Why does PCTools ThreatFire slow down my PC?

[McDougal]

I have recently discovered PCTools ThreatFire (ThreatFire AntiVirus - Behavioral Virus and Spyware Protection). This is a great program, I now use it on all my PCs bundled with Microsoft Security Essentials. However, I installed it on my new laptop, an ASUS UL20A-A1 with Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit, 2GB RAM, and a 1.3GHz Core 2 Duo. I installed Microsoft Security Essentials on my new laptop, didn't affect performance at all, and then I installed ThreatFire alongside MSE, and noticed a good decrease in overall performance. ThreatFire doesn't slow down my older XP desktops with MSE installed alongside, and it doesn't slow down my weaker XP laptop with MSE installed alongside. I really like ThreatFire, but I don't understand why it is slowing down the most powerful computer I have, and not slowing down the weakest computers I have, it just doesn't make sense. I've done all the tuning up possible with my new laptop (defrag, clean disk space, disable startup items, etc. etc.) with no luck. Does anybody know why ThreatFire would be slowing down my laptop and if there's a fix?

Thanks!

-McDougal

 

[zigzag3143]

I have recently discovered PCTools ThreatFire (ThreatFire AntiVirus - Behavioral Virus and Spyware Protection). This is a great program, I now use it on all my PCs bundled with Microsoft Security Essentials. However, I installed it on my new laptop, an ASUS UL20A-A1 with Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit, 2GB RAM, and a 1.3GHz Core 2 Duo. I installed Microsoft Security Essentials on my new laptop, didn't affect performance at all, and then I installed ThreatFire alongside MSE, and noticed a good decrease in overall performance. ThreatFire doesn't slow down my older XP desktops with MSE installed alongside, and it doesn't slow down my weaker XP laptop with MSE installed alongside. I really like ThreatFire, but I don't understand why it is slowing down the most powerful computer I have, and not slowing down the weakest computers I have, it just doesn't make sense. I've done all the tuning up possible with my new laptop (defrag, clean disk space, disable startup items, etc. etc.) with no luck. Does anybody know why ThreatFire would be slowing down my laptop and if there's a fix?

Thanks!

-McDougal

You are running win 7 with the absolute minimum ram. MSE, useses minimal resources Threatfire uses much more. It doesnt affect XP because its OS requires less ram.

If I were you I would think about adding ram, or using 32bit instead.

Ken

 

[McDougal]

I have recently discovered PCTools ThreatFire (ThreatFire AntiVirus - Behavioral Virus and Spyware Protection). This is a great program, I now use it on all my PCs bundled with Microsoft Security Essentials. However, I installed it on my new laptop, an ASUS UL20A-A1 with Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit, 2GB RAM, and a 1.3GHz Core 2 Duo. I installed Microsoft Security Essentials on my new laptop, didn't affect performance at all, and then I installed ThreatFire alongside MSE, and noticed a good decrease in overall performance. ThreatFire doesn't slow down my older XP desktops with MSE installed alongside, and it doesn't slow down my weaker XP laptop with MSE installed alongside. I really like ThreatFire, but I don't understand why it is slowing down the most powerful computer I have, and not slowing down the weakest computers I have, it just doesn't make sense. I've done all the tuning up possible with my new laptop (defrag, clean disk space, disable startup items, etc. etc.) with no luck. Does anybody know why ThreatFire would be slowing down my laptop and if there's a fix?

Thanks!

-McDougal

You are running win 7 with the absolute minimum ram. MSE, useses minimal resources Threatfire uses much more. It doesnt affect XP because its OS requires less ram.

If I were you I would think about adding ram, or using 32bit instead.

Ken

Thanks Ken for the reply. It might just be that I am using too little ram. I previously had 4GB, but as I stated in my previous post (http://www.sevenforums.com/crashes-debugging/83717-unexpected-restart-no-warnings-bsod-errors.html) my extra 2GB ram was actually incompatible, so I am forced to go 2GB for now. My system runs perfectly (2GB ram only) without ThreatFire installed and only MSE installed, system boots up in 66 seconds and everything runs fine without 4GB ram. So I might just not install ThreatFire, or maybe search for more RAM later.

Thanks for the reply, greatly appreciated!

-McDougal

 

[eldinv]

just use MSE its a perfect solution, that extra protection crap i think is garbage, when more than one antivirus is installed there are many potential problems.

 

[McDougal]

just use MSE its a perfect solution, that extra protection crap i think is garbage, when more than one antivirus is installed there are many potential problems.

I think that's what I'll just do. MSE is working perfectly for me, and my computer is running fine now, I'll upgrade my RAM later when I need it (probably another year or so).

 

[lectricfunrl]

the only thing i haven't seen mse do is prevent spyware. i've had to rely on spybot and malware bytes for that and i'm unsure if malware bytes isn't just sophisticated script kiddie work at this point.

 

[Krispy1]

threat fire sucks, its a b level antivirus and its known to slow down alot of pcs. try using another av on your laptop like avast