Why does my PC slow down dramatically when antivirus and anti-spy software is activated? (I have cable modem.)

Answer 1

Check to see how much memory you have, and the speed of your CPU. The antivirus software is always running, so it is constantly taking up memory, which means there is less for the other programs, so they run slower. If you can add memory it will help. You should have 512 meg or more. If your PC is more than three years old, its usually cheaper to upgrade the whole computer to a newer faster one.

Answer 2

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Answer 3

If your using Norton or McAfee Antivirus software that could slow your system when activated or not. However I suggest you use ZoneAlarm.

The mantra of any network security expert is "defense in depth," and the ZoneAlarm Internet Security Suite 6.0 manages to bring this multilayered strategy to the personal desktop without sacrificing system performance or increasing the cost over the previous edition. Unlike the built-in firewall within Windows XP SP2, which blocks only inbound threats, the ZoneAlarm firewall protects against both inbound and outbound attacks. Layered below that is an application- or program-layer firewall, which prevents malicious code from running on your system as legitimate software. New this year, however, is an operating system firewall; ZoneAlarm now protects the Windows core registry and system files from kernel-level malicious attacks. No other desktop firewall can claim that. Also new is ZoneAlarm's homegrown antispyware protection, which when added to the layered firewall, antivirus, and antispam protection, makes ZoneAlarm Internet Security the best desktop security value on the market today.

ZoneAlarm Security Suite puts Norton and McAfee to shame with its easy-to-use triple-layer firewall, antivirus, antispam, and now antispyware features.

Answer 4

Depends on your memory of your machine. It might be running a memory hogging program or it may be running scans.Anti-virus and anti-spy systems are actually using memory that causing your computer to slow down.

Answer 5

Avira AntVir free., great detection rates., superantispyware free.,detects trojans wonderfully ., Spyware Doctor Starter Edition free, quite a large data base.,Spybot Search and Destroy beta, scan times are now faster than before scans in a fraction of the time,. Spyware Blaster free., every computer should have it.,Do I pass.,

Answer 6

Your antivirus is probably actively scanning while you're working......you can disable it if you intend to run the virus scanner at least once every couple of days or so yourself, otherwise you'll have to live with it

Answer 7

It depends on what programs you have. If it's Norton then it's normal... Here you have some good and free antivirus programs:
http://askcomputerexpert.ws43.com/download/
Get one and you won't have any problems!

Answer 8

i have the same problem; apparently because of all the screening it has to do. I just got rid of it and depend XP updates, Ad-aware and the safe sites I use.

Answer 9

If you have norton it takes up on a lot of space. Pretty much it's a big program.

Answer 10

it could be updating?