Welcome to the MacNN Forums.

Sarc · Jul 12, 2005, 03:47 PM

Hi,
I'm fixing a Dell Inspiron 2650 laptop. 1.7GHz, 256MB, 4200RPM HD.
Thing is, one of the owner's concern was that it was very slow. So I check it up, found some spyware, but not near enough to slow a system down. No viruses. But I did find a full Norton SystemWorks 2005 install.
Everything the PC does, Norton checks it up.

Questions ?

1) Can Norton be the culprit for the system's slow ass responsiveness ?

2) Is Norton actuallty a good antivirus, worth keeping ?

2) Is there a replacement that checks up as many things as norton ? Aparently it checks up -everything-.

I've been hearing good things about Avast! and Karpesky. Also heard AVG was good but lagged behind.

Any help is welcome.

Thx

Chuckit · Jul 12, 2005, 04:13 PM

Is it suddenly very slow, or might it always have been this way? 4200 RPM can be pretty sluggish if you're used to decent hard drives. (I'm sure you know that, but it's just a thought I had.)

kmkkid · Jul 12, 2005, 04:20 PM

1. 256 MB isnt enough RAM for XP if that's the OS the person has installed.
2. Norton uses tonnes of RAM for all of the services it has running, especially if auto-protect is on. (see: point 1.)
3. How long has the OS been installed for? Over time crap/programs build up and the OS slows down, it's always good to reinstall the whole OS every 6 months or so.
4. Check to see if any processes are constantly taking up a lot of cpu power. Could be norton or any buggy program.

Norton is a good Anti-Virus, but it also uses a lot of system resources to keep it up to date and for live protection.

Sarc · Jul 12, 2005, 04:38 PM

It ocurred to me that norton is the problem because while monitoring the Task Manager, I started doing some normal tasks: create a file, browse, recieve some email, etc.

With every thing I did, Norton's processes start using resources, all the time.

And while 256 is not a lot of ram, it should be enough for XP to run decently. Moreover, this PC is used for browsing and Office work, so it should be about enough for acceptable performance. That's why I blame Norton.

kmkkid · Jul 12, 2005, 04:42 PM

Originally Posted by Sarc

It ocurred to me that norton is the problem because while monitoring the Task Manager, I started doing some normal tasks: create a file, browse, recieve some email, etc.

With every thing I did, Norton's processes start using resources, all the time.

And while 256 is not a lot of ram, it should be enough for XP to run decently. Moreover, this PC is used for browsing and Office work, so it should be about enough for acceptable performance. That's why I blame Norton.

256 is enough for XP itself to run decently, not a host of other programs. Like you've found out Norton uses an excess of ram and cpu time, so it's not giving other processes enough ram or cpu time to do their job speedy.

Sarc · Jul 12, 2005, 08:15 PM

In case anyone's intrested, turned off all of XP's bells and whistles (most of them anyway) and replaced all the Norton crap with an antivirus called Avast!. Looks well rounded and it's much less of a resource hog than Norton. Complemented that with AdWare ane SpyBot for Spyware removal.

cheers

budster101 · Jul 12, 2005, 08:29 PM

You probably have several thousand junk files.
A virus or a trojan. (If you didn't update you definitions, then how do you know? Did you?)
Mounds of Malware, Adware, Spyware...

Your disk is severely fragmented with multiple bad sectors.

Chuckit · Jul 12, 2005, 08:29 PM

Is it Snappy™ now?

Sarc · Jul 12, 2005, 08:35 PM

Much snappier actually.

And no, it didn't have the junk files, or trojans, or any of the common causes for a PC's sluggishnes. Norton did all the slowing down single handed.
And the drive wasn't fragmented at all.

gotta love bloatware.

ghporter · Jul 12, 2005, 08:55 PM

All by itself, Norton's Antivirus software for the PC is not a problem, nor is the Symantec version. Their firewall is good as well, and not a resource hog. On the other hand, System Works IS an incredible resource hog, so dumping it is a major step forward. I would selectively (if the installation disc supports it) install Norton AV and (probably) Personal Security, and leave the rest off. Then I'd up the RAM to at least 512. XP (I'm assuming that's the OS, but this is generally true of 2K and 98 as well) runs much better on more RAM. Bumping up to 512 from 256 will seem like more than doubling the processor speed, and a "snappy" computer will suddenly seem to fly. It's easy to add RAM to an Inspiron laptop too, and 256MB SODIMMS are easy to find and not too expensive. (My PC notebook is an Inspiron 8500-a desktop replacement that you do NOT want to have to carry, but that is better than most desktops.)

Sarc · Jul 12, 2005, 09:02 PM

I couldn't find any info on the factory RAM setup. Is there a way to check with XP wich slots are used ?

thx

ghporter · Jul 12, 2005, 09:14 PM

Not really, but the upgrade RAM slot is on the bottom of the computer.

Look here for the product manual's instructions for getting at the upgrade slot.

budster101 · Jul 12, 2005, 09:20 PM

In Windows based machines, the Ram has to be in a certain order. Really lame.
How is your Registry? Checked it? I bet it's full is crap.