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A computer question for techies

Posted by calais50 • 7/23/08 • Subscribe to this Discussion [RSS] • Report This Topic

I'm semi-clueless about computers. I bought a new laptop recently and am using McAfee antivirus. I think I may have adware or something because my CPU and ram usage are really high even when I'm not running any programs. I've scanned for viruses but none are found. Any ideas on what I should do?

User Comments

7/23/08

bladeaxe4

use Ad-aware, even use Spybot:search and Destroy ! both are freewares, there aint viruses these days,lol... there are bots,adware, malwares... even u can use Panda Online Scan, or any other antiviruses's Online Scan, itz effective against malwares,trojans etc rather than installing AV and scanning ur PC.. AV just scans for viruses while online scanners just scan everything for gud... lol, if i wud hav been there i wud have cleaned ur PC without any Anti-Virus or anything..

[reply]
1. 7/23/08
  
  calais50
  
  thanks for the advice blade! I will definitely look into those programs
7/23/08

imgoel

I also got it. Just use QuickHeal antivirus. Its free for a month period.

1. Download QuickHeal from quickheal.com
2. Uninstall your previous antivirus
3. restart computer
4. Install QuickHeal
5. restart computer
6. Scan you system as Native scan, set it on next boot & accept restart
7. let the scan complete

this scan mode scans complete system thoroughly and its really effective.

[reply]
1. 7/23/08
  
  calais50
  
  Thanks for the tip imgoel. I will check it out.
2. 7/23/08
  
  weblogian
  
  Quick heal sucks
7/23/08

thoughtsofg

Get Avast One thing you can do is hold down ctrl-shift-esc and you will get the task manager. Click on the "processes" tab. You will get a list of processes that are running on your computer. The third column should say "CPU". This shows how much of the CPU the process is using. If you aren't doing anything, then the "System Idle Process" at the end of the list should be using most of the CPU. If you find something that looks suspicious, you can shut down the process by right-clicking on it and clicking "end process". Never end explorer.exe . Sorry if this was a bit wordy, but that can really help sometimes.

[reply]
1. 7/23/08
  
  calais50
  
  I have Avast as well. I just d/l'ed it a few days ago. I thought about shutting down processes but I didn't know what each one did so I was afraid to mess with it. My computer was running 82 processes, but I unchecked some of the processes that start at computer startup, so I've whittled the processes down to about 70, but that still seems like a lot.
2. 7/23/08
  
  thoughtsofg
  
  I hope Avast is working for you lol. If you don't know what a process is, a quick google search should tell ya if it's safe or not. Usually if a computer is running slow, some process is eating the CPU, so if you can shut that process down you won't have to restart the computer or all that mess. If something besides the System Idle Process is eating more than...say 40% + of the CPU, you might want to check it out. Hope that helps.
3. 7/23/08
  
  calais50
  
  Great idea about the googling. I will definitely try that.
4. 7/26/08
  
  johnsblogs42
  
  You can go here and see what each of those processes are that are running in your task manager;
  
  www.fileresearchcenter.com/
  
  Just type the (whatever) in the box and it gives you related items. I.E., iexplore.exe would be your internet explorer.
  
  Also, you said new laptop.. are you running windows Vista? and if so, are you running it in that uber mega graphical mode? Cause that easts up some serious resources too. Takes like 1Gb Ramm just to run that.
  
  Hope that helps.
7/23/08

bladeaxe4

lol, u need not have an Anti-virus buddy !

[reply]
1. 7/23/08
  
  calais50
  
  Why not Blade? Trojans are all over the place. Sometimes my antivirus catches them.
7/23/08

DOUGGOFFdotCOM

The best thing to do is put that laptop back in the box and return it. Then go over to the Apple store and purchase a new Mac and you wont need any antivirus or adware BS.

[reply]
1. 7/23/08
  
  calais50
  
  Blasphemy! We don't allow your kind in here...
7/26/08

imgoel

to check and control startup get cCleaner
Avast was a good option a year back now a days its kinda out dated.
Quickheal is a complete and most advanced [little known] all-in-one [anti-virus, a-spam, a-pishing, a-popup, firewall, even mobile scanner]

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7/26/08

kenjebz

i like avast too. but try kaspersky, its really effective for my hp tablet for a year now.

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7/26/08

crkian

best advice is remove mcafee and go with something else. It takes up to many resources and isnt very good at its job

[reply]
1. 7/26/08
  
  friedclyde
  
  just wat i was going to say
2. 7/26/08
  
  johnsblogs42
  
  I can agree on the resources part there crkian, but the McAfee i've been running has done pretty well so far.
  
  Although, the resource thing has finally gotten to me enuff, that I'm looking at others. Possibly NOD32. It's supposed to be doing pretty well.
3. 7/26/08
  
  crkian
  
  nod32 is good, but as I run a computer business and call around so many houses complaining that their computers are slow you already have a good bet what is causing it
4. 7/26/08
  
  weblogian
  
  I am also using McAfee too and runs fine,
7/26/08

tweakwindows

@crkian
well said..Mcafee really sucks..Kaspersky will be a worth try..

[reply]
7/26/08

braincatcher

How do you see the CPU & RAM usage? By Task Manager? Can you see what process using high memory and CPU? If its the System Idle Process, its normal. If its not, run a search of that file on the web, and somehow you will get information if its a valid process or a spyware.
I'm a McAfee user and if its updating regularly, You'll be fine with it.

[reply]
7/26/08

acousticguitarist

If you are on XP you can click on START then in the RUN box, type in config.sys then click OK ... A panel will come up, click on the TAB that says STARUP, you'll see what's runing. You may find there's al sort of crap running that you don't need. The issue is sorting out what is crap and what is not.

If you have Vista > Click on START> in the search Box and do the same as above.

As Brainy above says. Have a look at TASK Manager, Hold down CTRL and ALT KEYS and then the DELETE key, This will run task Manager.

Under The Processes TAB you'll see what's chewing all your resources

I don't like McAfee, I haven't used it since 1996 because of that reason, but it may not be the problem

Run your Scan in Safe mode.

As the computer starts up hit the F8 key until the option of how to boot comes up, when the option page is static, click Safe Mode. Then run your virus software. It might take a while.

What it does is scan the computer without any additional services/features running. Also if you have adaware, run that in safe mode as well

Good luck

[reply]
1. 7/26/08
  
  braincatcher
  
  config.sys? Maybe, MSCONFIG
2. 7/26/08
  
  acousticguitarist
  
  Brainy..thanks for the heads up
  
  yep you're right for XP and older MSCONFIG
  
  I was sitting here with a Vista machine and it didn't like MSCONFIG, and I was thinking that my memory must be going and I had it back to front. So I played around with it
  
  On the Vista box it like CONFIG.SYS try it, I wish they'd be consistent
  
  I just went to an XP machine and you are right
  
  Cheers
7/26/08

weemundo

Mcafee should bury itself in a graveyard

[reply]
7/26/08

braincatcher

you're welcome. since I don't have Vista here, I trust you.
During the DOS times, we configure these startups via autoexec.bat and config.sys.

[reply]
1. 7/26/08
  
  acousticguitarist
  
  yes
  
  Don't get Vista either. I had to buy a new lappie the other day, to get the specs I wanted and a 4 year warranty I had to go that way. I might dual boot
2. 7/27/08
  
  braincatcher
  
  Yes I would recommend dual boot coz I've heard a lot of compatibility issues in Vista. I have XP 32-bit & 64, dual boot. But to avoid conflicts, make sure you install your 2nd OS on another partition/drive. I never tried installing on the same drive but they say, it won't work after few days.
3. 7/28/08
  
  acousticguitarist
  
  Although really, I hate working back to front.
  
  These lappies they come with the drives formatted, and I hate using partitioning software after drives have already been defined. I don't know why these companies on't grow a brain a partition sensibly in the first place.
  
  I used to teach all that stuff but currently am teaching Systems Administration and Flash and other Web stuff for a living. I find all the IT stuff such a waste of time. I'd rather just give the computer away these days.
  
  But I had a thought ...
  
  below
7/28/08

bobonism

Hi calais50.

-Try Spyware terminator(www.spywareterminator.com/) and CCleaner (www.ccleaner.com/). Every security tools have their own strength and weakness. The most important thing is always UPDATE it.

-If you have a bad cluster, it can make windows really slow like you say. To do this click start menu -> run and then type cmd to bring up the command prompt and with in the command prompt enter CHKDSK C: /F and then hit enter. It should say that the drive is in use and ask if you want to run it next time your restart your computer and hit Y for yes and then restart your computer and it should run the program. :-)

[reply]
7/28/08

acousticguitarist

Calais

Try this because you think it's a Mcafee prob. Not sure why it never occurred to me earlier.

Unplug your web connection. Turn of Mcafees and see how your machine runs, you'll then know for sure if it's mcafees or not. Then you go from there.

[reply]
7/28/08

GFG

check what's running at the background... Ctrl+Alt+Del ...

[reply]
1. 7/28/08
  
  acousticguitarist
  
  been there, but with more instructions
7/28/08

newward

Double check to make sure you are not running more then 1 virus program. A friend of mine had a machine with Norton on it and installed AVG when the norton subscription ran out. The system was choking with the 2 virus programs. Both Adaware and Spybot are great programs for spyware checking.

[reply]
1. 7/28/08
  
  acousticguitarist
  
  Spybot. I wouldn't use it, I haven't heard of it for a while now. Wasn't there a malicious code exploit relating to Spybot?
7/28/08

morgantj

Go to Start - Run - Type in "msconfig" go to the startup tab and turn off everything including your AV. If runs fine, turn your AV back on in startup and see how it runs. You can also try running "spybot search and destroy" or "adaware" if you think you have something malicious on your machine. You can also check your bios when you first boot up to see how it is configured to handle your processor. Sometimes they are set to dynamically fluctuate the speed based on activity. You can turn that off and tell it to run at full speed all the time. How much memory do you have?

[reply]
7/29/08

solmaz

Hi calais50 ,Friends are right just turn off all the processes , of course the processes which you don't need, specially if you have many programs installed on your laptop then you will have many processes that each time you logged into windows will start running which you don't need them and will use all the CPU . and about the antivirus I think you better remove Mcafee and get kaspersky.

Do tell us if your problem is solved with all these comments :-)

GoodDay

[reply]
7/29/08

polybore

Reading through the thread I notice that you say you have Avast and McAffe. It is not a good idea to run two anti virus programs at the same time. (for one thing it would use a lot of system resources). Decide which one you like and uninstall the other.

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