Disapointed in Microsoft Security Essentials

[AlterUrEgo]

I'm really disappointed in the Microsoft Security Essentials and how it worked in my computer.
Here's my long winded story:
I noticed in Netlimiter3 that when I access the internet it now goes through the "Avast Service" (avastsvc.exe) and doesn't show up on "Internet Explorer" at all and in the same time I noticed google has slowed down. After years of using avast now I might have to shelve it and find another antiviris.
I uninstalled using the removal tools, reinstalled and still the same thing.
Started to research my next antiviris and came up with BitDefender Total Security 2013 and MSE. Installed Bitdefender and it was as though I was in jail..very few options to work with, not bad on resources but the kicker is that I had autoupdate turned off and it still had update ready popup and all 3 with in a hour and half, with different file sizes in each of the popup's, making my game burp and fart just before the popup reared its ugly head. Bitdefender is for someone who has oodles of ram and don't mind all the resource hogging bells and whistles. I'm not one of them...
I installed MSE on my wifes comp several months ago because I don't know why but Avast took a dump and I couldn't fix it. Its been working just fine on her comp @30K in the task manager, bootup quickly and so far hasn't interfered with her computing and gaming at all.
My comp was a different story:
AMD Athlon 64 Processor 3800+ single core
4.00 GB Ram
2-512 GeForce 8600 GT video cards SLI together
Windows 7 Ultimate 64-bit
Its not a high speed, high ram modern comp but its taught me enough to keep her running smoothly.
I installed MSE on my comp and right from the get go, bootup time hung for 30+ seconds and desktop icons appearing even longer than that and it seems like it hung and hung before I could access anything.
Noticed that I have very few preference options inn MSE once I was able to access my comp again, so I did what I could and restarted my comp to see the result...same thing hung the comp, the icon was red and took forever for the MSE icon to turn green and load the desktop.
Restarted the comp again and this time I brought up the task manager as it was loading and OMG it was the MSE running at 98%, rolling over 200K and climbing in resources. It ended up bout 320K and 30+ seconds before usable desktop was achieved and icon turned green and then stayed around 60K at idle(more than double resource useage than my wifes comp) and increased my explorer.exe to @60K at idle which before MSE it idled @25K.
Googled and researched what might be the problem and seems like I'm not the only one who has this issue.
My msconfig startup is clean....no unneeded programs starting up
I excluded MSE program from scanning... I did and it didn't work
Complete system scans from MSE. Malwarebytes, Superantispyware and CCleaner and other than a few cookies they picked up nothing.
So what is MSE scanning so severely at bootup that it hangs my comp for so long and uses nearly double the resources as the exact same MSE in my wifes comp.
I thought I exhausted all my avenues to why MSE runs so bad on my comp I had to revert back to Avast and I'm not happy but I had to.
Maybe someone in this fourm might have a idea on what MSE is scanning at bootup cause I'm willing to give MSE another chance as a learning experience but in the end I don't trust microsoft products at all.

 

[SIW2]

It's looking for rootkits.

I am not fond of MSE.

Much prefer Avast, lower resource usage, faster scans, constant updates. No contest.

MSE is better than nothing of course.

 

[Layback Bear]

The difference between 25k and 60k is not slowing down your computer. I recommend checking if you have anything else scheduled at startup.

 

[Jacee]

Check to see what 'add-ons' you might have running at the same time.

Also, download Security Check by screen317 from here http://screen317.spywareinfoforum.org/SecurityCheck.exe or here http://screen317.spywareinfoforum.org/
Save it to your Desktop.
Double click SecurityCheck.exe and follow the onscreen instructions inside of the black box.
A Notepad document should open automatically called checkup.txt.
Please post the contents of that document.

 

[AlterUrEgo]

Sorry for taking so long to reply back, I got busy yesterday and didn't get back on the comp.
I did the "Security Check"and came up with these results:

Results of screen317's Security Check version 0.99.51
Windows 7 Service Pack 1 x64 (UAC is disabled!)
Internet Explorer 8 Out of date!
``````````````Antivirus/Firewall Check:``````````````
Windows Firewall Enabled!
avast! Antivirus
Antivirus up to date!
`````````Anti-malware/Other Utilities Check:`````````
Out of date HijackThis installed!
XoftSpySE
Spybot - Search & Destroy
HijackThis 1.99.1
FixCleaner
Java 7 Update 7
Adobe Flash Player 10 Flash Player out of Date!
Adobe Reader X (10.1.4)
````````Process Check: objlist.exe by Laurent````````
AVAST Software Avast AvastSvc.exe
AVAST Software Avast AvastUI.exe
`````````````````System Health check`````````````````
Total Fragmentation on Drive C: 0%
````````````````````End of Log``````````````````````

*I'll let others fart around with IE9 and I'll update sometime later and all the bugs have been fixed.
*Flash 11 sucks and interfered with the There.com virtual world I play so I had to revert back to 10.3.

I play 2 virtual world games, There.com and Second Life and both I need every meg of ram I can muster cause with 4 gig of ram those games take up a pile of resources so if there is a difference between 25K and 60K in explorer it means that I'm loosing useful memory and/or ram. I've streamlined this comp and my wife's comp to play these games to their optimum performance. Streamlined my services by disabling useless services or setting them to manual and stopping them from Task manager when I'm finished with that particular program.

As for my startup msconfig says that I have
Razer Imperator mouse
Razer Taranchula keyboard
Avast Antiviris
-These are my startup programs, I use all the features in the mouse and keyboard so they have to start and the Avast is self explanatory.
I have my add-ons in check with disabling the ones I don't use.
I have disabled the all the auto updating in Flash, Java, ITunes, Avast and assorted other programs to maximize my internet and resources by not have run in the task manager or updating when I'm playing. I manually update all my programming and been doing it this way for years.
MSE Scanning for rootkits....gezzz never had a rootkit infection so far but I got other programs that would clobber it long before I would use MSE to remove them.
I'm pretty sure that my last reinstall was 4 years ago, so my windows is getting a bit tired and a reinstall is going to have to be done sooner or later but so far its served me well for all the crap I've put this computer through.
But still I just don't know why at idle MSE runs over twice as hot as the MSE on my wife's computer and thank you for the rootkit info, in all my research I never came across anything that could explain the loooooong boot time MSE created.

 

[Jacee]

You're running Avast and MSE, which are both Anti-Virus programs and resource hogs. They will fight each other for your system's resources, and may fight each other's virus definitions. Uninstall one of these programs.

You also have XoftSpySE ... I don't see any advantage to having this (so called) anti-spyware program. It's not free! Hopefully you didn't pay for it. I'd recommend that you uninstall it, Then download Malwarebyte's Anti-Malware, which is free and is tops in it's class!

Download (free version) Malwarebytes' Anti-Malware to your desktop
Malwarebytes Anti-Malware Download
* Double-click mbam-setup.exe and follow the prompts to install the program.Right click to run as Administrator, using Windows 7 or Vista.
* At the end, be sure a checkmark is placed next to Update Malwarebytes' Anti-Malware and Launch Malwarebytes' Anti-Malware, then click Finish.
* If an update is found, it will download and install the latest version.
* Once the program has loaded, select Perform full scan, then click Scan.
* When the scan is complete, click OK, then Show Results to view the results.
* Be sure that everything is checked, and click Remove Selected.
* When completed, a log will open in Notepad. Please save it to a convenient location. Copy and Paste that log into your next reply.

 

[AlterUrEgo]

I don't have both Avast and MSE installed and running at the same time it was either one or the other installed and running. I know the havoc it reeks just like having 2 firewalls running at the same time. I have the firewall in my router disabled and use Windows firewall only.
As for XoftSpySE...ya I know its crap and actually forgot I had it installed, that's how long its been since its been used. I uninstalled and deleted it.

Here's my MalwareBytes log
Malwarebytes Anti-Malware 1.65.0.1400
www.malwarebytes.org

Database version: v2012.10.17.12

Windows 7 Service Pack 1 x64 NTFS
Internet Explorer 8.0.7601.17514
Glenn :: ROLLINGTHUNDER [administrator]

10/17/2012 3:42:42 PM
mbam-log-2012-10-17 (16-40-39).txt

Scan type: Full scan (C:\|)
Scan options enabled: Memory | Startup | Registry | File System | Heuristics/Extra | Heuristics/Shuriken | PUP | PUM
Scan options disabled: P2P
Objects scanned: 405582
Time elapsed: 55 minute(s), 23 second(s)

Memory Processes Detected: 0
(No malicious items detected)

Memory Modules Detected: 0
(No malicious items detected)

Registry Keys Detected: 0
(No malicious items detected)

Registry Values Detected: 0
(No malicious items detected)

Registry Data Items Detected: 0
(No malicious items detected)

Folders Detected: 0
(No malicious items detected)

(end)

Here's another Security Scan log file and its pretty well the same as the last one I posted

Results of screen317's Security Check version 0.99.51
Windows 7 Service Pack 1 x64 (UAC is disabled!)
Internet Explorer 8 Out of date!
``````````````Antivirus/Firewall Check:``````````````
Windows Firewall Enabled!
avast! Antivirus
Antivirus up to date!
`````````Anti-malware/Other Utilities Check:`````````
Out of date HijackThis installed!
Spybot - Search & Destroy
Malwarebytes Anti-Malware version 1.65.0.1400
HijackThis 1.99.1
FixCleaner
Java 7 Update 7
Adobe Flash Player 10 Flash Player out of Date!
Adobe Reader X (10.1.4)
````````Process Check: objlist.exe by Laurent````````
Malwarebytes Anti-Malware mbam.exe
AVAST Software Avast AvastSvc.exe
AVAST Software Avast AvastUI.exe
`````````````````System Health check`````````````````
Total Fragmentation on Drive C: 0%
````````````````````End of Log``````````````````````

I don't like registry cleaners because they have a habit of over-deleting and I've run into that hassle more times than I wanna admit.


So I'm still baffled on why MSE has such a bad attitude towards my computer and until I can find a acceptable reason to why and maybe a fix..It'll stay off my computer

 

[Lady Fitzgerald]

1. Go ahead and instal IE9. It's not much different from IE8. I personally like IE9 better than IE8. There are a few things that are different but, before condemning IE9, check here to find out how to use it if you run into problems. It's not that difficult.

2. Turn UAC back on. Sure, it's annoying but it will help prevent unauthorized changes to your computer as long as you actually read the warning instead of automatically hitting yes. I have my set for full protection and I'm able to deal with the popups.

3. Either update or delete your out of date programs.

Also, try uninstalling Spybot. It's been known to not play well with other programs.

 

[Jacee]

Clean all temps with TFC... download TFC by Old Timer TFC - Temp File Cleaner by OldTimer - Geeks to Go Forums and save it to your desktop.

Save any unsaved work. TFC will close ALL open programs including your browser!
Double-click on TFC.exe to run it. If you are using Vista/Windows 7 right-click on the file and choose Run As Administrator.
Click the Start button to begin the cleaning process and let it run uninterrupted to completion.
Important! If TFC prompts you to reboot, please do so immediately. If not prompted, manually reboot the machine anyway to ensure a complete clean.

Tell me if yor computer is running any faster or not.

 

[AlterUrEgo]

I think my point has been missed. My system isn't slow maybe not as sharp as a clean install but still quite fast. It has to do with MSE taking a long time to get to my desktop to function properly.
I don't think installing IE9 is going to make any difference in how MSE loads at startup but never the less I'm not going to install it.

-UAC...There is no benefit whatsoever to enabling that silly option. I disabled those annoying popup's many moons ago. UAC makes you feel like a kid asking mom for permission to play in your own room.

-Updating some out of date programs or delete them..I explained briefly why they are like that.
*I'll let others fart around with IE9 and I'll update sometime later and all the
bugs have been fixed.
*Flash 11 sucks and interfered with the There.com virtual world I play so
I had to revert back to 10.3.

I installed spybot a little while ago just for chits-n-giggles to see if maybe it could find something to why MSE startup is so slow, disabled teatimer and removed the ugly host file its known to produce, so all spybot is doing is nothing but using up disk space.
The age of HijackThis states its been a while since I used it and when I'm going to use it again then I will update it.

I tried the TFC and it blew through and deleted something but I have no idea what it did cause I can't find any sorta log file stating what it cleaned out and once I rebooted it was gone. I found no difference in my computer speed after running TFC.

Back to the drawing board on this MSC startup and running in my computer issue with no explanation other than its doing a rootkit scan at bootup and rendering my computer useless until the scan is finished. MSC using excessive amounts of resources all the time in the task manager will ensure it never being installed again on my computer.
If anyone else wants to take a poke at this...go for it I'm always willing to acquire new knowledge.

 

[Layback Bear]

This is no barn stormer.
AMD Athlon 64 Processor 3800+ single core
4.00 GB Ram
2-512 GeForce 8600 GT video cards SLI together
Windows 7 Ultimate 64-bit
-------------------------
MSE is used by many millions of people all over the world without any problems. The extra 35k that you say MSE is using would not effect even your system.
As you know more than one anti virus and Firewall running at the same time is a no no. Disabling the others is not good enough, they should be removed completely.
Spybot and Teatimes have been yesterdays new for a very long time and do cause problems. Hijack This should only be on a computer when and if needed. UAC of course is the choice of the owner operator along with which I.E. you care to use. TFC is not fancy but does work quite well or Jacee would not recommend it. I do use it.
With a single core processor and the rest of your system it is silly to blame MSE for what ever you consider slowness on boot or any other process on your computer. A single core processor with SLI sucking up 1 gig of ram is quiet unusual.
You could try this; parts of it might help you.
http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/11728-optimize-windows-7-a.html

 

[DBone]

Very very simple, uninstall either MSE or avast!. Even if you disable one or the other's real time protection, they will still run processes and drivers that will interfere with the resident AV. There are on-demand scanners that are much better than either AV that is installed, like Malwarebytes, HitMan Pro and Emsisoft Emergency Kit just to name a few. Never install two AVs on the same machine, even if there are internet experts that say otherwise................ Once either is uninstalled your issues will magically disappear.

Also, re-enable your NAT router firewall ASAP, as that is your first line of defense. The W7 firewall will not interfere in any way with the NAT firewall........This is a must.





EDIT: It looks as though the OP may not have had two AVs installed simultaneously, but I'm having a hard time following his info. Rather then editing my post, I'm going to leave it as is so it might help someone else who searches and finds this thread.

 

[AlterUrEgo]

What would you like me to explain better DBone?

-I didn't have both avast and MSE installed or running at the same time.
-Avast runs IE through AvastSvc.exe inwhich it didn't do before and caused my internet connection to slow down. I noticed this through NetLimiter3.
-Uninstalled Avast and installed MSE
-boot time increased dramatically as MSE was doing something that made my computer useless until it finished took 30 seconds to a minute to produce a usable desktop (answered as a rootkit scan).
-MSE runs great on my wifes comp..no boot time hang and low resources
-MSE runs like crap on my comp...long boot time and high resource when idling

I'm just looking for a explaination to how this can be. I've followed most of the advice presented to me but the advice given was to clean out a already clean comp thinking my comp is slow inwhich it isn't. It was my internet connection going through AvastSvc that slowed everything down.
I'm back to using Avast....