# Anti virus software
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anti-virus-software/703082
**Category:** Factual Questions
**Created:** [October 31, 2014, 3:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anti-virus-software/703082 "2014-10-31T03:58:01Z")
**Posts on this page:** 15
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@bubba001](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bubba001)
#### Post date: [October 31, 2014, 3:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anti-virus-software/703082/1 "2014-10-31T03:58:01Z")
After I updated my computer a month or so ago, my computer has been getting slower, and sometimes freezes up. Is there some cheap way to fix this? The computer is a Satellite about 7 or so years old.
Thanx!!
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### Author:  [@Waterman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Waterman)
#### Post date: [October 31, 2014, 8:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anti-virus-software/703082/2 "2014-10-31T08:30:59Z")
To be helpful some additional information is required. What exactly do you mean by “updating your computer”? Did you change OS, update the current OS, update programs, or something else?
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### Author:  [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)
#### Post date: [October 31, 2014, 9:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anti-virus-software/703082/3 "2014-10-31T09:46:57Z")
Adding RAM is the cheapest, easiest way to improve performance. Max out your RAM and you should see a performance boost.
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### Author:  [@bubba001](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bubba001)
#### Post date: [October 31, 2014, 1:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anti-virus-software/703082/4 "2014-10-31T13:27:42Z")
> [@Waterman](#):
>
> To be helpful some additional information is required. What exactly do you mean by “updating your computer”? Did you change OS, update the current OS, update programs, or something else?
I just did the Microsoft update thing.
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### Author:  [@JerrySTL](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JerrySTL)
#### Post date: [October 31, 2014, 3:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anti-virus-software/703082/5 "2014-10-31T15:25:43Z")
The first thing to do is to do a Ctrl+Alt+Del and start Task Manager.
Go to the Applications tab and see what it running. Anything that you don’t recognize?
Next go to the Processes tab and sort by CPU in descending order. Ideally System Idle Process should be on top. If there’s something else taking up the most CPU or things taking up a lot of CPU, this could be an issue. You could end the process, but that could crash the computer. Nothing that a reboot wouldn’t fix though. You might want to google the process first to see if it might be an issue.
Next go to the Performance tabe. If the Physical Memory is over half used on the graph, then maybe more memory might help. Most computers can take up to 3 GB of memory. If you only have 1 GB / 1000 MB of total Physical Memory more could help.
Of course viruses and other malware often are what cause computers to slow down. You need a good malware detector to stop them.
Also having a lot of unneeded programs running at startup. CCleaner can help with preventing those.
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### Author:  [@Ken001](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ken001)
#### Post date: [November 1, 2014, 1:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anti-virus-software/703082/6 "2014-11-01T01:22:58Z")
Hmm…a seven year old Satellite might simply be tired out. Its getting old.
I recently lost my beloved HP Pro laptop to hard drive failure at ten years.
I won’t bore you with all the signs death was imminent, but I simply kept scanning for malware and ignoring the hardware. At least there was a backup on an external drive.
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### Author:  [@seal\_cleaner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/seal_cleaner)
#### Post date: [November 1, 2014, 8:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anti-virus-software/703082/7 "2014-11-01T20:55:38Z")
> [@JerrySTL](#):
>
> The first thing to do is to do a Ctrl+Alt+Del and start Task Manager.
>
> Go to the Applications tab and see what it running. Anything that you don’t recognize?
There probably a _lot_ of things you don’t recognize. Don’t start deleting things until you know what they are.
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### Author:  [@mrclose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mrclose)
#### Post date: [November 7, 2014, 8:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anti-virus-software/703082/8 "2014-11-07T08:11:15Z")
> [@seal\_cleaner](#):
>
> There probably a _lot_ of things you don’t recognize. Don’t start deleting things until you know what they are.
One of the best programs I have ever used to show exactly what is running and each process is colored coded according to priorities.
Tells you the must haves, the not needed, the safe to disable ‘and’ will link you to google for any process that you may want to look up.
Will allow you to start, stop, delay or disable a process.
(Unless you’re a tech … you only need the free version)
> **[Change Startup](https://www.outertech.com/en/change-startup)**
>
> Outertech's app helps you to change startup configuration including Programs and System Services. You can safely disable or uninstall startup programs.
> [@](#):
>
> StartEd is a Windows application that helps you to change startup configuration including Programs and System Services from startup folder and the registry. You can safely disable or uninstall startup programs directly from StartEd.
>
> Are you unsure about disabling specific startup programs? StartEd recognizes startup programs that are either obsolete or memory hogs, and has you covered with a backup feature. You can safely disable such items to increase your computer’s performance.
>
> **System services**
>
> StartEd displays detailed information about System Services so that even novice users can manage their startup. You can even filter the service list, so that only services with a specific keyword are displayed.
>
> A warning message will be shown if a System Service vital to your computer’s stability is about to be disabled.
>
> StartEd also detects Trojan Horses, the most destructive and dangerous species of computer virus.
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### Author:  [@Measure\_for\_Measure](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Measure_for_Measure)
#### Post date: [March 8, 2015, 9:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anti-virus-software/703082/9 "2015-03-08T21:37:20Z")
**From a Nov 2014 thread** :
> [@mrclose](#):
>
> One of the best programs I have ever used to show exactly what is running and each process is colored coded according to priorities.
>
> Tells you the must haves, the not needed, the safe to disable ‘and’ will link you to google for any process that you may want to look up.
Thanks. A similar program that I’ve used in the past is called WinPatrol. You can run it continuously and it plays nice, at least in XP and Win7.
> **[IT Asset Disposition (ITAD), Data Destruction & IT Recycling | ITAMG](https://www.itamg.com)**
>
> Secure and compliant IT asset disposal (ITAD) and recycling services that make reselling or upgrading your equipment easy.
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### Author:  [@bubba001](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bubba001)
#### Post date: [March 8, 2015, 10:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anti-virus-software/703082/10 "2015-03-08T22:53:53Z")
I solved the problem: I bought a new laptop. I took the old one to a local repair place, they told me that they would fix it for $100. But recommended that I simply go buy a new one. It wasn’t worth fixing.
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### Author:  [@Shagnasty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shagnasty)
#### Post date: [March 8, 2015, 11:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anti-virus-software/703082/11 "2015-03-08T23:32:55Z")
I am an IT professional and I can usually fix these things manually if I have the time but I usually don’t bother to do it that way.
There could be many causes but a good all-in-one tool is Advanced System Care. It is free but pay attention to the check boxes and options if you install it. It wants to install add-ons like toolbars that aren’t usually wanted or needed but you can deselect them if pay attention. It is legitimate and generally effective other than that. Just run the basic optimizer and let it fix what it suggests and then run the specialized tools and do the same.
> **[Advanced SystemCare Free](https://download.cnet.com/Advanced-SystemCare-Free/3000-2086_4-10407614.html)**
>
> Download Advanced SystemCare Free for Windows to unlock full PC potential with accelerating, optimizing, cleaning, and shielding diagnostics and one-click-fix maintenance. Advanced SystemCare Free has had 5 updates within the past 6 months.
Malwarebytes is another very good free tool that will get rid of lots of things that slow down your computer. You can run it in conjunction with the above to get rid of all kinds of trojans, spyware, adware and other threats.
> **[Cyber Security Software & Anti-Malware | Malwarebytes](https://www.malwarebytes.com/)**
>
> Protect your home and business PCs, Macs, iOS and Android devices from the latest cyber threats and malware, including ransomware.
Computers don’t just slow down in general as they get older. It is almost always a software problem. You can almost always get like-new performance back if you disable resource hogging processes that tend to build up over time even if you aren’t aware of it. Run tools like the above every couple of months at least to maintain performance. My mid-range Dell is about 7 years old as well and still performs just great for everything but the latest games because I keep it well maintained.
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### Author:  [@pdunderhill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pdunderhill)
#### Post date: [March 9, 2015, 12:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anti-virus-software/703082/12 "2015-03-09T00:34:27Z")
I’m curious as to the o/p’s original Operating System.
As the problem has been negated it’s a bit spurious, but please, for your own sanity, if it was Windows XP, upgrade. Whatever flavour of Windows/Linux you like but for MS win 7 at least.
Peter
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### Author:  [@Nelson\_Pike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nelson_Pike)
#### Post date: [March 9, 2015, 2:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anti-virus-software/703082/13 "2015-03-09T02:19:15Z")
> [@Shagnasty](#):
>
> I am an IT professional and I can usually fix these things manually if I have the time but I usually don’t bother to do it that way.
My brother, who I love dearly, has been in IT since the early 1980s, as in has been in charge of 10s of 1000s of PCs, and he has been about totally useless in the PC advice department as far as I am concerned. I don’t think he does much browsing. I mean, he still types www… .com to get to a site like this one. So maybe it’s a mistake for me to get my hopes up with you, but still, you have advertised your expertise.
> [@Shagnasty](#):
>
> There could be many causes but a good all-in-one tool is Advanced System Care. It is free but pay attention to the check boxes and options if you install it. It wants to install add-ons like toolbars that aren’t usually wanted or needed but you can deselect them if pay attention. It is legitimate and generally effective other than that. Just run the basic optimizer and let it fix what it suggests and then run the specialized tools and do the same.
>
> [Advanced SystemCare Free for Windows - Free download and software reviews - CNET Download](http://download.cnet.com/Advanced-SystemCare-Free/3000-2086_4-10407614.html)
I did an ASC once over on my PC
(a Lenovo PC with 2009 Windows 7. I Paid $150 for it used in 2013 because I thought I had to finally give up XP. God I wish I had just stayed put because W7 is truly shit. At least I didn’t have to endure Vista)
…and ASC claimed to have gotten rid of hundreds upon hundreds of pieces of computer sludge, but there was z-e-r-o zero effect on performance, as in it still takes 40-60 seconds to open something like the WSJ news site.
> [@Shagnasty](#):
>
> Malwarebytes is another very good free tool that will get rid of lots of things that slow down your computer. You can run it in conjunction with the above to get rid of all kinds of trojans, spyware, adware and other threats.
>
> [https://www.malwarebytes.org/](https://www.malwarebytes.org/)
Mwb makes it too hard to tell the free version from the unfree, at least for me. What if anything does it have to offer that that total waste of time ASC is lacking?
> [@Shagnasty](#):
>
> Computers don’t just slow down in general as they get older. It is almost always a software problem. You can almost always get like-new performance back if you disable resource hogging processes that tend to build up over time even if you aren’t aware of it.
What are the names of some of these potential resource hogs, and where can I get a look at them? I do not believe they are showing up on any of the Control Panel locations, although I could have zigged when I should have zagged in that labyrinth.
> [@Shagnasty](#):
>
> Run tools like the above every couple of months at least to maintain performance. My mid-range Dell is about 7 years old as well and still performs just great for everything but the latest games because I keep it well maintained.
I won’t be running ASC again, in fact I deleted it (at least I hope it’s deleted). Maybe I’ll try again to figure out Mwb. Any other bright ideas, or should I just break down and get a new computer?
BTW I have 2GB RAM. I notice low-cost Best Buy items now have 4GB, and I forget if 6 or 8 is the next step up. How much memory do you need just to get, say one-second page load times for routine browsing, especially at news site, which for some reason take much longer than any other?
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### Author:  [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)
#### Post date: [March 9, 2015, 2:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anti-virus-software/703082/14 "2015-03-09T14:16:48Z")
I just don’t get mentalities like “add more ram” or “buy a new computer” when a computer starts running slower than before.
This is an easily fixable problem that doesn’t require spending any money. Just find out what programs are running and what resources they are eating. Then get rid of them.
And AV programs all too often are a source of the problem.
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### Author:  [@Kron](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kron)
#### Post date: [March 9, 2015, 8:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anti-virus-software/703082/15 "2015-03-09T20:24:02Z")
> [@ftg](#):
>
> I just don’t get mentalities like “add more ram” or “buy a new computer” when a computer starts running slower than before.
>
> This is an easily fixable problem that doesn’t require spending any money. Just find out what programs are running and what resources they are eating. Then get rid of them.
>
> And AV programs all too often are a source of the problem.
Often it is a software problem, but there is also a non-zero chance that an older machine just doesn’t have the hardware to deal with something as “simple” as browsing- especially as web programming has gotten so much more sophisticated in the last few years.