And why does it take up so many resources? Do I need it? Does it ALWAYS have to be on? It seems to slow down my computer.
It’s part of Spybot. It examines processes to see if they’re spyware.
You don’t need it if you don’t want to run it. I don’t run it.
That’s “te-AH-tim-ehrr”. 
I’ll second getting rid of it. I run spybot, but the teatimer thing is too much of a hog.
It is a memory hog (~130MB of RAM), but it does a great job of keeping your computer from picking up malware. If you are a novice computer user, I’d recommend leaving it on.
My other recommendation would be to upgrade your RAM so it doesn’t slow down your computer.
Hmm. Not novice; online since 1995. Never had a virus I was aware of. Brand new Vaio 4g RAM. Shouldn’t that be enough?
Had the same problem, on a reasonably fast computer. Disabled TeaTimer.
It isn’t a RAM issue. It’s CPU utilization while it scans a new process.
How would I do that? Should I just uninstall Spybot? I have a kajillion anti-spam/malware programs; basically everything recommended in the thread at the top of this forum. Can I live without Spybot?
Thing is, I use my pooter for mostly big-file things; huge PhotoShop files, and movie editing. So this is an ongoing problem that I’d like to resolve. If there are alternatives to Spybot, it’s just to hoggy for the way I need to use my computer.
Start/Run, type: regedit
Then go to: HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run and delete the entry for Spybot SD TeaTimer
My tea timer says 46.7mb and it doesn’t slow my system down. Could it be something else? Or does the computer run faster without it?
I agree it’s not necessary as tea timer provides real time protection. Just scan the computer more often
And seriously, you can always just set an ordinary alarm clock to tell you when it’s 4:00 in the afternoon.
I checked in Task Manager when first starting my system and it runs right around 110-140mb when first starting. After that, it idles at about 40-42.
Well, that is one option. Or he could do something really radical, like start up Spybot, click on the Tools section, then Resident, and then uncheck the Teatimer checkbox. But hey, I am always trying the really “out there” stuff on my system. 
Win
Geez, Spybot has been considered obsolete for at least 5 years. Most everybody is using Malwarebytes these days. The registered version has a process that monitors process too, but doesn’t kill a computer like teatimer.
here’s a cite
God damn it, why doesn’t anyone tell me these things as soon as possible? Obsolete for five years? That’s most of the time I’ve been using it!
I hope you are only running one as running more can cause unpredictable conflicts.
Only if you run them at the same time.