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General discussion

Norton aitivirus hogging CPU

by jhamed Jun 10, 2005 5:26AM PDT

My Dell desktop with Windows XP SP2 is slow because my Norton 2003 Antivirus uses 40 - 60% of the CPU. It functions normally and Live Updates properly. How can I correct the problem or do I need to update?

Discussion is locked

6 Posts
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Uninstall Norton, Install AVG Free
by Yew Jun 10, 2005 5:33AM PDT

Norton has a problem with false-positives from time to time, and while it doesn't normally hog CPU time like that (that's McAfee's specialty), I'd just recommend ditching it completely, and getting AVG Free. It doesn't have all the features you never use of Norton, but it does pretty much everything you need an antivirus program to do... Plus it's free as are all updates. I've never had a problem with it hogging CPU time. The fact that it's pretty light weight is one of the things I love about it.

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Norton 2003 may be too old
by MarkFlax Former Forum moderator Jun 10, 2005 5:49AM PDT

As yewanchors says, AVG 7 is a very good, free, anti-virus package and it comes with an incoming and outgoing email scanner. I use it myself and am very happy with it.

You haven't given much information about your system but you said Nortons is 2003. It may be getting old now, and if you want to stick with Symantec, (the maker of Norton products), you may want to consider upgrading to Nortons 2005.

You could hop along to the Virus & Security Alerts forum, (link on the left), and see what the Moderators and other members there think. Some of them use Norton products and have no problems with their systems.

Good luck

Mark

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Agreed
by phantazy Jun 10, 2005 5:55AM PDT

I have tried three versions of Norton, and all has ended in tears and frustration. It is not, in my mind a logical proram. For example if you use live updates, it can come up come up with an error message that takes at least two hours to comprehend, including its recommendations, and there is still no resolution to the problem.

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Turn off on access scan...
by dagger906 Jun 10, 2005 5:51AM PDT

You may want to turn off on access scan and see how it goes...

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Norton A-V........
by Earthquake McGoon Jun 10, 2005 11:13AM PDT

Ditch the Norton! It is a resource hog. Go to www.infostar.com, leave Peter Green a donation for maintaining this website, go to "Virus Info" page and take you pick of two or three "free" A-V programs. Also firewalls, anti-spyware, etc. I use and recommend AVG,
BitWare BitDefender, and Panda.

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I use
by skippyd333 Jun 10, 2005 1:01PM PDT

trend micro's pc-cillin and it has all the goodies. Even with auto update and real time scan the computer sitting still, the cpu runs at zero. I also agree though, that free AVG is a very good antivirus. my opinion is dump Norton for sure. It is a hog and has a few uninstallers to get rid of it. Live update is the real hog.

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