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    McAfee & AlienWare (I think the latest McAfee update is causing slowdowns)

    Discussion in 'Alienware' started by noelho, Aug 5, 2011.

  1. noelho

    noelho Notebook Consultant

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    McAfee came with my AlienWare M15x.

    I dont really care too much for McAfee (i think its crap), but since it came with 3 years free updates and all that, i just continue to use it.

    Recently (within the last week, after McAfee released a new update), I noticed my M15x would randomly slow down (for as little as a split second to max of 3 seconds) with huge CPU usage spikes. These slow downs are totally random. Happening sometimes twice within 10 minutes, sometimes not at all for an entire session when im on the machine.

    Happens sometimes when surfing the web, somtimes when watching videos.

    I kept the task manager open and it looks like its caused by McAfee. It would be pretty ironic if my machine was infected with a virus/trojan that is causing McAfee to spike!

    Anyone else having this similar issue? If McAfee really is the culprit, I'm going to dump it and just go with MS Security Essentials.

    Comments/Feedback/Input/etc?
     
    noelho, Aug 5, 2011
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  2. Nigel8600

    Nigel8600 Notebook Evangelist

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    That's why when I got mine it came with only 30 days. I even asked my rep to delete it and the system wouldn't let him lol.
     
    Nigel8600, Aug 5, 2011
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  3. grimreefer1967

    grimreefer1967 Notebook Evangelist

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    McAfee IS the virus.
     
    grimreefer1967, Aug 5, 2011
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  4. noelho

    noelho Notebook Consultant

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    lol .. mine came as a free promo with 3 years subscription (its so crap, they throw it at you!)

    so true! ..

    what antivirus are you guys using?

    PS: ive been on the mcafee forum and they KNOW about the issue, but still no solution yet ... sigh ...
     
    noelho, Aug 6, 2011
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  5. CGSDR

    CGSDR Alien Master Race

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    The first thing I do is Uninstall McAfee and install my trusted program.

    I use Kaspersky Internet Security 2010.
     
    CGSDR, Aug 6, 2011
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  6. almostinsane

    almostinsane Notebook Consultant

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    Yep - that was the first program I uninstalled.
     
    almostinsane, Aug 6, 2011
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  7. noelho

    noelho Notebook Consultant

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    I've just uninstalled that piece of crud ... will update again if i still see any jittering/stuttering/slowdown issues ...

    PS: ive installed microsoft security essentials in its place ...
     
    noelho, Aug 6, 2011
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  8. mittens14x

    mittens14x Notebook Consultant

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    OMG! SO THIS IS WHY MY COMPUTER IS SLOWING DOWN RANDOMLY FOR 2-3 SECS! i thought it was my audio drivers, but it was McAfee after all!
     
    mittens14x, Aug 7, 2011
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  9. noelho

    noelho Notebook Consultant

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    lol ... yup ... mcafee's crappy update actually made our machines worse ;P ...

    running MS Security Essentials and no problems yet ... ;-)
     
    noelho, Aug 7, 2011
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  10. mittens14x

    mittens14x Notebook Consultant

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    hey wait a minute,,,,, i think this random slowdown happened before i installed mcafee.... this happened to my second harddrive... first one broke but had no lag..
     
    mittens14x, Aug 7, 2011
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  11. noelho

    noelho Notebook Consultant

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    hmmm .. then you probably have a different issue .. but to be sure, keep your taskmanager open, and sort by CPU usage .... and when a slowdown happens, see what appears at the top of the list =)
     
    noelho, Aug 7, 2011
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  12. Joe85

    Joe85 Notebook Deity

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    Mcafee, you couldnt pay me to use it. God awful programme that couldnt catch a cold. I use avast. No slow downs and its brilliant.
     
    Joe85, Aug 8, 2011
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  13. DeeVu

    DeeVu That Compsci/Psych Major

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    Another vote for MSE.
     
    DeeVu, Aug 8, 2011
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  14. DeeVu

    DeeVu That Compsci/Psych Major

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    Sorry double post. o_O

    Well to make it worthwhile. I find it to be the least CPU resource hog. Highly recommend it. Haven't had a virus in over a year.
     
    DeeVu, Aug 8, 2011
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  15. noelho

    noelho Notebook Consultant

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    yeah ..... i only used mcafee on my alienware coz it came free with a 3 year subscription .. so it seemed like a waste not to use it.

    But during the last 1 year and 9 months, it has caused my pc to boot slowly, and its been somewhat of a pain in the butt (does not allow file/process exclusion!!!)

    their last update which has caused these random slowdowns was the last straw! .. ditched it for MSE, which I have been using on all my other computers.

    As DeeVu said, no issues whatsoever with MSE, though I dont know how effective it is at catching viruses/trojans, cause i follow the best practice behaviour of avoiding weird links, attachments and untrusted websites =)
     
    noelho, Aug 8, 2011
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  16. kevinmajere

    kevinmajere Notebook Consultant

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    MS Security Essentials and no problems yet!

    ^^ Personal favorite, and not a resource hog!
     
    kevinmajere, Aug 9, 2011
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  17. Zuu

    Zuu Notebook Geek

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    I've been an AVG user forever, really haven't had any problems with it and it's saved my computer a few times O_O, hardly uses too many resources at all... This, and MSE are the only ones I trust :)
     
    Zuu, Aug 10, 2011
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  18. PistolPV

    PistolPV Notebook Enthusiast

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    I hate McAfee. I use AVG also. Love it.
     
    PistolPV, Aug 14, 2011
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  19. Nigel8600

    Nigel8600 Notebook Evangelist

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    Nigel8600, Aug 14, 2011
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  20. noelho

    noelho Notebook Consultant

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    Eset's NOD32 is not bad ... we use it at work ...
     
    noelho, Aug 14, 2011
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