Windows 7: Mcafee on access scanner service

I know this program is supposed to be monitoring all my files and such to prevent viruses and malware but it eats up alot of resources, sometimes causing mt cpu to hit 100%. is it safe to turn it off and is that even possible?

Welcome,

Yes, turn it off
In its place use Microsoft Security Essentials and Malwarebytes. Less resources used and they are really good.

http://www.malwarebytes.org/mbam.php

These two pieces of software are used by many of the members, in addition to myself.

All you need is a firewall, anti virus and malwarebytes, everything else in Mcafee, is not needed.

To turn if off, go to search type in msconfig, go to the start up tab, untick mcafee. Turn off the computer, boot up and now it is not on. If you no longer want it you can uninstall, now, from the control panel in programs

If you want to know how to maintain your computer, just post and I will be very happy to help.

thanks. ive been using malwarebytes for a while now and when my current mcafee subscription runs out i dont plan to renew it. Does turing off mcafee completely disable it or just turn off the on access scanner service?

If you turn it off, its off completely. Go to MS config, if there if it is only listed once, off is OFF.

If you use it until your subscription is up, you are using something you are not happy with and it cost you X dollars

If you uninstall, use something that you like (as Microsoft Security Essentials) it still costs you X dollars and you are better off. Your choice.

Congratulations on using MalwareBytes Antimalware this is an excellent program for scanning and ridding your system of many problems.

Yes, use Microsoft Security Essentials. Here's the procedure which even my non-techie wife followed and she is delighted:

Download Microsoft Security Essentials.

Disconnect for the Internet.

Use Control Panel | Programs and Features | Click on McAffee | Choose Uninstall.

After uninstall is finished, restart your computer.

Ignore all of those dire warnings about having no protection.

Install Microsoft Security Essentials.

Let MSE scan.

Go back online and click on Microsoft Security Essentials update tab.

AFter the update, doo a "quick" scan.

MSE is very unobtrusive but still I prefer to control when scans are run and when updates are run. With MSE you can choose when. Your Real Time Protection will always be active (unless you purposely disable such).

karl

Great post Karl, but you forgot the most important part. Mcafee has a fee to buy plus an annual fee. MSE is FREE. Hard to believe but FREE.

Now, I realize I forgot that too. Its FREE

thanks for the help guys

Hi there, Mcafee is high on RAM and CPU whereas MSE is high on RAM.
If you need a paid AV, go for Vipre or Norton, whereas Avast is the best free AV out there.

Dinesh, I'd be interested in knowing what technical lab has come to these conclusions.

I would like to go read the article.

Karl

Well I have installed Avast and Vipre at the moment. Earlier I had installed Mcafee and it uses around 60-80 MB RAM while idle and more than 200 MB RAM during a scan. Its also high on CPU. If you play a full screen game while its scanning, you'll feel that the game is lagging.

MSE is high on RAM. But its good at CPU usage. So if you have more than 3-4 GB RAM, go for MSE.


Avast and Vipre are lot better as they use around 4-8 MB RAM during idle and 18-20 MB RAM..

Avast mem usage: 7 MB.


Vipre mem usage: 6MB.


Hope this helps you choose your best.
Dinesh.