Dane Posted April 3, 2014 Share Posted April 3, 2014 So at work we have a computer with Windows 8.1 running on an Intel Core i5 with 4 gigs of ram. Thing is fast. My personal PC is a 4th gen Intel Core i7. 10 gigs of ram. and it bogs down at time or feels slow doing about the same thing. Like at work, I can start the PC cold, get to the desktop and bring up outlook or chrome and it's fast. My PC at times feels like it takes longer. I barely have anything listed in the start up options. I wouldn't be surprised if it's nortons doing, in 100 some days when the software expires i'll buy something else. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ambroos Posted April 3, 2014 Share Posted April 3, 2014 1. Do you have an SSD? Any computer without an SSD will feel slow. 2. Did you do anything to try and speed up your computer like play with caching and disabling services? If you did, you shouldn't have, Windows is by far the fastest on the default settings and almost any 'advice' you'll find online to disable this or that will lead to a slower computer in some situations. James123 1 Share Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dane Posted April 3, 2014 Author Share Posted April 3, 2014 1. Do you have an SSD? Any computer without an SSD will feel slow. 2. Did you do anything to try and speed up your computer like play with caching and disabling services? If you did, you shouldn't have, Windows is by far the fastest on the default settings and almost any 'advice' you'll find online to disable this or that will lead to a slower computer in some situations. Neither computer has an SSD, their both running the same type of HDD. I haven't done anything except get rid of some start up programs. I am really starting to think it's norton. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ambroos Posted April 3, 2014 Share Posted April 3, 2014 Neither computer has an SSD, their both running the same type of HDD. I haven't done anything except get rid of some start up programs. I am really starting to think it's norton. It's possible... If you want a good antivirus that doesn't affect performance try NOD32. It's discrete, has tons of configuration options (unlike Norton which is incredibly dumbed down nowadays if I remember correctly) and has excellent protection. It's the first antivirus I've paid for ever and I'll keep doing so in the future. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dane Posted April 3, 2014 Author Share Posted April 3, 2014 It's possible... If you want a good antivirus that doesn't affect performance try NOD32. It's discrete, has tons of configuration options (unlike Norton which is incredibly dumbed down nowadays if I remember correctly) and has excellent protection. It's the first antivirus I've paid for ever and I'll keep doing so in the future. Indeed that's what i'll be getting. I did a trial of it before on my old PC before I got my new one which came with norton for two years. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bigmehdi Posted April 3, 2014 Share Posted April 3, 2014 Most likely the antivirus. Use MSE if you want a free solution. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LUTZIFER Posted April 3, 2014 Share Posted April 3, 2014 lol, yeah I would think Norton is the problem. IMO Norton itself is a virus. Worst antivirus ever. Since 1995 I've only gotten 2 minor viruses, and for one I was running Norton at the time. Definitely haven't gotten one since Ive been using MSE/Windows Defender. Plus for quite a few years Ive been running Malwarebytes Antmalware PRO realtime scanning.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Warwagon MVC Posted April 3, 2014 MVC Share Posted April 3, 2014 Most likely the antivirus. Use MSE if you want a free solution. Actually MSE is built into Windows 8 under the name Windows Defender. But in my opinion it's a piece of crap. I prefer Avast, good detection rates and low memory and CPU footprint and it's free. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dane Posted April 3, 2014 Author Share Posted April 3, 2014 Most likely the antivirus. Use MSE if you want a free solution. I have actually had a virus with MSE on windows 7, it said it was all good, never detected it. I install Eset Antivirus and it found it right away, I stopped trusting it right away. Actually MSE is built into Windows 8 under the name Windows Defender. But in my opinion it's a piece of crap. I prefer Avast, good detection rates and low memory and CPU footprint and it's free. MSE has missed things for me before, i don't trust it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Warwagon MVC Posted April 3, 2014 MVC Share Posted April 3, 2014 MSE has missed things for me before, i don't trust it. If MS was actually serious about providing good Virus protection they would buy someone like ESET. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pupdawg21 Posted April 3, 2014 Share Posted April 3, 2014 I'd suspect your hard drive is busy on the slow feeling system. Take a look at Task manager when you experience the slowness and take a look at your Hard drives utilization time if its sitting @ or near 100% most of the time that is likely your culprit. Then you need to dig down to see what process/service/etc on the system is taxing the drive. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bigmehdi Posted April 3, 2014 Share Posted April 3, 2014 Actually MSE is built into Windows 8 under the name Windows Defender. But in my opinion it's a piece of crap. I prefer Avast, good detection rates and low memory and CPU footprint and it's free. I'm currently using avast and I find it slow. Slow start of computer. Unexpected slowing down of some executable too. Yes MSE protection is not so good. I think it's because microsoft doesn't update the virus definitions too often. I was once happy with kaspersky, but it's not available for free. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
msr714 Posted April 3, 2014 Share Posted April 3, 2014 I bet it's Norton - it's infamous for causing a system to slow down to a crawl. To see if this is indeed the case, uninstall it and see how the computer acts - it won't take but a minute or two to tell the difference. If there's no improvement, reinstall Norton. If the computer acts nice and zippy, find another antivirus solution. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
f0rk_b0mb Posted April 3, 2014 Share Posted April 3, 2014 I haven't done anything except get rid of some start up programs. I am really starting to think it's norton. Ya think? :/ Aergan 1 Share Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jesseinsf Posted April 3, 2014 Share Posted April 3, 2014 Many things can slow down a computer. Anti-Virus apps, Slow HDD, corrupted user account, Bloatware, Too many apps starting up, out of date motherboard drivers (Intel/AMD), old HDD drivers. Try creating a new user account. Also try to only use CCleaner. Don't use any other reg cleaner. Now if you are using the image from an OEM then I would reformat using a clean copy of Windows, though you may have to activate over the phone. Also in an elevated command prompt type the following and hit Enter: Dism /Online /Cleanup-Image /RestoreHealth This will insure that your image copy of windows matches the same copy on the Microsoft servers. It will not harm your computer's apps or settings. Now Type the following in the same command prompt: sfc /scannow This will insure that your system files are not corrupted. Now creating a new account will let you know if your primary account is corrupted. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gohpep Posted April 3, 2014 Share Posted April 3, 2014 I think that Avast has the best free antivirus. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Luc2k Posted April 4, 2014 Share Posted April 4, 2014 I think that Avast has the best free antivirus. It's not doing too great lately. snip Have you checked the HDD's health yet because I seriously doubt it's Norton. I've been testing various AV/Security Suites lately and out of the big three (Bitdefender, Norton, Kaspersky), it's the lightest on resources, barely noticeable. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dane Posted April 4, 2014 Author Share Posted April 4, 2014 It's not doing too great lately. Have you checked the HDD's health yet because I seriously doubt it's Norton. I've been testing various AV/Security Suites lately and out of the big three (Bitdefender, Norton, Kaspersky), it's the lightest on resources, barely noticeable. How do I check it again? I've been having some issues with norton lately. I would just randomly not get any browsers to load. I disable norton completely and the pages load. It's irritating. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bigmehdi Posted April 4, 2014 Share Posted April 4, 2014 How do I check it again? I've been having some issues with norton lately. I would just randomly not get any browsers to load. I disable norton completely and the pages load. It's irritating. Might be a conflict between your antivirus and your firewall, or if you have two firewall installed . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Luc2k Posted April 4, 2014 Share Posted April 4, 2014 How do I check it again? I've been having some issues with norton lately. I would just randomly not get any browsers to load. I disable norton completely and the pages load. It's irritating. Download and run something like Hard Disk Sentinel (linked the portable version). I suppose you're using NIS, which I haven't tried, but it probably checks website certificates and that might lead to problems with loading pages. I'm not sure about this though. At any rate, you can remove it and do a couple of tests (you can choose to keep your settings). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dane Posted April 4, 2014 Author Share Posted April 4, 2014 Might be a conflict between your antivirus and your firewall, or if you have two firewall installed . I only use the Norton Internet Security, I just had this issue again last night. It randomly switches it to "Block all web traffic". Download and run something like Hard Disk Sentinel (linked the portable version). I suppose you're using NIS, which I haven't tried, but it probably checks website certificates and that might lead to problems with loading pages. I'm not sure about this though. At any rate, you can remove it and do a couple of tests (you can choose to keep your settings). Look at the other quoted post above. For some reason it blocks all web traffic at times. I also took notice it trys loading twice (Two icons in the task bar pop up and doesn't allow you to close one). I want to do a complete fresh install but cant since norton will still be there since it came factory installed, so i'll have to buy a Windows 8.1 DVD :( . I also uninstalled Norton for awhile last night while doing boot up timing. IT WAS GREAT. So yep, norton is going. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
francescob Posted April 4, 2014 Share Posted April 4, 2014 "My personal PC is a 4th gen Intel Core i7. 10 gigs of ram. and it bogs down at time or feels slow doing about the same thing. " Don't worry, it's simply the time dilation effect that an hardware that fast can cause. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bigmehdi Posted April 4, 2014 Share Posted April 4, 2014 I only use the Norton Internet Security, I just had this issue again last night. It randomly switches it to "Block all web traffic". It might be a good idea to disable the built in windows firewall, even if theoretically a commercial product like norton should automatically handle this. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dane Posted April 4, 2014 Author Share Posted April 4, 2014 It might be a good idea to disable the built in windows firewall, even if theoretically a commercial product like norton should automatically handle this. The windows firewall is off already. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bigmehdi Posted April 4, 2014 Share Posted April 4, 2014 ok norton sucks. Norton was bashed before because of performance problem. Seems these times are not completely gone. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts