Anti-virus etc Vs FS9 performance change

Nigel Edwards · Post by **Nigel Edwards** » 19 Dec 2006, 11:01

Hello chaps,

I should firstly say this is not intended to be a plug for any specific products, but having just changed some stuff on my system I have noticed a significant improvement in my FS9.

I have for years used the No***n family of anti-virus and internet security and had no real complaints. I recently was advised by a friend to try something called AVG which does the same thing but at much less burden to the system, and with better effectiveness. I had a look in processes with No***n running and, blimey, what a load there was.

Suffice to say that I have followed my friend's advice ( I'm a pilot not a computer guru!) and changed to AVG and the difference is incredible. Not only did AVG find some stuff that No***n had not, but it's like having the machine back to new. There are far fewer processes running now that I have uninstalled No***n and AVG seems to catch more attacks, viruses etc trying to get in from the 'net.

My FS9 now runs like a dream using my most complex add-on aircraft and scenery.

Wish I'd done it years ago!

As I said this is not meant to say one product is better than another, but I have found a significant benefit that I thought others might be interested in.

Best wishes

Nige

DanKH · Post by **DanKH** » 19 Dec 2006, 11:17

Using almost all the CPU power is a very well known fact of Norton....

I can't explain why they haven't fixed it a long time ago, since it has been like that almost for ever......

The AVG has been mentioned in a different thread here at the forum, as being a good alternative.

I use EA AntiVirus from CA, merely because Ã

petermcleland · Post by **petermcleland** » 19 Dec 2006, 11:20

Yes I agree, Norton and McAfee are both BloatWare and very intrusive. They can also be extremely difficult to remove all traces of. Recently, I had difficulty removing Nortons from a laptop...The reason for the trouble was that the hidden part of Nortons was actually running when I uninstalled (I forgot to switch that part off first). The trouble this caused was endless and almost impossible to fix (even with Registry editing).

The solution was to re-install Nortons, make sure none of it was running, and then uninstall it again. This time it worked fine and Registry Mechanic cleared up the debris :dance:

Post by **Garry Russell** » 19 Dec 2006, 11:22

I run AVG free which is about to be discontinued

When I had Nortons on this machine I used to turn it on sometimes as it used to find a whole load of stuff AVG missed

My other PC has a trojan that shows up in it that I can't kill

Nortons finds it but can't fix and reports several other viruses as well that it can't fix but never show.only on virus scan

If I run AVG I get a no viruses found at the end of the scan

It seems each are good at certain things and miss others.

Garry

PeteP · Post by **PeteP** » 19 Dec 2006, 11:44

Garry Russell wrote:I run AVG free which is about to be discontinued

Hi Garry,
You may already know but, just to make things clear, it's only AVG Free 7.1 that's being discontinued. The replacement AVG Free 7.5 is available now for download from http://free.grisoft.com/doc/5390/lng/us ... virus-free
Pete

petermcleland · Post by **petermcleland** » 19 Dec 2006, 12:24

Garry Russell wrote:I run AVG free which is about to be discontinued

When I had Nortons on this machine I used to turn it on sometimes as it used to find a whole load of stuff AVG missed

My other PC has a trojan that shows up in it that I can't kill

Nortons finds it but can't fix and reports several other viruses as well that it can't fix but never show.only on virus scan

If I run AVG I get a no viruses found at the end of the scan

It seems each are good at certain things and miss others.

Garry

Garry...Just as a matter of interest, does your Trojan make a little animated "Mine" icon in the tray which keeps popping up a notice to say that virus activity has been detected...Click here etc. etc.

If so then I have a fix for you or anyone else that has it.

Post by **Garry Russell** » 19 Dec 2006, 12:36

Hi Peter

No icon or anything

It is on the other machine and when running every now and then the machine locks and Nortons comes up with the red label saying can't fix access to the file has been denied

This happens repeatedly until after about 20-30 presses of OK all is fine for a while

It says where it is but I can't delete it access denied file in use or protected by the system message when I try

Don't know off hand what it is called it is on my backup machine

One thing for sure, if that machine is connected to the net it always comes up at 08.00 even if there is no other activity.

No evidence it or any of them are actually doing harm apart from being a damn nuisance and extreme frustration.

Garry

hinch · Post by **hinch** » 19 Dec 2006, 14:53

i completely agree, norton has been a bain on my simming as it was always so hard to shut down! saying that it also took ages to do anything with it on...

i use NOD32 now and i'm completely smitten with it.