Big time slow down for me

[debls]

I was surprised by this. I have had SD v5 for months and was one of the few who experienced very few problems. I downloaded the suite, had problems with smart update but got past that.
Browsing with firefox was very slow. I then tried one of the games I have downloaded on my PC and it was really pathetic. Could not play the game at all. This was the exact behavior that made me dump Norton 2005. I put NIS 2007 back on for now.

[Reodor]

I was surprised by this. I have had SD v5 for months and was one of the few who experienced very few problems. I downloaded the suite, had problems with smart update but got past that.
Browsing with firefox was very slow. I then tried one of the games I have downloaded on my PC and it was really pathetic. Could not play the game at all. This was the exact behavior that made me dump Norton 2005. I put NIS 2007 back on for now.

Might be interesting if You could give some more info like:
System specs.
Memory usage, both RAM, PF, CPU (processes) with PCTIS, NIS and nothing.

Hate to say: 'I told You so long time ago' but being in 'Official' Beta, let us try to give some useful info back with decent references if possible. Unfortunately You might have to completely un-install the programs and do a good clean inbetween to get the right picture. Just 'disable/shut down' does not quite seem to work.:)

[AChen]

I was surprised by this. I have had SD v5 for months and was one of the few who experienced very few problems. I downloaded the suite, had problems with smart update but got past that.
Browsing with firefox was very slow. I then tried one of the games I have downloaded on my PC and it was really pathetic. Could not play the game at all. This was the exact behavior that made me dump Norton 2005. I put NIS 2007 back on for now.

Hi debls,

The issue with Firefox has been escalated. What game are you trying to play?

[debls]

You are right reodor. I am at work right now and don't know specs off hand. And yes, this is a beta application which I probably should not have tackled. I don't really have the time or inclination to uninstall/install to try with NIS, with PCIS and with nothing which is really what should be done. Not disagreeing with you.
Since I have installed NIS2007 which is a free application through my isp and it has presented no problems, I believe I will stay with that for now. Will continue to use SD5 for scanning and look forward to the day when PCIS is out of beta.
I'll let you guys with more skill and patience do the testing.
Will keep checking in on this forum to see how things are going.

AChen:

I was playing Luxor...it also affected the aquarium screensaver...fish looked like they were dying in tank!

[AChen]

Thanks for the info debls, We'll investigate this further.

[DocLotus]

Yes; me too (100% CPU utliization).

Big time slowdown with OnGuard on (I have other threads about this).

It is so bad that I run with OnGuard turned off and do a daily scheduled scan to cut the crap.

Doc

[allibear]

I was surprised by this. I have had SD v5 for months and was one of the few who experienced very few problems. I downloaded the suite, had problems with smart update but got past that.
Browsing with firefox was very slow. I then tried one of the games I have downloaded on my PC and it was really pathetic. Could not play the game at all. This was the exact behavior that made me dump Norton 2005. I put NIS 2007 back on for now.

Hi debls, I don't want to sound like a drag because this gets repeated in forums all over the place again and again.

If you had Norton 2007 on the machine and took it off to try PCTISS how did you remove it?

Simply using add/remove is not enough, the remnants need to be removed or it will more than likely cause conflicts with the next security application you install, and one of the likely effects will be a slow down of that program. Norton provide a removal tool you can run after you have used add/remove to clear up any remnants. Now I have run this after an uninstall of NIS 2007 on Vista, it didn't get everything, (I don't know how clean it is with XP). Track down every file/folder relating to Norton/Symantic/Live Update etc. and delete it. Check Program Files and Application Data making sure you empty the recycle bin and reboot after making any manual deletions. If you are not comfortable going into the registry yourself run a registry cleaner.

This link from the Kaspersky forum might help as it gives a step by step guide and appropriate links and is relevant when removing Norton to replace with any other security program.

http://forum.kaspersky.com/index.php?showtopic=5233

Apologies if you already are aware of these issues and have taken the necessary steps. Nor am I suggesting that this is the sole reason you have a slow down with the PCTISS Beta. Just something to consider as a possibility.

[Saxel]

Yes; me too (100% CPU utliization).

Big time slowdown with OnGuard on (I have other threads about this).

It is so bad that I run with OnGuard turned off and do a daily scheduled scan to cut the crap.

Doc
Installing the suite then turning off on guard is to me like fitting new locks to a door, but leaving it open and instead taking a look round once as day to see if anyone has broken in and taken anything.
If you are getting 100% CPU usage with on guard active it sounds like there is a conflict with another programme, probably a security programme or what remains when its removed as described by Allibaer above.
Unfortunately if this is the case the CPU usage slider you desire will have no effect.

[Reodor]

One way might be to install Process Explorer to get an idea of what triggers off the file guard all the time. Had a problem with McAfee siteadvisor triggering that kind of activity even at idle, but that has been solved. Tried for the fun a screen saver - and it went crazy again. Looks that any running process or active file makes fileguard go crazy!

[DocLotus]

I have thought about the problem of other program remains possibly causing the high CPU utilization so I run on a weekly basis both CCleaner and Registry Mechanic to clear the crap from my computer.

I have tried Kaspersky 7 and Norton 2008; they both take up a lot less CPU utilization then PCTIS.

Doc

[DocLotus]

Hi Saxel;


Installing the suite then turning off on guard is to me like fitting new locks to a door, but leaving it open and instead taking a look round once as day to see if anyone has broken in and taken anything.

I totally agree.

I have come up with this method over the years based on my A-V experience.

There is a lot of talk about this scenario on many forums and in some magazines.

Some experts are now saying that the A-V programs are in themselves a form of virus as they exhibit virus-like symptoms, most notably big-time computer slowdowns.

They are also saying that A-V programs are a situation where the cure is worse than the disease.

It is about hardening the computer to keep the crap away from the computer so that a live, real-time A-V is not needed.

The hardening goes like this.
You will seldom if ever encounter a virus if
• You keep ALL Microsoft Updates current.
• You run a good two-way firewall.
• Stay away from suspicious web sites and do no blindly follow web links.
• Never open suspicious e-mail.
• Never follow links in suspicious e-mail.
• Do a daily ItelliScan of A-S and A-V scan (just in case).

Using the above scenario I have not had a virus in over eight years even though I am connected 24/7 via hi-speed DSL line.

For me the many problems of using an A-V program live (real-time) is simply not worth all the hassle and big-time slowdown that they seem to always provide.

If you are running a modern dual or quad core CPU you may very well not experience the big CPU utilization that I and many others have experienced with A-V programs from most providers.

I am running a 5 year old Intel P4 2 Gig computer with 1 GB memory. When I update to a quad core next year I too may very well run A-V real-time but for now it is simply not possible on my older machine.

[rjcuk]

I am also having major problems with PCTIS, I find that the programme pctsSvc.exe almost always soaks up the CPU system resources, making anything impossible.

If I turn on OnGuard then I notice that every action on the computer, simply even opening a program, takes a lot longer than usual.

Windows XP Home SP2
1.5 GB RAM
2.0 GB PageFile
2.8 GHz Intel 4 Processor

I am able to reduce the CPU usage using a program called Battle Encoder Shirase, which limits the maximum CPU for a program, so I can get on with other work on my computer.

After looking through the rest of the forum I assume that this problem is probably located down to a software conflict on my computer or something like that. I don't have any other security software on it at all which runs automatically, and Window's Firewall is off (as if that would cause hanging!!!!)

I used to have ZoneAlarm Firewall, Windows Defender and AVG on my PC but uninstalled when I came to try out this Beta. As far as I know I have deleted all the traces left over in Windows, Program Files and App Data. I also deleted some ZA stuff from the registry as well :) So I doubt it's due to old stuff lying around. BUT, I did get rid of ZA at one point and put the PC Tools Firewall on instead, I did uninstall that, but I assume some stuff might have been left over.

I haven't tried turning off each separate part of PCTIS, but I could, at the risk of attack, of course :(

It could always be a corrupted installation, I guess, but I haven't tried reinstalling because of the fear of losing my souped-up firewall rules for my ICS and application rules. That would kill.

Yawn... I don't know what else to say or to ask. If anyone knows anything else obvious that I should check out then please reply back! Thanks :)

[DocLotus]

Hi Rjcuk;

I doubt the un-installed ZoneAlarm is causing any problems as Consumers Reports found that ZA un-installs cleanly and I have found the same thing to be true.

You might try running CCleaner (previously called Crap Cleaner, for good reason); then run Registry Mechanic.

I have found that running both clean-up programs works very well as what one misses the other often catches.

Don’t be surprised if CCleaner finds from 1 to 2 GB of crap on your hard drive the first time you use it. Also Registry Mechanic may find up to 300 (or more) items the first time it is run.

I would also suggest you run a complete PCTIS Full Scan (all drives) at least once a month as it will sometimes find hidden crap that the IntelliScan will not find. Be prepared though as a Full Scan can take several hours to run (I usually let it run overnight).

After you have done all of that, a good full defrag by a program such as O and O Defrag (v10) can sometimes do wonders especially if you have not defragged you hard drive in a while. I run O and O weekly in the Space mode which clears out all the discontinuous empty spaces on your hard drive and moves the files to a contiguous space at the beginning of the hard drive. I also have O and O set to run at computer startup (before Windows loads) in Stealth mode. This simply defrags your files only. This works nicely after first doing a Space defrag.

Keep in mind that even after doing all of the above you may very well still experience big time slowdowns with PCTIS OnGuard turned on especially if you are running an older single-core CPU as I am.

Doc

[rjcuk]

Wow, thanks for the quick reply!!!

And thanks for all the info you've given me... I will definitely try out CCleaner or Registry Mechanic to see how much dust it can get out of my system.

I should defrag more often I guess, I do a lot of downloading using Kontiki so there are often large chunks in my drive belonging to large, fragmented video files. I've never heard of O and O so I will check it out.

Thanks very much for the detailed response, I really appreciate all the support.

Cheers :D

[DocLotus]

I suggest you run BOTH CCleaner AND Registry Mechanic; running only one or the other will not get all the crap.

CCleaner is donate ware (you only pay if you want to and you pay whatever you feel is right) otherwise it is free.

Doc

[Reodor]

If You do not feel for paying for RM, You may try EUsing and Free Registry Cleaner.
If You have Java installed with multiple updates, uninstall everything and download the latest. Same goes for Adobe reader. Go through Installed programs and check it out.

Old HP software is a killer. Even after uninstall it leaves a lot of crap that is not allways detected, particularly in System 32:dll's.
Download process Explorer that gives quite a good idea of what is running and what is taking resources.

[DocLotus]

I second that; Process Explorer is GREAT and shows exactly where the CPU cycles are going and when.

Doc

[debls]

When I removed Norton I used the remove then searched the all files and folders for anything else left and deleted it all. I am aware of the difficulty in removing some security apps. Thanks for the heads up anyway.
As Saxel said, I find the NIS2007 is A LOT lighter on my system than PCT apps and so far so good as far as protection goes. I've had NO problems. I gave up on Norton in 2005 because of major performance issues. Must say they have made some big improvements. Anyway, hard to argue with something that works for me and is FREE!
Thanks for the suggestions. I do continue to use SD for manual scanning.

[DocLotus]

Hi Debls;

I totally agree with you about Norton 2007; it is a better overall suite then PCTIS as far as performance goes. What bugged me about it was how dumbed down it is compared to earlier Norton security suites. Being a power user I could not live with it.

Another thing that has turned me off of most other security suites is that most of them do not allow me to have the antivirus turn off but still do a daily scan; most will not do a scan with the virus off. PCTIS allows me to do just that by turning off OnGuard but leaving the antivirus showing as on, on the main screen. That is one cool feature that I really like a lot as it suites my way of handling crapware.

One other thing about OnGuard, you can customize it to your liking by turning on or off selected parts of it such as FileGuard. No other security suite (to my knowledge) allows you to do that. Simply turning off FileGuard will speed up loading of your programs by a lot.

I fell in love with PCTIS for its many user friendly features and vast user adjustments.

Doc

[rjcuk]

If You do not feel for paying for RM, You may try EUsing and Free Registry Cleaner.
If You have Java installed with multiple updates, uninstall everything and download the latest. Same goes for Adobe reader. Go through Installed programs and check it out.

Thanks Reodor and DocLotus, I think the problem is solved now. I've run both CCleaner and Registry Mechanic (I managed to get a fully licensed copy from a magazine cover software DVD) and installed another CPU throttling software piece called Revelos and also Process Explorer, which has now replaced my Task Manager.

The programs that were usually sucking up CPU were pctsSvc.exe (PCTIS) as I mentioned, svchost.exe (MS), KService (Kontiki, iPlayer, 4oD), Firefox and Windows Media Player. I also got some programs crashing before and sucking up CPU, including csrss.exe (MS), pctsAuxs.exe (PCTIS) and mmc.exe (MS).

I also managed to solve a hanging problem with HelpSvc.exe by going to MS's website and asking for the hotfix download, so no more crashing from that.

Adobe Reader is always updated and I always delete the leftover installers, I always delete Java's updates as well, including registry entries :)


Old HP software is a killer. Even after uninstall it leaves a lot of crap that is not allways detected, particularly in System 32:dll's.
Download process Explorer that gives quite a good idea of what is running and what is taking resources.

I've got a Dell which is 3 years old so I reckon it's halfway through it's life now, there is some Dell software on it but I disabled all of its crap using Autoruns.

Process Explorer ROCKS :D

Thanks guys for your help, if I have any more crashing and whatever I'll let you know. But yeah thanks for that, I cleared 160MB of crap and temp files and about 1000 registry entries so I reckon its made some impact.

Cheers -- Robert