Why is my computer steadily getting slower?

Question

Since installing the 'Nortons Anti Virus' onto my lap top I have noticed that my computer is steadily getting slower. Is this problem due to the Virus software or am I being paranoid.

Answer 1

Could be the Norton's program using all of your available memory, but if it has worked fine at least once after you installed the Anti-Virus program then you have spyware issues.

Go to PC World and download these programs for free.

Ad-Aware SE and Spybot Search and Destroy

Load the programs and then run them one after the other and your machine should soon return to normal after rebooting.

Hope this helps.

Answer 2

not necessarily the software. One thing that you should try doing before uninstalling any software is defragmenting your hard drive.

If this does not work. Go to "run", then type in MSCONFIG. This will bring up a window. Go to startup, and uncheck any program that has something that comes up in your tray on startup that you do not need. this could be programs such as Yahoo! messenger, msword, etc. This should correct your problem.

If neither of these things work, you are probably running too many simultaneous processes. Consider not working your pc too hard, or upgrading to more RAM.

Could be spyware or a virus... I would make sure that you have all of the latest security updates. Then install and run "spybot S&D" (you can find it through a search on Google), then install "Zonealarm" for a firewall. (http://www.zonelabs.com)

Make sure that your laptop atleast meets the system requirements of programs that you are running.

Good luck.

Answer 3

I had Norton installed on my computer when I bought it. It is one of the most intrusive and slow anti-virus I have ever used. I removed it and replaced it with MacAfee. Took some time finding all the files to take Norton off. I now have Spybot...a free programme for finding adware and malware which I run along with bit defender, another free programme. Give your comp a good clean out ...clean the disc...defrag and give it a spring clean too. Try system mechanic on a 30 day free trial...that'll give the comp a good clean out. Get rid of any programmes you don't use.

Answer 4

5 Things you can do to get it working faster.

1) Remove any spy where using the free software:
http://www.download.com/Ad-Aware-SE-Personal-Edition/3000-8022_4-10399602.html?tag=lst-0-8

2) Update your virus software to the latest version if not already.

3) Make sure your RAM on the computer is over 500MB otherwise your system may be running on Virtual Ram which slows down the system.

4) Make sure you have some kind of firewall running.( The windows default firewall as provided by XP is good enough.)

5) Cross your fingers that its not your slow processer that is the reason behind your speed, otherwise you will need to upgrade your computer to at least 1GHz speed.

Goodluck!

Answer 5

The AV software will be largely to blame for that as it is probably doing a full system scan, this is normal when new AV software is installed. Once the full system scan has been done your laptop should speed up. However, as norton is always running in the background it will be slower than before.

A spyware scanner is also sensible:
http://www.lavasoft.de/products/ad-aware_se_personal.php

Answer 6

Offensive rootkits, which are used hide malware programs and maintain an undetectable presence on an infected machine, have become the weapon of choice for virus and spyware writers and, because they often use kernel hooks to avoid detection,


scan pc in safe mode

lets get that out of ur pc ur some antivirus will miss key keylogger and trojans . frist of all you need to download avg antispyware this is verry good in getting all kinda bad files . then you need to download Adaware
a-squared< is verry good in picking up traking software files that is on the pc and it will find them . then download antispyware blocker that will find any type of virus . trojans files with antispyware blocker when you run that at the top of the box ur see
C:\ WINDOWS
remove the word windows and just leave in

C:\

then hit scan it will search all of the pc every file for virus or trojans and this will not have any problem with ur antivirus you have i have this my self .

then download spyware doctor that will search the pc for even more spyware adaware . just having 1 or 2 antispyware dont cut any ice at all you neeed what i said to download . when you have them run ur pc in safemode and scan the pc with then 1 at a time . this way from safemode the trojan and keylogger cant hide them self coz there is not internet access on in safe mode all the software i said to download will get the trojans and keylogger

if they say some are in the registry you watch what path there in and get in the registry and right hit on that folder and hit remove dont worry when the pc restart up win xp will creat a new clean folder for you

Answer 7

Get rid of Norton( you may have a job doing it though, it almost clings like a leech to your PC ) and get AVG Free from http://free.grisoft.com/. Its a much smaller, faster and more efficient software than Norton. You can see the difference yourself.

Answer 8

1. Defrag it

2. Install a prper anti-spy ware, i.e. Lavasoft or Ewido

3. Take away unnecessary programs, etc.

Answer 9

Ya the new software cud hav jammed up your system, there's not much you can do except look for a faster computer..

Answer 10

maybe you have downloaded many things,the more you have on your computer the slower it gets.
empty your recycle bin ,clean the discs and de frag.
you can be shown through this with system tools.