Solved Slow Startup/Anti-virus & Firewall Turned Off

[Tiny Clanger]

Hopefully somebody out there will be able to help me out. Its only just recently started to happen.
My startup seems to be very slow, slower than it used to be anyhow. Everything starts up ok, wallpaper loads, Rainmeter starts up, and then theres a delay. (everything seems to startup as usual apart from Vaio Gate software) Its then that the Service Center Flag pops up with a red cross and reports that i should check Windows Firewall and my anti-virus as they are turned off. Then after about 2 minutes, the red cross dissapears, Firewall and antivirus are back, Vaio Gate starts up and everything is ok.
Im using Eset Nod32 antivirus. Ive got Windows Firewall turned off and am using the Nod32 firewall in its place. Ive done virus scans a number of times and it always shows clean. Ive even downloaded Adaware and tried that, but that shows clean too. Ive also disabled everything barring antivirus software in startup menu and its still the same slow startup, still showing AV is off. I cant restore, because i dont have any restore points that go back far enough. I could do a fresh install of Windows 7, but i didnt want to take such drastic action, without searching for other alternatives to the problem first.

Thanks for any help.

 

[Bare Foot Kid]

Hopefully somebody out there will be able to help me out. Its only just recently started to happen.
My startup seems to be very slow, slower than it used to be anyhow. Everything starts up ok, wallpaper loads, Rainmeter starts up, and then theres a delay. (everything seems to startup as usual apart from Vaio Gate software) Its then that the Service Center Flag pops up with a red cross and reports that i should check Windows Firewall and my anti-virus as they are turned off. Then after about 2 minutes, the red cross dissapears, Firewall and antivirus are back, Vaio Gate starts up and everything is ok.

Thanks for any help.

Hello Tiny Clanger, welcome to Seven Forums!


It seems obvious this is the issue, what is it and why do you have it starting at PC startup?

 

[Roderunner]

Hi Tiny Clanger, see if this helps.
View attachment 158192

 

[Tiny Clanger]

Tried to perform a clean boot of Windows 7 as shown here How to troubleshoot a problem by performing a clean boot in Windows Vista or in Windows 7

still getting the exact same message in Action Center

'click to see anti spyware programs (important)

turn on eset smart security 4.2 (important)

view firewall options (important)

and then after 4 minutes or so, all firewall and AV is turned on and everything is back to normal.

 

[JMH]

Tiny Clanger.

1. List all the Security software you have ever had installed on your computer please.{ including preinstalled}

2. I suggest you download / run the free version of SuperAntiSpyware to scan your computer.
Do a full scan after updating. It will take some time to complete.

SUPERAntiSpyware.com | Remove Malware | Remove Spyware - AntiMalware, AntiSpyware, AntiAdware!

3. Troubleshooting "housecleaning"steps you may want to try -

*Type event viewer, in search and look for errors that may show the cause of the problem.
Critical errors have red in the left column.

*Clear your Temp folder
Close all programs
Click the Start orb
In the Search type in %temp%
Open the Temp folder.
Move all contents of Temp to the Recycle Bin for now.
( The contents of Temp should not be needed if the system has been restarted after the installation of software, updates, hardware drivers, etc. )

*Remove any software you have evaluated and decided you don't want to keep.

*Do you check these on a regular basis?
Check Disk.
Defragment
Disk Clean Up
Error Checking

 

[Tiny Clanger]

Thanks for taking the time out to help me guys.

In reply to JMH

As far as i can recall regarding Security Software that i have or have ever had installed on my PC are as follows

McAfee AV (This came pre-installed on my Sony Vaio, i uninstalled it almost immediately and installed
ESET Nod32 Smart Security 4)
Windows Defender i have installed now.
Windows Firewall - which i have turned off (using NOD32 FW)
Lavasoft AdAware - had installed, but didnt like it and uninstalled

Ive just downloaded SuperAntiSpyware and carried out a full scan. It revealed nothing apart from a few tracking cookies which it quarantined.

Have relocated Temp folder to Recycle bin and restarted but the same problem still persists.

And i have recently done all the following in the past 3 weeks

Check Disk.
Defragment
Disk Clean Up
Error Checking

I have a feeling the problem is within Action Center somewhere.

 

[JMH]

Thanks for reporting back with your results.

One final question re the preinstalled Anti Virus - did you use the appropriate McAfee uninstaller / removal tool? { With conventional removal often remnants are left behind that can create " glitches."}

 

[Britton30]

You can use the Free Revo Uninstaller in the future to remove a program and left-over as well.
What is the VAIO Gateway? If it does not do anything other than check with Sony for updates or ads, uninstall it. The Eset security suite is probably checking for updates upon each reboot and while it does, it disables itself. Since it has disabled the Windows Firewall, you'll get a notice on that too, but it can be turned off within the Action Center.

Another handy tool is PC Decrapifier, as the name suggests it will rid you of unwanted factory bloatware.

 

[Tiny Clanger]

@JMH

I really cant remember if i used the official uninstall tool to uninstall McAfee or not. I did uninstall the AV almost a year ago and the problem that i am having is a recent one, for approx 3 weeks.

@Britton30

I do use Revo Uninstaller, and i actually think this may be the culprit of my problem, i think it may have deleted some registry entry that was needed.

Vaio Gate is just a hidden dock, similar to RocketDock, ObjectDock etc that came pre-installed with my Vaio. Its one of the only pre-installed Vaio apps that i did choose to keep. Are you saying that maybe i should disable the updates that my ESET AV does everytime it starts up and instead do a manual update?

 

[Britton30]

With Revo I use the Moderate setting for detecting left-overs. You can uncheck entries it finds to leave intact.
As for eSet, go to Admin Tools>Services, find the eSet service(s) and change start up to Automatic(Delayed start).

 

[JMH]

I do use Revo Uninstaller, and i actually think this may be the culprit of my problem, i think it may have deleted some registry entry that was needed.

FYI.
Re uninstallers / cleaners.
Various views are held about these tools & how useful / necessary they are.

IMO - there is no reliable way for a third party program to know whether any particular key is invalid, redundant or neither.
Some uninstallers /cleaners may not know for sure whether a key is still being used by Windows or what detrimental effects removing it may have.
Removing any may lead to examples of loss of functionality and/or system instability.

 

[Roderunner]

Does this pdf help in any way ? View attachment Revo Uninstaller.PDF

 

[Layback Bear]

Did you turn off your anti virus using msconfig, start up. If you used the program to turn itself off it will just start up again at boot. If you have updated any program it might of set (search for updates at start up). Many times this will happen as a default after updating. If you care to you can check regedit and search for left over parts of programs you know you have removed. Some times programs like anti virus that you remove will leave a service running, something else to check. It wasn't removed at the time you removed the program because it was running. Some time you will have to go to safe mode to stop and remove a service a nasty little program left behind. I also use a little program called Search Everything to find goodies that programs have left behind. Before doing all these things I would make a backup and a restore point. Another great program is Malwarebytes Anti Malware that works like Super Anti Spyware. They only work, or updates when you tell them to. Now so we can tell if things are getting better or worse could you give us a idea of the speed your computer use to boot compared to how it boots now.

 

[Tiny Clanger]

When I uninstalled Eset NOD32 Smart Security using the official ESET uninstall tool and restarted i was back to my usual super fast startup speed instead of the 10 minute start up that i have been witnessing recently.

Ive been an ESET AV user for years now and have never had any problems with it, and i really liked the software, but maybe its time to try a different AV. Can anyone recommend something similar to ESET NOD32 Smart Security? id prefer an all inclusive suite, with firewall, antispyware, anti-spam etc? I was thinking about using Kaspersky.

 

[Layback Bear]

I think you will find many opinions on that subject. Different anti virus at different times for different people work good. Some of them cause a lot of problems. Just reading through the post on this site will give you a lot of information on which ones people are having problems with. I have used so many through the years I can't remember them all. When I paid for them I thought they were great. At this time I'm using MSE and the built in Windows 7 firewall. For the last few months I have had zero problems. They are free. The first free ones I have ever tried. Neither one has conflicted with anything else and I have not been infected. They are user friendly. Both come from Microsoft. I use Malwarebytes Anti Malware and Super Anti Spyware both free stand alone as a second layer of protection. SAS on a deep scan did find a cookie one time that got by MSE that it. I have never un-installed a anti virus program that didn't leave little foot prints all over. I really don't know if that hurts anything but I do spend lots of time hunting them down. The first line of defense is the user of the computer. I hope this helps.

 

[JMH]

When I uninstalled Eset NOD32 Smart Security using the official ESET uninstall tool and restarted i was back to my usual super fast startup speed instead of the 10 minute start up that i have been witnessing recently.

Ive been an ESET AV user for years now and have never had any problems with it, and i really liked the software, but maybe its time to try a different AV. Can anyone recommend something similar to ESET NOD32 Smart Security? id prefer an all inclusive suite, with firewall, antispyware, anti-spam etc? I was thinking about using Kaspersky.

There are a number of companies that regularly test and review Security software.
It's a good idea to check these out as it will give you an idea of the level of performance of the software you're looking for.
Keep in mind though, test results vary (for many different reasons) A program that got the top spot in one test, may not be the best in another. That's why I recommend you visit a few different sites and compare the results.

If you are still unsure about a product, you can always download a trial version and test it out. Most vendors offer trials on their websites.

A lot of people here recommend Microsoft Security Essentials.{ free}
The inbuilt Windows Firewall is also popular.

Disclaimer - I use AVG Anti Virus Pro, SuperAntiSpyware, SpywareBlaster, Win 7 inbuilt Firewall & a Router Firewall.
Thus far all of my computers run efficiently & have never had a BSOD.

The hand that clicks the mouse is the best security program there is.

 

[Britton30]

The hand that clicks the mouse is the best security program there is.

Very correct Jan.