# Should I pay McAfee to speed up my computer? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [June 17, 2024, 10:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-i-pay-mcafee-to-speed-up-my-computer/1003000 "2024-06-17T22:16:56Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Wheelz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wheelz/32/5718_2.png) [@Wheelz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wheelz)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2024, 10:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-i-pay-mcafee-to-speed-up-my-computer/1003000/1 "2024-06-17T22:16:57Z")
I have an HP laptop running Widows 11. It’s a few years old (I don’t recall exactly how old; 5-6 years is my guess). It boots up slowly these days. Sometimes it works great and sometimes it runs really slowly and/or freezes up altogether. I already pay McAfee for virus protection. They try to upsell me with popups now and again. I just today got one that reads: **You just restarted your computer!** You have 10.68 GB of junk files, which may be slowing down your reboot speeds. PC Optimizer can help with that. Of course, they want 40 bucks to do that for me. I’m actually willing to pay it, _if_ it does what they claim it does. That’s a lot cheaper than a new laptop, which I’ve been considering. Has anyone purchased this service? Good or bad results? Someone in the industry with insights into what it can and can’t do? Any risk to my machine? I know McAfee is a legitimate company, but like many other legitimate companies, I’m sure they’re not above trying to sell people things they don’t need. Thanks! ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2024, 10:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-i-pay-mcafee-to-speed-up-my-computer/1003000/2 "2024-06-17T22:50:39Z")
Windows has a built-in Disk Cleanup utility. I recommend trying that first. And then the question is, will removing “10.68 GB of junk files” do anything to speed up the computer? ---
**Author:** ![needscoffee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/needscoffee/32/1076_2.png) [@needscoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/needscoffee)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2024, 10:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-i-pay-mcafee-to-speed-up-my-computer/1003000/3 "2024-06-17T22:56:56Z")
Our outside tech support company has us on free Windows Defender and they say it is great. The previous tech support company also had us on it. My home computer booted up and started as poorly as yours until I removed the anti-virus program I’d installed (malwarebytes). After that, it ran like new again. I’d try uninstalling McAfee and see if your computer runs better without it. It has a reputation for dragging down computer performance. ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2024, 10:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-i-pay-mcafee-to-speed-up-my-computer/1003000/4 "2024-06-17T22:59:30Z")
IMHO, McAfee is the go-to company for slowing down your computer. Get rid of all McAfee software off your computer and don’t ever let it load on your computer again. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2024, 11:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-i-pay-mcafee-to-speed-up-my-computer/1003000/5 "2024-06-17T23:01:09Z")
I also use Windows Defender, and aside from the low cost (free), there’s no upselling as far as I can tell. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.E](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mr.e/32/8932_2.png) [@Mr.E](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.E)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2024, 11:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-i-pay-mcafee-to-speed-up-my-computer/1003000/6 "2024-06-17T23:02:43Z")
McAfee is not a legitimate company, and its products are questionable at best. Microsoft provides Windows Defender for free which is already an antivirus as capable as anything McAfee provides. It also has free built-in tools for cleaning up unnecessary files that might be slowing your computer down. In fact, the McAfee software itself, and probably other software you’ve installed over the last 5-6 years, is more likely to blame for how slowly it boots and runs. Other folks will probably give you more detailed advice, but this is what I’d do to immediately make your computer run faster: Press Ctrl+Shift+Esc to bring up Task Manager. Click on the “startup” tab and disable anything on that list that doesn’t have to start up when your computer starts. Lots of programs like to start themselves up immediately (especially bloatware) but it’s rarely necessary. This won’t remove any of the programs, it will just make them wait until you need them instead of slowing things down when you boot up your computer. ---
**Author:** ![chela](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chela/32/21582_2.png) [@chela](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chela)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2024, 11:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-i-pay-mcafee-to-speed-up-my-computer/1003000/7 "2024-06-17T23:05:36Z")
I almost feel like this is a whoosh, for real heed thee above advice! ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2024, 11:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-i-pay-mcafee-to-speed-up-my-computer/1003000/8 "2024-06-17T23:19:19Z")
Hard no! McAfee is a crap company. Avoid it. ---
**Author:** ![FinsToTheLeft](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/finstotheleft/32/2930_2.png) [@FinsToTheLeft](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FinsToTheLeft)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2024, 1:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-i-pay-mcafee-to-speed-up-my-computer/1003000/9 "2024-06-18T01:29:54Z")
Another vote for McAfee makes crappy products that slow down computers. I switched from buying Dell to Lenovo during Covid due to availability, unfortunately the Lenovo business laptops come with McAfee pre installed. I had to update our provisioning software to remove McAfee during the configuration phase. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2024, 1:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-i-pay-mcafee-to-speed-up-my-computer/1003000/10 "2024-06-18T01:39:00Z")
3rd party anti malware is so obsolete. Like 10 years plus since its been useful. As said above by several folks, get that crap off your box. ---
**Author:** ![PastTense](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pasttense/32/14550_2.png) [@PastTense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PastTense)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2024, 1:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-i-pay-mcafee-to-speed-up-my-computer/1003000/11 "2024-06-18T01:53:10Z")
What kind of disk drive do you have? Is it a traditional hard disk drive that that rely on spinning platters and magnetic heads to read and write data? Or is it an SSD with is solid state memory? Goto to Device Manager and look under Disk Drives and tell us what it says. If it’s a traditional disk drive replacing it with an SSD will speed your laptop up. ---
**Author:** ![needscoffee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/needscoffee/32/1076_2.png) [@needscoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/needscoffee)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2024, 1:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-i-pay-mcafee-to-speed-up-my-computer/1003000/12 "2024-06-18T01:56:29Z")
> [@PastTense](#): > > If it’s a traditional disk drive replacing it with an SSD will speed your laptop up. But that probably won’t be necessary once he uninstalls McAfee. ---
**Author:** ![wguy123](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wguy123/32/3161_2.png) [@wguy123](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wguy123)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2024, 1:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-i-pay-mcafee-to-speed-up-my-computer/1003000/13 "2024-06-18T01:57:33Z")
I came to post what @PastTense said. HDDs are dogs in any new version of Windows 10 or 11 (same for macOS). They will turn a high-end computer into a slug. > [@needscoffee](#): > > But that probably won’t be necessary once he uninstalls McAfee. I don’t believe that. HDDs are very slow on clean installs of new OSs. ---
**Author:** ![Wheelz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wheelz/32/5718_2.png) [@Wheelz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wheelz)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2024, 2:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-i-pay-mcafee-to-speed-up-my-computer/1003000/14 "2024-06-18T02:08:19Z")
Thanks for all your input. It seems unanimous. I had no idea about McAfee, and I will take steps to remedy the situation. > [@PastTense](#): > > What kind of disk drive do you have? I have no idea. I’m about to go out of town for a couple weeks and I’m not taking the ‘puter with me, so I’ll take a look when I get back. I doubt I’ll be replacing the drive though. ---
**Author:** ![needscoffee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/needscoffee/32/1076_2.png) [@needscoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/needscoffee)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2024, 2:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-i-pay-mcafee-to-speed-up-my-computer/1003000/15 "2024-06-18T02:19:56Z")
> [@wguy123](#): > > HDDs are very slow on clean installs of new OSs. That may be, but uninstalling the anti-virus program on my HDD laptop made it run like a teenager again. Worth a try. ---
**Author:** ![Dag\_Otto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/439d5e/32.png) [@Dag\_Otto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dag_Otto)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2024, 3:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-i-pay-mcafee-to-speed-up-my-computer/1003000/16 "2024-06-18T03:11:19Z")
> [@Wheelz](#): > > I doubt I’ll be replacing the drive though. Any type of software that runs real time scans on drives can slow the living hell out of a computer. A laptop with a 5400 RPM speed HHD is the worst case. A solid state drive is the answer to this. Even if you keep the software causing the problem, the drive will no longer be the issue. And the positive side is that SSDs are fairly cheap these days and the cloning software that comes with the drives is easy to use. Only issue is you may need an external drive connection to perform the cloning, but these are easy to get. Getting rid of McAfee and adding an SSD will be almost like getting a new computer from your point of view. It’s that much of an improvement. ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2024, 3:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-i-pay-mcafee-to-speed-up-my-computer/1003000/17 "2024-06-18T03:17:01Z")
> [@FinsToTheLeft](#): > > I switched from buying Dell to Lenovo during Covid due to availability, unfortunately the Lenovo business laptops come with McAfee pre installed. My Dell came with McAfee pre-installed, too. And it took some work to remove it. McAfee must bribe the manufacturers to load it. ---
**Author:** ![Llama\_Llogophile](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/49beb7/32.png) [@Llama\_Llogophile](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Llama_Llogophile)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2024, 3:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-i-pay-mcafee-to-speed-up-my-computer/1003000/18 "2024-06-18T03:19:47Z")
This reminds of a scene on Veep when Selina asks her campaign team if they have an app. An aide replies, “Of course we do, ma’am. The current version only asks for donations and, for some reason, deletes your address book. Technically, it’s more of a virus…” ---
**Author:** ![Askance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/askance/32/8281_2.png) [@Askance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Askance)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2024, 3:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-i-pay-mcafee-to-speed-up-my-computer/1003000/19 "2024-06-18T03:43:59Z")
> [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > And then the question is, will removing “10.68 GB of junk files” do anything to speed up the computer? Files passively sitting on your disks don’t affect computer speed in any way. The one exception is if your C: drive is so full that Windows cannot swap apps out of memory to disk at need. You should always have \>10% free space on C: . ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2024, 4:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-i-pay-mcafee-to-speed-up-my-computer/1003000/20 "2024-06-18T16:27:37Z")
> [@Askance](#): > > Files passively sitting on your disks don’t affect computer speed in any way. > > The one exception is if your C: drive is so full that Windows cannot swap apps out of memory to disk at need. You should always have \>10% free space on C: . I was coming in to say this. And echo the McAfee hatred. A bad update on it made my computer fail to boot some years ago, I had to uninstall it in Safe Mode to fix it. The other question is how much memory does the OP have. Newer software tends to be memory hogs, and if the programs you are running don’t quite fit you swap yourself to death, even worse if you don’t have an SSD. You can turn on the resource monitor and check disk usage - if it is always close to 100% read/write during slowdowns that might be a sign. It’s called working set. Windows tries to load the most used parts of programs into memory for speed. If the sum of the working sets of the stuff you are running is bigger than your memory, you slow way down. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-i-pay-mcafee-to-speed-up-my-computer/1003000.md?page=2)