Mcafee Antivirus Is Slowing Down My Computer

I recently upgraded my McAfee anti-virus software to the 2007 version and it's significantly slowed my computer down. McAfee does a full scan almost every time I turn my computer on, if not every time and it takes hours to complete the scan. I have a Dell laptop that is 3 or 4 years old. It takes forever for my internet to load (I have cable internet) and it slows down other applications as well, such as printing documents. I've read in other forums that its not uncommon for McAfee to slow down computers and the most common suggestion is to un-install it and try AVG, but I just paid for another year of McAfee (prior to upgrading to the new version), so I'd rather not scrap it and waste that money. Does anyone have any suggestions to help speed up my computer's performance? This version has real time scanning, as well as weekly scheduled scanning. Will disabling real time scanning help? I tried that, but when I disabled it, McAfee said my computer wasn't protected, so I immediately enabled it again. We only use the computer for limited internet use and don't download much, if anything. Is there anyway I can change the settings on McAfee to help speed up my computer and limit the intrusiveness of McAfee? Any suggestions will be greatly appreciated.

I don't use McAfee, but there should be some way, in the options, to prevent it from running a scan, every time you turn your computer on.

You do not want to disable real time scanning.
This is what monitors your computer, at all times, for any malicious programs that may try to sneak in.

Thanks. Last night I turned the computer on and just cancelled the scan, which definitely helped.

Schedule scans
You can schedule scans to thoroughly check your computer for viruses and other threats at specified intervals.

To schedule a scan:

On the Advanced Menu, click Configure.
On the Configure pane, click Computer & Files.
Under Virus protection, click Advanced.
On the Virus Protection pane, click Scheduled Scan.
Ensure that Enable scheduled scanning is selected.
Select the check box beside the day of the week on which to perform the scan.
Click values in the start time lists to specify a start time.
Click OK.
Tip: To use the default schedule, Click Reset.


This is the way to schedule a scan. Go to McAfee Security Center. Follow instructions then it will scan when you want it to.

yeah mac aand norton will do that to your computer ... um u can deal with it or tweak it so there is less stuff running at a given time ...


or switch to nod32 or kaspkersky ( spelling ? )

they are very fast and really dont slow ur computer at all .. they do require more work on your part as aposed to macafee where it does everything for u automaticly ...

its all preferences