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Lee DeRaud
03-24-2006, 11:27 AM
I've got the security software provided by my cable/internet provider (Adelphia), something called "Freedom Suite"...never shows up in any of the magazine reviews, so I'm guessing it's one of the standard ones in "OEM packaging".

Of late, my laptop has been acting like a Yugo in dire need of a tune-up: 15-30 seconds to bring up cascade menus from the 'Start' button, over a minute to start large apps like Quicken/Word/CorelDraw.:eek:

So, after running my weekly whole-disk virus scan, I shut off the "realtime" virus-scan control: suddenly my computer is acting like a Corvette again. It appears that the realtime scan is exactly that: it's scanning every file that gets accessed, every time it gets accessed...what I call "Gestapo Mode".

For obvious reasons, I'm not comfortable running without A/V altogether, but is there some kind of middle ground? I'd like to run in "Ellis Island Mode": check every incoming file/script/whatever very thoroughly at the "border", and ignore stuff that's already installed on the disk. I'd still scan the disk as part of normal maintenance, I just don't see any need to scan files every time they're accessed.

Do any of the "big-name" A/V suites (Norton/MacAfee/et al) have that feature?

Joe Pelonio
03-24-2006, 11:56 AM
The main ones I use resident are Spyware Doctor and AVG and neither slows it down looking for things that come in, except if it notifies me as I have it set up to do in certain cases. What does slow things down is the
daily scan, so I have them scheduled for quiet time.

Lee DeRaud
03-24-2006, 12:17 PM
The main ones I use resident are Spyware Doctor and AVG and neither slows it down looking for things that come in, except if it notifies me as I have it set up to do in certain cases. What does slow things down is the daily scan, so I have them scheduled for quiet time.I may (as usual) have butchered my explanation...to clarify: I don't think checking incoming files is slowing down my computer. My A/V is checking files that are already on the hard disk every time they are accessed. But as near as I can tell, turning off that feature also shuts off scanning of incoming files.

My reading of its manual indicates that McAfee VirusScan also behaves that way...and GF's computer (running McAfee) is showing the same slowdown that mine is.

What I need to be able to do is tell it to "trust" files that are already on the disk (except for manual scans), but still check incoming files. Right now it's an all-or-nothing proposition.

Don Baer
03-24-2006, 12:29 PM
Lee,
Check out trendmicro. There at www.trendmicro.com (http://www.trendmicro.com).

They got some good stuff. If nothing else you could use there free checkup ad a agment to what you are already using..

tod evans
03-24-2006, 12:33 PM
lee, i`m a computer moron so take this for what it`s worth, i listened to the fellow who built my first computer and went with kaspersky. to this day that`s what i use and have no troubles...do a google search, they`re highly recomended....02 tod

Allen Grimes
03-24-2006, 12:49 PM
Lee,

First of all, I recommend very strongly against using AVG, I used it for a while in the past, but it did little to protect me from any viruses when they actually came, and the program itself got infected. My sister who recommended AVG to me also had the same problem a few months later.

Ive used both Norton and Mcaffee and they have both worked fine for me though Norton does cause a lot of slowdown for my PC. I mean with start up and shut down and when the program itself is running. Mcaffee on the other hand has never given me any problems and has some features that I like over Norton as well.

A friend of mine told me about a program called Avant, and he assures me that it is more affective than Norton or Mcaffee, but I havent tried it out yet so I can't give you my opinion on it.

Anyway, I hope this helps.

Bob Johnson2
03-24-2006, 2:12 PM
Lee
I have no experience with the AV your running but can speak on McAfee which is what we use. It has "on access scan" mode which scans most (virus prone) types of files as the system opens them. Speaking for the 100 pc's at work and a multitude of laptops, the McAfee does not bog them down NOTICABLY, using the latest version of software. It does of course use some cpu time but not enough to notice. We also run SpySweeper, which definitely does slow you down, mostly at startup when it's doing a complete system check, takes it a couple minutes to run depending on your hardware etc.
It is recommended by McAfee that the on access scan mode be used.

robert W HENDERSON
03-24-2006, 2:22 PM
This is the company that makes the software you are using. Try looking for your problem in the Knowledge Center (http://kb.freedom.net/) database under the support tab.


http://www.freedom.net/

Robert

Dan Oelke
03-24-2006, 4:22 PM
I have liked AVG has caught everything that got past my firewall and/or vigalent eyes on the email side.

At work I *always* turn off the real-time scanning. (and tell the "admin" people where to stick there policies against that) I write software for a living and real-time scanning will double my compile times. That costs me time which costs the company money. This doubling or more I have with any of the ones I have tried which include AVG, Sophos, McAffee, Norton and Command-Antivirus. At home I often leave it on for the wife and kids use that computer, but if I start coding on it I turn it off pretty quick.

Even with the real-time scanning turned off I have only gotten one virus/trojan in the last 5 or more year. That was on the home machine (via an email that a kid clicked on) and it was new enough at the time that none of the popular products caught it until the next day - so even having the realtime scanning wouldn't have helped.

Jim Becker
03-24-2006, 4:33 PM
I bagged the "big names" (McAfee and Norton) for the exact reason you cite...their applications are total PIGS on system resources. I now use AVG (licensed), Ad-Aware (licensed) and ZoneAlarm Pro (licensed, but anti-spam, etc., turned off) to handle my system protection and have no performance issues. Behind a hardware firewall, of course...

Ian Abraham
03-24-2006, 5:32 PM
We sell and support Mcafee antivirus, but I dont run it myself... that may tell you something. It seems OK on a late model PCs with lots of ram, and it's auto-updating and reporting back to central localtion are good in a business situation. If a PC hasn't reported in for an update for a few days it can be investigated. But load it up on an old Win98 PC (that was running fine), and it becomes un-usable due to the system overhead.
I run AVG on my PCs and haven't had problems with it, but none of the scanners are 100% sure. You still need firewall, spyware remover and backups as well. :rolleyes:

Ian

Vaughn McMillan
03-24-2006, 6:10 PM
I bagged the "big names" (McAfee and Norton) for the exact reason you cite...their applications are total PIGS on system resources. I now use AVG (licensed), Ad-Aware (licensed) and ZoneAlarm Pro (licensed, but anti-spam, etc., turned off) to handle my system protection and have no performance issues. Behind a hardware firewall, of course...
Ditto on all counts...

(Except I won't install any Norton product on my machines even long enough to try it out. I know others have good success with Norton stuff, but my boycott is a personal thing.)

- Vaughn

Lee DeRaud
03-24-2006, 7:32 PM
Sounds like my initial reactions are being confirmed here:
1. the real-time file scanning is more trouble than it's worth and
2. there's no particular benefit to switching to a different real-time virus scan.

Think I'll soldier on with the real-time "feature" shut off, being careful (as always) about things like email attachments and oddball web sites, maybe running a manual scan more often than my usual once-a-week.

Adelphia claims they're also running the A/V scan on email at the server level...we'll see.

Ian Abraham
03-24-2006, 7:43 PM
Adelphia claims they're also running the A/V scan on email at the server level...we'll see.

The ISP based scanners are OK, they will stop 99% of the virus(s) getting to you. But they wont help you on day zero of a new virus. Neither will your local scanner though. But at least your local scanner will find it next day and hopefully remove it for you. :rolleyes:

The Real time scanner on AVG is a lot less intrusive than Mcafee / Norton. You can probably live with it running.

Ian

Allen Grimes
03-24-2006, 8:20 PM
I should probably point out that the version of AVG that both my sister and I used, was the free version. Also she used it for a few years without problems before she finally got a virus that AVG couldnt handle and she gave it up.

Ian Abraham
03-25-2006, 2:26 AM
I've also come across several virus that have actually deleted Mcafee and Norton (and AVG ). The virus would actively unload most virus scanners while reloading itself to defeat most efforts to manually remove it. If you get one of those into your PC as a zero day infection (before your scanner is updated to recognise it) you are in deep doo-doo no matter that scanner you are using. Lots of fun using Hijack-this and Regedit while running windows in 'safe mode' :( . Sometimes it's just easier to nuke the PC and reload windows.

Value for money AVG is way ahead, and I believe it works just as well as the expensive ones.

None of them are 100% secure.

Ian

Vaughn McMillan
03-25-2006, 5:24 AM
I've also come across several virus that have actually deleted Mcafee and Norton (and AVG ). The virus would actively unload most virus scanners while reloading itself to defeat most efforts to manually remove it. If you get one of those into your PC as a zero day infection (before your scanner is updated to recognise it) you are in deep doo-doo no matter that scanner you are using. Lots of fun using Hijack-this and Regedit while running windows in 'safe mode' :( . Sometimes it's just easier to nuke the PC and reload windows.

Value for money AVG is way ahead, and I believe it works just as well as the expensive ones.

None of them are 100% secure.

Ian
I recently helped an idiot friend of mine nuke and reload his computer after he caught something that prevented AVG from accepting updates. (It also hijacked most of his web browsing and turned his computer into a dog.) It's the first time in 5 or 6 years of using AVG that I've seen something get through. Then again, this guy surfs adult sites and will click on anything that moves, so he completely brought it upon himself. :rolleyes: I'm another happy AVG (free version) camper, but I'm also running other defenses and being prudent in my web habits. ;)

- Vaughn