I hate to slag legitimate security products, but I can't help noticing recurring complaints about McAfee and Norton in this board.

No doubt many use them without problems, but I have to agree I wouldn't want either of them on my PC.

Just my 2 pesos.

Free Security Software-A Primer

Hi, Larna:

Windows Defender is part of the operating system. Dell did not install it. As for McAfee, I think you've stumbled onto the reason most people use something else. You'll notice this review, where they state, "McAfee is one of the slowest scanning programs we tested, taking almost 84 minutes to scan our test computer's 70 GB of used hard-drive space. McAfee took about double as long to scan our test computer than the top 2 antivirus programs..."

Take care!

Thanks for that.  I wish it only took 84 minutes to scan my laptop, instead of 5 days.

My renewal for McAfee is due in March, and after reading your link, I am sure that I will go for the Norton Internet 2010 instead.

Are you using a 2009 McAfee product?

"The 2009 McAfee consumer products for Windows Vista disable Microsoft Windows Defender to improve system performance. Windows Vista users who have installed the 2009 McAfee consumer products should not enable Windows Defender."
http://service.mcafee.com/faqdocument.aspx?id=TS100610&lang=en_US&prior_tid=2&AnswerID=16777216&turl==http%3A%2F%2Fkb.mcafee.com%2Finfocenter%2Findex%3Fpage%3Dcontent%26id%3DTS100610%26actp%3Dsearch

Just my opinion, but I wouldn't bother with Norton either.

Please see these pages for

FREE SECURITY SOFTWARE  

FREE SECURITY SOFTWARE

I just have to second the motion for the wisdom of using the free stand alone security products in the lists and article mentioned above. I haven't used a paid product for several years and seem to do just fine on both my main computer and backup.

My McAfee product was originally installed on my desktop in December 2005 when I bought it, and is just called 'McAfee Security Centre'.  I renew it every year, and it also now runs on my Laptop which I purchased in September 2008.  It was last renewed in February 2009 and it has virus scan, personal firewall, and antispam.

Strange thing is that it takes only about 2 hours to scan my desktop (My Documents are 30gb), and that is not a problem for me, but it takes about 5 days to scan my laptop (My Documents are 10gb)! 

Both PC's have the same sized harddrive - 160gb.

If the free antivirus does the same job I would be very interested as these things all add up when living on a pension.

I did wonder if it has something to do with the OP on the laptop (Vista), as all is OK on the desktop which has XP.

I personally use Eset's 'Smart Security 4', and usually just run a 'Smart Scan' (/quick scan) on my C:\ partition, to check for potential problems?

A quick scan doesn't take too long at all (a few seconds over 12mins on my 60GB C:\ partition), but it's never uncovered any suspect files.

That's undoubtedly because the program does such a good job of keeping an eye on any files I download in the first place.

It's unobtrusive, uses hardly any system resources, and updates the virus definitions 3 - 4 times a day, without fail :emotion-11:

I've read many good reports about Kaspersky Internet Security recently though.

In fact one review of anti virus/internet security packages I read a couple of months ago, rated it above Eset - which in itself says a lot for it's capabilities!

Not only that... but it's cheaper than Eset Smart Security. 

For instance - I ordered a retail boxed 3-user/1 year version off Amazon for a friend (and his granddaughter) just last week, for only £26.xx (US$42.xx) :emotion-3:

An OEM 1-user/1 year version is available for less than half that.

In either case - it's a small price to pay (IMHO), for one of the best internet security packages available these days :emotion-21:

Thanks for the info.

Regarding the slow (extremely) virus scanning on my laptop, I have just had the same problems when trying to 'rip' a music CD.

I have not tried to rip music before, and I inserted my CD and used the 'rip' function on WMP.  It has been running for 4 hours and has only ripped 5 tracks!  There is something not right with this laptop and I just do not know what it is.

I have ejected the CD from the laptop and inserted in my desktop.  It took SECONDS to rip the remaining 12 tracks!! (again using WMP)

Have you scanned your system for spyware recently?  Malwarebytes Anti-Malware is the program recommended by the aficionados in this forums section.

But I'd also recommend running another free program called CCleaner.

It'll scan your system for any invalid/junk files, and get rid of them for you (after you tick the appropriate boxes, by choosing 'Select All' when asked).

Hopefully between them, those two will cure the problem?

Larna,

another possibility is that your IDE channels were changed from DMA (Direct Memory Access --- which is FAST) to PIO (Primary Input/Output --- which is SLOW).

check by RIGHT-clicking on MY COMPUTER, select PROPERTIES, the HARDWARE tab, and then DEVICE MANAGER.

click on the + to expand IDA ATA/ATAPI Controllers.

RIGHT-click on the PRIMARY IDE Channel, select PROPERTIES, then ADVANCED SETTINGS.

The TRANSFER MODE should say DMA if available, and the

CURRENT TRANSFER mode should indicate something like ULTRA DMA Mode 5.   If this shows PIO, you have a problem.

Likewise for the SECONDARY IDE Channel, which should have a CURRENT TRANSFER mode like ULTRA DMA Mode 2.

if either shows PIO, you can  RIGHT-click on, and UNINSTALL either or both of these two controllers --- you'll then have to reboot, at which point Windows should automatically find the controllers and try to reset them to DMA mode (unless there's another problem with your system).

Unfortunately, I am away on vacation, and may not be in a position to offer you additional help here.... so hopefully someone else will step in.

NOTE:   If the CURRENT Transfer mode shows DMA, then just leave things alone.