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Trend Micro Killed my Vista
kaliyama
Left to find less-moderated foraRegistered User regular
Left to find less-moderated foraRegistered User regular
Hey everyone,
I had been getting ridiculous CPU usage - a variety of processes were eating up 100% of my CPU cycles and my computer was always chugging. My google-fu led me to uninstall Trend Micro 2007, and the problem went away. This is a well-documented problem, and I wanted to share it with everyone in case they were going through similar problems. It wasn't even that the TM client-related processes were causing the usage. Sometimes it was firefox, etc. that showed up for the overuse. However, this stopped completely once TM got removed.
Any suggestions for a better AV client?
I had been getting ridiculous CPU usage - a variety of processes were eating up 100% of my CPU cycles and my computer was always chugging. My google-fu led me to uninstall Trend Micro 2007, and the problem went away. This is a well-documented problem, and I wanted to share it with everyone in case they were going through similar problems. It wasn't even that the TM client-related processes were causing the usage. Sometimes it was firefox, etc. that showed up for the overuse. However, this stopped completely once TM got removed.
Any suggestions for a better AV client?
kaliyama on
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Alternatively, go back to XP.
vvv that too, but usually when someone wants it, they need it for a school/work network that has the dumb requirement.
Avast! works fine for me so far, and thankfully seems to be ok with me disabling every last one of its processes unless called for.
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I've always used that and come out fine, the only times it ever doesn't work is when someone else uses my computer without permission. . . So I guess if you've got a machine sharing with others you're going to have to have AV software. . .
Actually now that I recall isn't it that none of the AV companies can provide anti virus for vista because vista doesn't allow kernal mode programs?
I've also heard that Bitdefender with properly set up windows firewall works surprisingly well.
And to all those who scoff at AV protection, I will laugh when the day comes that someone devises a way to embed malicious code right into images that are downloaded when you merely access HTML commands, and that such code blocks off your access to the net so that the only way you can remove it is to grab an AV program from a thumb drive or something. Then you will find that it has disabled your USB drivers.
One day.
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I ended up buying nod32 due to some great reviews, and it really is fantastic
takes up very little resources compared to other AVs I've tried, has a clean and functional interface, and scans quickly
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I doubt that will make a difference. I had the same CPU problems running TM2007 using XP. It's just a horrid, nasty CPU hog. I just ended up downgrading for the time being and the problem disappeared.
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good to hear it's compatible now, though
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I found the issue was actually the installer: It wouldn't install, but if you manually moved files from another computer and got all the registry entries, it would work, less a few features.
Going back to XP, like said above, won't work: I just removed TM PC-Cillin from a client's XP system last Sunday. Locked at 100% CPU and unbelievable RAM usage. The worst offense was that, left to itself, it would repeatedly find the exact same problems over and over and not fixing them. Which was good, because the only things it found (on a system crawling with viruses and spyware) were false positives on windows critical files.
Edit:
Actually been done. Also in audio files. For a while there, they were all the rage. It was called a buffer overrun attack, and even Linux got hit with some nasty crap because of it. The basic explanation is that malformed data and software written to trust all files of said format would exceed the memory it was given and replace code in memory. Downloading smart is great, but it's not enough when decent AV can be had for free and makes a minimal impact on CPU and RAM outside of actual scans.
As a Geeksquad agent, I have to get customers away from garbage anti-virusii programs that don't do the job; however this is only half the battle, as knowing what to click on and what not to click on goes a long way towards protecting one-self.
No AV is just about the dumbest thing I have ever heard. AV software is sadly necessary to function if you use the internet for more then just "the email".
A good Internet Security suite of programs will have no trouble on your average vista computer. Considering I install Trend Micro I.S. 2007 a dozen or so times a day, I would have to say that we have yet to have a single issue with it.
Perhaps troubleshooting the issue, and seeing if the suspicious program alert is checking another program constantly, and thus spiking CPU usage. Check to see if you are chewing up your memory and vista is having to page it out. These can be due to inter-program conflicts. Are all your windows' updates done, etc etc.
Surfing the internet without AV and a firewall is really foolish. You can go to the wrong site and you can be instantly infected. Firefox and Noscript can help in that respect.
I'm waiting for the new JPEG standard to hit mainstream, and with it, the advent of a new age of annoyances.
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Necessary is such a strong word. I haven't had an AV suite on my system since 2002 and every scan I do with trend micro brings up nothing. I do have spybot that I run once every couple months that takes 15 or so things off my system, but nothing major.
For the average user it is necessary, but its not needed for everyone.
Is anyone familiar with this 'virus' or 'malware' or whatever its classified as? I'm thinking of putting all the files I want to keep on to my second HDD and reformatting/reinstalling XP on to the original. Will this just reintroduce the virus to the fresh xp install when I hook up the second drive again?
Your best bet is to reformat the computer and reinstall windows. If you have a major brand computer, just do a full destructive windows restore, and within a couple of hours the unit will be back to factory settings.
What you do with your data is your own choice, however, it is often rare for a virus to hop on board a data move to another non-system drive. Furthermore, "smitty" often occurs when the user doesn't know what the hell they are doing, installs something they shouldn't, and infects their computer.
After a restore you should pick up PC-cillin internet security 2007/2008 to secure the computer, perform your windows updates, and try not to install any superfluous software. That will leave a relatively fast computer that is not only stable, but secure.
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Stay away from NAV and AVG. Norton Antivirus home user version is about the worst resource hog i've ever seen. It doesn't detect enough viruses anyway. AVG Free is better than nothing, but useless against any serious threat. I wouldn't put too much fath in their pay products either.
It should be viruses.
In Latin you use the "ii" plural suffix if the word ends in "ius", see also Radius - Radii.
Virii is just used by people trying and failing to look smart.
Edit: My choice of AV, for what it's worth.
Fixed, for something that won't require buying new hardware.
Or a new selection of turtlenecks.
This too is fully acceptable.
I'm not sure I'm convinced virus protection is necessary, outside of the basics (like not clicking on links in spam or farming for free porn). With the notable exception of XP SP1. I expect to do the same with Vista.
An occasional free online scan just to make sure probably dosn't hurt, but paid-for live protection? Not if everyone who uses the machine knows not to be an idiot.
Sig'd.
I was just playing [strike]Titan Quest[/strike] [strike]Hellgate: London[/strike] [strike]WAR beta[/strike] [strike]CoD4[/strike] [strike]Spore[/strike] [strike]City of Heroes[/strike] some shitty freeware Tetris game on my iBook, thinking how I'd never want to play a game on my PC again!
Fortunately for kaliyama, the world's best antivirus program has a free 30-day trial and works on Vista.