Performance problems with MSE

Discussion in 'Software' started by pwillener, Feb 17, 2011.

  1. pwillener

    pwillener MajorGeek

    I have recently uninstalled AVG 2011 (free) on one computer, and replaced it with Microsoft Security Essentials. From then on, the system starts slowing down every day at around 13:00 for one hour, with many processes running (msmpeng, svchost, etc) at very high CPU, and the HD light being on constantly. Nothing else can be done during that time!

    The computer is running 24h, and Windows Automatic Updates have been set to run at 03:00 every night. MSE is set to scan the computer weekly at Sunday night.

    Does anyone know what it is doing at 13:00 every day (definitions update?), and what I can do to let these activities happen during the night? I don't see anything in MSE where to specify when updates should occur...
     
  2. gman863

    gman863 MajorGeek

    Hit CTRL+ALT+DEL, choose "Open Windows Task Manager", click on the "Processes" tab and then click on the CPU heading. This will display both the processes and percentage of CPU use for each at any given moment. Also check the "Performance" tab showing the overall CPU and physical memory usage.

    Check these at a "normal" time and again around 13:00 when the system slows down. This should give you a heads-up on what is causing the system to slow down, and by how much.

    If you find one or more unexplained processes running around 13:00, please post back.

    Hope this helps. :)
     
  3. Baxter Stockman

    Baxter Stockman Private First Class

    Does it have a scheduled scan at that time?
     
  4. sikvik

    sikvik Corporal Karma

    msmpeng belongs to Windows Defender. MSE by default disables defender on 7 and Vista and uninstalls from XP. Check if it's running. If yes disables and stop from Services.
    For some reason its on your machine and probably trying to run a scan or something!!
    Defender runs in C:\Windows\System32\svchost.exe -k secsvcs. If you have
    Process Explorer check that svchost for CPU cycling.

    Cheers..
     
  5. pwillener

    pwillener MajorGeek

    It just happened again, some 3 hours later than previous times. I had Process Explorer open, which shows much more than Task Manager. These processes were running at the time (apart from the usual stuff):
    • wuauclt.exe (multiple times)
    • MsMpEng.exe (high CPU, high memory usage)
    • MpCmdRun.exe (multiple times)
    • AM_Delta_Patch3.exe
    • MpSigStub.exe
    After all these disappeared, the computer became usable again.

    And no, no scan is scheduled for daytime. Neither is automatic update (Windows).
     
  6. sikvik

    sikvik Corporal Karma

    Shut down defender altogether it conflicts with MSE. MpCmdRun.exe also belongs to Defender!
    Cheers..
     
  7. pwillener

    pwillener MajorGeek

    Windows Defender is not separately installed on this computer; I thought it was part of MSE. Am I mistaken...?
     
  8. sikvik

    sikvik Corporal Karma

  9. sikvik

    sikvik Corporal Karma

    1. MsMpEng.exe
    2. MpCmdRun.exe
    Are used by both MSE and defender:crap
    Time to rethink :-D

    Should not reflect as a stand alone app though. Need a MSE user to jump in here.
    Cheers..
     
  10. usafveteran

    usafveteran MajorGeek

    I tried MSE on my Windows XP system but decided to abandon it and install avast! Antivirus. I noticed that Task Manager showed MSE using a high amount of memory. CPU usage was OK but the memory usage was what made me decide to switch. This computer has 512MB of RAM; if it had more, I might have kept MSE.
     
  11. oma

    oma MajorGeek

    Well, I also tried MSE (in XP Home) a while back and had to abandon it. Browsing was slower and scanning took over 1 hour. Additionally, it did put info in "system restore" about every day after an update. Saw that in CCleaner. That did it for me!

    Could be that MSE is not the best selection for an AV if having an XP and below even though I have 2.5 GB memory?
     
  12. Baxter Stockman

    Baxter Stockman Private First Class

    I've put MSE on all types of computers. High end and very low end. Its odd because I've never came across an issue like this. MSE is the least bulky AV that I've come across.
     
  13. plodr

    plodr Major Geek Super Extraordinaire

    MSE works fine on the one XP computer I have it installed on. I had to chose this because it is the only computer in the house that Avira AntiVir slowed down tremendously. Obviously some computers just don't like certain AV programs. (What is strange is that 3 of the computers are the same model! Why does it slow down one computer and not the other two? I can't answer that.)

    If MS Security Essentials is creating problems on your computer, try Avast or Avira and see which one it likes better.
     
  14. pwillener

    pwillener MajorGeek

  15. Earthling

    Earthling Interplanetary Geek

    On my old XP system I've been trying out Panda Cloud. It's very light on resources and, so far at least, seems to be doing a good job.
     
  16. hrlow2

    hrlow2 MajorGeek

    to Earthling:
    Back in May of '09, while still a beta, Panda Cloud tried to tell me that SAS and SpywareBlaster were malware. Removed it from my system because of that.
    Have they corrected that?
     
  17. Earthling

    Earthling Interplanetary Geek

    I have both installed and the scan is clean. On the last scan I was quite pleased to see it 'neutralise' a doubleclick.com spyware cookie, as the blurb doesn't claim it does so - just says it's AV.
     
  18. hrlow2

    hrlow2 MajorGeek

    Might be worth giving a second chance.
    Thanks for the heads up.
     
  19. pwillener

    pwillener MajorGeek

    Ok, I have run that full scan, but the problem continues - just at a different time now.

    If I could schedule the definition updates for the night, that would have solved the problem, but that does not seem to be possible.

    So I have finally uninstalled MSE and went back to AVG 2011 - no more problems...
     

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