Does Norton conflict with Stopzilla causing decreased computer performance?

Question

I have a Dell Dimension that used to be lightening fast but over the past year has slowed dramatically. I have Norton 2006 installed as well as Stopzilla for blocking pop-ups. Do these programs conflict? I have gone through and deleted all unnecessary programs and have plenty of hard disk space but am still dealing with slow response time especially when opening and closing programs and utilities. Any suggestions on what I can do or what the problem may be?

Answer 1

Norton is a resource hog. It takes about 70M of RAM to run. I'd get rid of it and use AVG Antivirus. It's FREE and available at http://www.grisoft.com or http://www.download.com

Here are some tips for maintaining your PC and to keep it running efficiently.

A major cause of slow PC's is fragmentation of the hard drive.
You need to defragment the HD at least once a week if not more depending on how much you use your computer, and what you do with it.

One way is to use the defragment utility built into Windows XP. It is slow but does the job rather well. Go to:
Start > Programs > Accessories > System Tools and then click on System Defrag to run the tool. It may take several hours, so let it run overnight or simply walk away from your PC for a few hours.

A great program for defragging automatically is Diskeeper. It costs $30 but is well worth it. Go to http://www.download.com and search for Diskeeper. Read the Publishers Description and the Editor and User reviews. It can be scheduled to run automatically as the program deems necessary, and if you are using your PC and the program launches itself, it will take a backseat to whatever you are doing and give you the priority for CPU usage. I think you'll agree it's a good program to have. It precludes your needing to remember to defrag at regular intervals.

Another major cause of a slow PC is programs that are running in the background. Here's another really good Microsoft tool. It’s called Autoruns and it was written by SysInternals who were recently bought up by Microsoft.

Before you download the program create a folder under program files called Autoruns. Leave Windows Explore open.

Launch Internet Explored and go to the following Microsoft web page.

http://www.microsoft.com/technet/sysinternals/utilities/autoruns.mspx

Go to the bottom of the page and download the Autoruns program. After it downloads open the file. It is a Zip file. Unzip the file and you will see 4 files. Drag and drop those 4 files to the Autoruns folder you created under Program Files.

Once you have the 4 files in the C:\Program Files\Autoruns folder you can double click on the file titled “autoruns”.

This will bring up a window with several tabs at the top. Click on the “Logon” tab. It will list the programs that are running on your PC and eating up resources. Look them over carefully and turn off any that don’t absolutely have to be running. Simply click on the “check mark” in the little box beside the program name. Clicking on it will remove the check mark. Once you have edited the Startup list, click on Apply and then on OK.
NOTE: Leave items that show Windows; System 32; Program Files; etc. alone. Shutting them off may cause some things not to work.

Once you have exited the window, reboot your PC for the settings to take effect.

WARNING: Don’t go into the other tabs and start deleting things. You will probably give yourself major headaches if you do that. Stay focused on the “Logon” List only.

Another good thing to have is a little program called FreeRAM XP Pro. It is free and is available from http://www.download.com This program puts a little RAM meter on the System Tray and shows how much RAM you have remaining that you are not using at any given time. I think you may be surprised at how little RAM you have to run other programs. Also, once it is installed you can right click on the little meter, then click on RESTORE and it will open the RAM display window. You can tweak the settings so it will display your CPU usage also. Then just click “Minimize” and then “To System Tray” to return to the Task Bar.

What happens when you run out of or run real low on RAM is that the OS recognizes the low or no RAM situation and starts using a section of your hard drive as memory. This is called virtual memory, or a swap file. The PC is constantly writing and reading from your HD. Comparitively, it is a very slow process. Check your motherboard manual and determine how much RAM each slot can hold. It will also tell you what type of RAM you need. You can also go to http://www.crucial.com or http://www.4allmemory.com and run their analysis utility to determine what kind and how much RAM is installed in your PC. Depend on your MoBo manual to determine the RAM limits of each slot though.

Hope this helps

Answer 2

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Answer 3

What's going on is you may have Virus and or spyware. Do this, go to START>RUN> and type in MSCONFIG go to the "services" tab and check the box that says "hide all microsoft services" go ahead and disable all the ones you dont need.. basicly disable everything and leave anything that says SYMANTEC or NORTON leave those on or checked. Next go to the "startup" tab and disable all, then check all the ones you need, again check all the ones that say SYMANTEC or NORTON then click apply, then OK, its gonna ask you if you want to restart or exit without restarting, go ahead and restart. When your computer comes back you will get this box saying you have altered you startup, on the lower part of this box there is a little square, check that where it says "do not display this message again" or something to that sort. You will see an increase performance. As far as stop zilla goes, get rid of it. Just download the google toolbar, its GREAT for stopping popups. And if you are getting popups, its time to get your computer cleaned. Download ADAWARE and run a FULL scan. then run a full scan in your anti virus, then you should be fine.

Answer 4

I've never heard of such a thing happening.. But a way to test the theory is to disable the Stopzilla.

Click on Start.. Then Run..

Type in

szserver / stop
And close out the program itself.

to stop the thing Check out your performance.
if your computer has better performance. Then I would go ahead and uninstall it. If it's about the same. Then your problem lies elsewhere.

Re-start the program and click on start, then run..

Type in
szserver / start to restart the stopzilla service.

Answer 5

Norton conflicts with everything! Get rid of the Stopzilla program and see if you still have the problems. I personally hate norton, and instead use a freeware program called AVG, available at http://www.cnet.com or the AVG website.

Answer 6

I would agree that Norton slows down your performance, if you do decide to take it off you have to go to the Norton website to remove it all properly as otherwise you will have remnants left on your machine. I have gone for AVG antivirus (free), A-squared antispyware (free), Spybot and Zone Alarm Firewall (free). If you want to pay for your antivirus then Nod32 is meant to be the best at the moment!

Answer 7

Norton is a huge memory hog. Get AVG Free

Answer 8

Yes. Uninstall Norton and download ZoneAlarm.

It's FREE at download.com

Answer 9

the problem being your bought a dell. Call dell then you will really know slow response time.