# McAfee slows down my computer until it is almost unusable **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [May 3, 2006, 9:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mcafee-slows-down-my-computer-until-it-is-almost-unusable/355298 "2006-05-03T21:16:22Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Khadaji](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Khadaji](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Khadaji)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2006, 9:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mcafee-slows-down-my-computer-until-it-is-almost-unusable/355298/1 "2006-05-03T21:16:22Z")
McAfee virus scan scans my computer every wednesday. It takes a few hours and makes my computer almost unusable. Is there anyway I can optimise this process? ---
**Author:** ![ultrafilter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/3d9bf3/32.png) [@ultrafilter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ultrafilter)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2006, 9:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mcafee-slows-down-my-computer-until-it-is-almost-unusable/355298/2 "2006-05-03T21:20:34Z")
You should be able to set it to scan overnight. Other than that, you may want to clear out your browser cache and see if that helps. ---
**Author:** ![TimeWinder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bcef8e/32.png) [@TimeWinder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TimeWinder)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2006, 9:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mcafee-slows-down-my-computer-until-it-is-almost-unusable/355298/3 "2006-05-03T21:21:24Z")
You probably can’t make the scan itself any faster, but what I’d do is set it to scan at 3 am or some other “inconvenient” time and just leave the computer on Tuesday nights. Actually, that’s not true. What I’d ACTUALLY do it uninstall the bloody intrusive thing, and rely on good practices and an occasional scan from a separate boot disk to keep myself free from viruses. It’s worked for me for 15+ years. But if it’s a work computer, or you have kids, that option may not be reasonable and you’re back to my previous suggestion. ---
**Author:** ![TimeWinder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bcef8e/32.png) [@TimeWinder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TimeWinder)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2006, 9:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mcafee-slows-down-my-computer-until-it-is-almost-unusable/355298/4 "2006-05-03T21:24:42Z")
One other possibility, now that I think of it. Many of these programs have an option to the effect of “only scan when computer is idle.” If you can find an option like that, turn it on. That should make it stop scanning when you start doing something, and resume after you quit. ---
**Author:** ![Carnac\_the\_Magnificent](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ccd318/32.png) [@Carnac\_the\_Magnificent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Carnac_the_Magnificent)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2006, 9:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mcafee-slows-down-my-computer-until-it-is-almost-unusable/355298/5 "2006-05-03T21:32:24Z")
Same story with me, until I switched to GriSoft’s AVG. It’s free. Haven’t looked back since. P.S. The good news about McAfee? Norton is worse. ---
**Author:** ![Raza](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/raza/32/213_2.png) [@Raza](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Raza)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2006, 1:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mcafee-slows-down-my-computer-until-it-is-almost-unusable/355298/6 "2006-05-04T01:16:34Z")
Nothing new to add, except that I second CtM’s GriSoft vote and NAV boo. After having constant slowdowns and overall sluggishness due to NAV, I dropped it and went with GriSoft’s product on all our machines. They’ve worked flawlessly and efficiently for over a year. ---
**Author:** ![TimeWinder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bcef8e/32.png) [@TimeWinder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TimeWinder)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2006, 2:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mcafee-slows-down-my-computer-until-it-is-almost-unusable/355298/7 "2006-05-04T02:11:05Z")
Hmm. I don’t want to rain on the parade, but I installed AVG a couple weeks ago to play with it, since my in-laws are getting a new computer and aren’t going to be in the “good practices” group. It has the same problem: the computer slows dramatically when the scan is in progress (and on my system, the initial scan took five hours). While I agree that free is good and AVG seems like a fine product, certainly in the same class as the commercial offerings, I don’t think that it provides a solution to the OP’s problem that he couldn’t do with the product he’s already got. Am I missing something? ---
**Author:** ![Sam\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Sam\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sam_Stone)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2006, 3:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mcafee-slows-down-my-computer-until-it-is-almost-unusable/355298/8 "2006-05-04T03:16:40Z")
I installed McAffee and had nothing but trouble with it. My machine went from a boot-up time of maybe 20 seconds to about 3 minutes. I got all kinds of inexplicable pauses and hiccups. And once every few weeks on startup I’d get a service failure because one of McAffee’s files was corrupt, and I’d have to uninstall/reinstall. I finally uninstalled it for good. That was $50 down the drain. ---
**Author:** ![Duckster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/duckster/32/1244_2.png) [@Duckster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duckster)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2006, 4:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mcafee-slows-down-my-computer-until-it-is-almost-unusable/355298/9 "2006-05-04T04:18:39Z")
I use McAfee at home. Or more correctly, I have it installed. I keep it disabled and only run it when I plan to leave the computer unattended for a few hours. From the lack of problems McAfee encounters, keeping it disabled doesn’t make my computer vulnerable. OTOH, at work we use Nortons. We can’t make any adjustments to it. So one day a week, my computer is effectively useless for the first half ofthe day, even though Norton starts automatically three hours before I get to work! Requests to IT management to perform the scans overnight (and not impede work productivity) go unanswered. From the complaints I hear about it, I have to assume 30,000 of us lose a half a day computer work productivity every week. ---
**Author:** ![Carnac\_the\_Magnificent](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ccd318/32.png) [@Carnac\_the\_Magnificent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Carnac_the_Magnificent)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2006, 5:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mcafee-slows-down-my-computer-until-it-is-almost-unusable/355298/10 "2006-05-04T05:10:36Z")
> [@TimeWinder](#): > > Hmm. I don’t want to rain on the parade, but I installed AVG a couple weeks ago to play with it, since my in-laws are getting a new computer and aren’t going to be in the “good practices” group. > > It has the same problem: the computer slows dramatically when the scan is in progress (and on my system, the initial scan took five hours). While I agree that free is good and AVG seems like a fine product, certainly in the same class as the commercial offerings, I don’t think that it provides a solution to the OP’s problem that he couldn’t do with the product he’s already got. Am I missing something? I have approximately 150,000 files on my primary computer and AVG takes about 25 minutes to do a complete scan versus five hours for you, meaning yours takes about 11 times longer. I’d say that’s worth looking at. My experience is that McAfee and Norton are bloatware. The moment I deleted McAfee was the best day in my computing experience. Again, Norton was even worse, with Norton Suite charting new lows. YMMV. ---
**Author:** ![TimeWinder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bcef8e/32.png) [@TimeWinder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TimeWinder)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2006, 5:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mcafee-slows-down-my-computer-until-it-is-almost-unusable/355298/11 "2006-05-04T05:39:27Z")
> [@Carnac the Magnificent!](#): > > I have approximately 150,000 files on my primary computer and AVG takes about 25 minutes to do a complete scan versus five hours for you, meaning yours takes about 11 times longer. I’d say that’s worth looking at. Actually, that’s about right. I’d guess I have several times that many files, and a sizeable number of them are zip archives and ISO images, which I’d suspect take longer to scan. Also, I only did the scan once – perhaps subsequent scans are faster. Your point is well taken, we may not be comparing apples to oranges. However, I’m unwilling to subject myself to Norton or McAfee just to find out, sorry ☹ ---
**Author:** ![Hail\_Ants](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/dc4da7/32.png) [@Hail\_Ants](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hail_Ants)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2006, 7:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mcafee-slows-down-my-computer-until-it-is-almost-unusable/355298/12 "2006-05-04T07:39:58Z")
I’m an avid tech guy and as long as you’re always running a good resident antivirus app (Norton or McAfee) and a good firewall (ZoneAlarm etc.) full scans _every week_ are completely unnecessary. I’m lucky if I do more than one a year and I use my internet PC a lot and have never had a virus get thru. I use Norton. That is, **just** Norton antivirus, which works fine ($19 off eBay, fully legit). Its their “Suites” that are total bloatware crap. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2006, 7:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mcafee-slows-down-my-computer-until-it-is-almost-unusable/355298/13 "2006-05-04T07:57:36Z")
> [@Carnac the Magnificent!](#): > > P.S. The good news about McAfee? Norton is worse. It’s a pretty close race though. I work in IT support for business and private clients; I am frequently called upon to deal with computers that have ‘just gone slow’ or are misbehaving in various ways; often the client will have made a knee-jerk decision to buy and install McAffee or Norton when they had some spyware or virus problem. I have never yet seen a ‘good’ installation of Norton/Symantec security; it is a buggy, intrusive, ineffective resource hog. McAffee is a very close second. There is a prevailing notion that paid-for solutions to desktop security/AV etc are bound to be better than free ones. IMO, this notion is largely false. ---
**Author:** ![Diceman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/22d042/32.png) [@Diceman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diceman)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2006, 11:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mcafee-slows-down-my-computer-until-it-is-almost-unusable/355298/14 "2006-05-04T11:58:08Z")
I rarely run full scans. Norton does a good job of keeping viruses off my computer, which is always better than trying to remove them. I only run a full scan maybe once a month, or whenever it occurs to me that it’s been a while. ---
**Author:** ![handsomeharry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e9c0ed/32.png) [@handsomeharry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/handsomeharry)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2006, 12:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mcafee-slows-down-my-computer-until-it-is-almost-unusable/355298/15 "2006-05-04T12:16:49Z")
> [@Diceman](#): > > I rarely run full scans. Norton does a good job of keeping viruses off my computer, which is always better than trying to remove them. I only run a full scan maybe once a month, or whenever it occurs to me that it’s been a while. The Norton beast that lurks within my computer does some strange popup either advertising an upgrade or something that will direct me to their site if I click on any of the buttons on it. I right click on it to close it out, and there is no close function on the drop down. Correct me if I’m wrong, but I always thought that these were the characteristics of a virus. I am glad to hear that I was not imagining that Norton was the cause of all of my computer problems. hh ---
**Author:** ![Carnac\_the\_Magnificent](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ccd318/32.png) [@Carnac\_the\_Magnificent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Carnac_the_Magnificent)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2006, 12:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mcafee-slows-down-my-computer-until-it-is-almost-unusable/355298/16 "2006-05-04T12:32:25Z")
> [@Mangetout](#): > > It’s a pretty close race though. > > I work in IT support for business and private clients; I am frequently called upon to deal with computers that have ‘just gone slow’ or are misbehaving in various ways; often the client will have made a knee-jerk decision to buy and install McAffee or Norton when they had some spyware or virus problem. I have never yet seen a ‘good’ installation of Norton/Symantec security; it is a buggy, intrusive, ineffective resource hog. > McAffee is a very close second. > > There is a prevailing notion that paid-for solutions to desktop security/AV etc are bound to be better than free ones. IMO, this notion is largely false. What I DO like about Norton–especially Norton Suite–is it’s darn purty. Nice bells and whistles and geegaw visuals that make my heart go pitter patter. Just before the whole damn system comes to a grinding halt. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![MrSquishy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b9e5f3/32.png) [@MrSquishy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrSquishy)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2006, 6:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mcafee-slows-down-my-computer-until-it-is-almost-unusable/355298/17 "2006-05-04T18:09:29Z")
I think part of the problem with McAfee, the way it’s set up at my work, anyway, is that the virus scan process runs with “Above Normal” priority. That means everything else I try to do while it’s running has to wait. If it wasn’t for that, I don’t think it would be as big a problem. Is there any way to change it to run at “Normal” priority? Or is this a required feature, maybe to make sure a file gets scanned before it can run anything malicious? ---
**Author:** ![Queuing](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/90ced4/32.png) [@Queuing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Queuing)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2006, 9:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mcafee-slows-down-my-computer-until-it-is-almost-unusable/355298/18 "2006-05-04T21:46:24Z")
> [@Mangetout](#): > > There is a prevailing notion that paid-for solutions to desktop security/AV etc are bound to be better than free ones. IMO, this notion is largely false. While I agree completely with you in regards to Norton/McAfee I have never experienced this problem in my 2 years of using Trend Micro on both home and work computers. Trend Micro for virus, Cloudmark for spam filter makes for happy customers. YMMV of course. And no I don’t work for either company. ---
**Author:** ![Quartz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quartz/32/267_2.png) [@Quartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quartz)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2006, 8:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mcafee-slows-down-my-computer-until-it-is-almost-unusable/355298/19 "2006-05-06T08:47:33Z")
Which version of McAfee do you have? The personal version (v10?), which is dreadful, or the corporate version (v8), which isn’t? ---
**Author:** ![Khadaji](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Khadaji](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Khadaji)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2006, 11:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mcafee-slows-down-my-computer-until-it-is-almost-unusable/355298/20 "2006-05-06T11:55:36Z")
> [@Quartz](#): > > Which version of McAfee do you have? The personal version (v10?), which is dreadful, or the corporate version (v8), which isn’t? The about box says build 8.045, but doesn’t say personal or professionnal [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mcafee-slows-down-my-computer-until-it-is-almost-unusable/355298.md?page=2)