Stop Norton Making My Computer Slow

Norton is one of the most popular security suites used on PCs today. It includes an antivirus program, Internet protection tools, and spyware recognition and removal software. While Norton offers great protection, sometimes it can slow your PC to a crawl when used improperly.

Two of the main problems you can run into that involve a slowdown are:

1.    Using Norton in conjunction with another antivirus protection program.
2.    Not having the necessary system resources to launch and run Norton.

Competing Antivirus Software

The first thing you should check for on your PC is that you are only running Norton. As a default setting, security suites generally launch when you boot your PC. And they do demand a lot of system memory. So if you are running two security programs simultaneously, you are doubling the amount of memory used. If you find more than one security suite on your PC, use the Add/Remove tool in your Start menu to get rid of the second program. You should see a dramatic increase in speed once you are running only one.

System Resources

Norton requires computers to have at least 512MB of RAM, but 1GB is actually the recommended magic number. You should also check your hard drive to see how much free space is available. If your hard drive is nearly full, that is most likely the culprit of your slow CPU speeds. Start backing up and taking off!

Norton makes no bones about the amount of memory it takes up when performing its scans. Obviously a secure computer is a priority. Antivirus scans are pretty in depth, searching every line in your registry, all of your files, all of your downloads, etc. It’s a big, time-consuming job. One of your options is to change the scan schedule. Instead of running as soon as you turn on your computer, you can schedule it to run overnight when you won’t be using it. To do this:

1.    Open Norton from your Start menu.
2.    Click on Run Custom Scan.
3.    In the Scans window click on Schedule next to “Full System Scan.”

4.    Click Yes for the “Scan already scheduled” box.
5.    In the Schedule window, click on New for new scheduling options.
6.    Create the settings for your new scheduled full scan.
7.    Click OK to save your changes.

Updates

One last thing to check on for peak PC performance is making sure you have the most recent Norton updates. To do this, just launch your Norton program and click on Run LiveUpdate. LiveUpdate will automatically search for any updates your antivirus suite needs.

Stop McAfee From Slowing My Computer

McAfee is an excellent protector of PCs. Its virus software scans in-bound and out-bound e-mails, catches unknown e-mail worms, and includes an extensive virus database. While a legitimate and effective protection for your computer, McAfee also can potentially slow it down. A lot. Especially if it is running a full scan of your PC every time you turn it on. There are a couple of options for you to try that will allow you to stay protected by McAfee but also not be crawling along slower than the world’s first dial-up modem.

Schedule Your Scans

You can change the intervals of McAfee scans within the program so it isn’t constantly bogging down your operations. Follow these steps to schedule your PC’s scans:

1.      Open McAfee (Start, Programs, McAfee) and go to the Advanced Menu.
2.      Click on the Configure option.
3.      Open Computers & Files.
4.      Click on Advanced under Virus Protection.
5.      Then click on Scheduled Scan.

6.      Make sure that “Enable scheduled scanning” is selected.
7.      Then click on the checkbox next to the day of the week you want McAfee to run its scan.
8.      You will also need to specify a start time value.
9.      Click OK to save your changes and exit.

Fix the Break

Back in 2009, there was an updated DAT file that created issues for some McAfee users. McAfee went ahead and created a Wizard to help fix the problem for customers. Once you run the Wizard, you’ll be able to get the needed McAfee update and your PC should get back to working order!

1.      Find a working PC and download http://download.nai.com/products/mcafee-avert/tools/SDAT5958_EM.exe. Save it to a removable media of your choice (CD, flash drive, floppy disk, etc.).
2.      Go back to the “broken” computer and press F8 while rebooting to start in Safe Mode.

3.      Put the disk with the new download in the affected PC.
4.      Click on My Computer and then open the disk (or other removable media you used).
5.      Double-click on the SDAT5958_EM.EXE tool.
6.      Click on Next, which will start the Wizard.
7.      Click the Finish button when prompted.
8.      Restart your computer normally (not in Safe Mode).
9.      Once you are restarted, right-click the M icon in your taskbar and follow the steps manually check for an update to get the new DAT files.