and executed the same change on my girlfriend's desktop. I get to clean her computer from malware once a week and I usually find one or two trojans here and there (especially in the cracks and hacks her brother downloads for cheating purposes in games ) and a few dangerous cookies. The point is to see whether it will prevent these threats even from appearing in the first place.

I must apologize to those reading these comments as this is a performace boost thread and here I am chatting about anti-viruse's effectivness with kimsland

Arthur

Its still a performance boost

Anyway, have you yourself noticed your computer has now a quicker response? Especially on the Internet?

You know, when installing AVG I always refused to install the link scanner and all of the plugins for emails and such. I had the problem of slow internet response times when this link scanner was installed though. So The answer is, yes the response is quicker if the AVG link scanner is on, but it's always off with me. In addition, The new 9th version upgraded this plugin and made it lighter. My girlfriend's desktop pc had it always on and the response times were much faster then with AVG 8,5. Although I must admit that it seems as though AVG is one of the few software developers that is actually listening to what people want. AVG 9 is a great improvement.

Arthur

Except when a Users computer is riddled with Malware (which is kinda contradictory of the program )
Anyway, enough said on this, I suppose back to topic.
So, any Norton users out there

I have to agree

I have tried about everything...Nort, Mcaffee...Kaspersky etc....about three months or so ago I got an updated 'win32 a/b' virus...bad news...wiped out every program (anything with an executable in it) on a storage drive...though left everything else alone.

It even prevented MalwareBytes(which is very good) from starting up..though there is a trick or two to get around that problem.

I finally tried Avast....totally free...no time limit...no 'detect a bug and we'll remove it once you shell out some cash' routine. Just plain free.

On the main drive it vaporized the bug thoroughly....worst bug Ive ever had, too. Now, Im sure it's not perfect...but it's running on an old tired Pentum 4 machine...and I can hardly tell any real-world difference as far as slow-downs go.

In Task Manager it only uses around 20 K memory for 'real-time' active protection...and virtually zero processor unless you choose to do a system scan or if it finds something. Also has a quick right-click file scan if you want to examine a questionable download before unzipping it.

Anyway, tha's my two cents.

The rouge software that gets on these systems can pretty much disable much of the prevention software out there. Not much you can do, sure you can clean the system but after a good cleaning the system might not be what it use to be. XP Pro you can use Group Policies to tighten up the system security because by default it lets everything in or lets everything run. This is the problem which welcomes malware in. Then you can use Rising AV 2009 Free International version to block the stuff from getting on system.

What helps

1. password should be use in any anti-virus software
2. daily updates for def and program
3. windows updates and patches
4. software firewall even the free one that comes with Windows XP/Vista/7 is more then enough

Rules that AV should detect a threat or rouge

1. Clean the Virus
2. Can't clean the virus then delete it
3. Can't delete it then move to a safe area
4. Once mored to a safe area then delete it.

Rising AV has these features and so does MSE from Microsoft.

iTopsoft Anti-Spyware. Never heard of it

I usually suggest Malwarebytes, and sometimes The Avenger

Usually gets rid of most Malware stuff (not including Viruses of course. Of which I prefer Free Avira )

Edit, oh that's a paid product (iTopsoft) and you are multiple posting it on many Topics
Oh well there goes another member

You know you think purchasing one of the best internet security suites would do great things for your computer and I had to find this out!!! Thanks guys when I was running winxp I started to remove programs from my computer to help it go faster and all this time it was Norton doing the biggest slow down of all,at lease now I know what's slowing it down.But is there an option for service,do the other security suites offer the same features with less drainage?

Say guys! can anyone tell me the rating on Spyzooka it's developed by Blue Penguin Software,I have it running along with Norton any insight to how much it slows down the boot of a computer it's a very good program and I want to keep it after I get rid of the big drinker!!

as windows gets older, so is their processing time....probably because

"Every time you (or your kids) load a program, game or file, your PC's software registery is updated with new instructions needed to operate that item. However, when the item is removed, these instructions usually remain on your PC. Every time you run your computer it tries to execute these instructions but, because the related program can't be found, it causes a registry error. Your PC is doing a lot more work than it should be and the result is a significantly slower computer"