AntiVirus Software Consuming CPU power on T41! Help!

[Delmarco]

The Long Story:
(skip to the short story below, if you want)
So the Norton expired last November on my T41 and they wanted $49.99 to re-subscribe. I had no personal problems with Norton and it kept my notebook safe and running smooth for the last 2 years, but $49 seem steep and I got an offer to buy the much better and more secure BitDefender V10 for $29. So I went with the BitDefender and after a month of smooth runnings I realized my computer had really slow start up times and would hang for minutes whiles working on the internet. After a Task Manager investigation I realized BitDefender had a bdss.exe process consuming 80% to 98% CPU. It would end when I terminated the process and everything would be fine. However a few hours later or the next time I turned on my notebook it would be back to taking over my CPU.

By March I was tired of it, I deleted Bitdefender and seeked out the lightest most unobstrusive anitvirus software I could find. I got Trend Micro PC-Illin 2007 and I installed the lightest version of the software without the extra firewall and internet super-duper security options.
Anyway, last night after a week or two of the PC-Illin I noticed the same 100% CPU power take over, but it wasn't one process but many processes from the Antivirus software that was tap dancing on my CPU. I realized I have the same Trend Micro 2007 Antivirus program on my DELL XPS 200 & my Girlfriend's Dell XPS 400 and it doesn't do the samething. But the difference is the DELLs had the Trend software factory installed.


The short story:
My question is does IBMs work best with a specifc brand of antivirus software...say the Norton that came factory installed on mine? I just want to know before paying the $49 bucks to resubscribe. Which is what IO may end up doing since the Trend Micro is becoming hostile to my CPU.

Also what is the potential damage or long term harm of having your laptop's CPU spiking to 100% so many times during long periods of operation? I'm worried about burning out my motherboard?


Thanks.

[cmarti]

Short answer.... remove Norton and install NOD32.

[Wiz]

I never heard anything about IBM working best with a specific kind of antivirus so i don't think that is the case. You might have some issues with windows, drivers or some other software on your computer that cause this problem. If you installed some software like applications, drivers, patches or anything else just before that problem started maybe that is related to the problem.

My laptop often peak at 100% CPU and when i play games on my Thinkpad the CPU is often at 100% CPU for a very long time. Not sure if that is a problem, but never had any problems because of that with my current or previous laptops. The computer should turn off automatically if the components gets too warm, but i guess in Theory that components will last longer if they are cooler. You could download the fancontrol utility. Then you could see the temp of the components on your computer to see if they get to warm. You can use that utility to see the temp only and not control the fan if you prefer to let the BIOS handle the fan.

I been using Symantec AV Corp Edition for some years without any issus like you describe and switched to nod32 some time ago because i think symantec av is in general slow and use a lot of resources like ram. If you want a good antivirus software that use little resources i would recommend nod32 as cmarti also did. You can dowload a trial of nod32 if you want to see if it's working ok before you buy the subscription.

[CRSO]

I hate Norton. And Mcafee

[Wiz]

I hate Norton. And Mcafee

So does a lot of other people, but i'm not sure if that is very helpful for Delmarco:)

[cantsleep]

i used to have this problem on all new installed Antivirus on different machines, not just thinkpad.
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=sv ... tnG=Search

it's actually a svhost.exe that consumes your CPU power for some reason. it also depends on other programs installed. for me, the same thinkpad t41, for a month, it has similar 100% power consumption by norton, sometimes 100% due to removed norton and installed mcafee (the enterprise version came with the university's student cd). sometimes kaspersky. i only find free programs didn't have that problem such as clamwin? avg free and bitfender free. i've no idea why.

but good lucks to you, it depends on your lucks.
**antispyware & firewall clients sometimes do that 100% too, depends on which combination i chose.

[Temetka]

Only once did this happen on my T41P. svchost.exe hit 100%. So I killed th process and all has been well since.

I am running AVG Free and spybot.

Many reboots later and no issues whatsoever. I attribute it to one of the random and minor (but still an inconvenient) system glitches.

[agarza]

I'd recommend you uninstall properly all Norton products. Go to Symantec webpage or simply google "norton removal tool".

Then I strongly suggest to try NOD32, this AV even works very well with systems with a few RAM, also the 2.7 version supports Vista.

[Delmarco]

SO it may be the Norton after all. The IT guy at my job siad Bitdefender 10 also is an AV that don't fully uninstall and conflicts with new AV installations like Norton.
He said its best to do a factory restore and either try to uninstall all components of Norton (which is near impossible) and re-install the Trend Micro or do the factory restore and just upgrade the Norton subscription.

At least I know where the conflict is that is slowing my CPU down.

Thanks guys.

[agarza]

He said its best to do a factory restore and either try to uninstall all components of Norton (which is near impossible) and re-install the Trend Micro or do the factory restore and just upgrade the Norton subscription.

After doing the factory restore Is 100% possible to completely uninstall all components of Norton using the Norton Removal Tool

I have used that tool in Compaq laptops bundled with all the Norton crap, the installed NOD32 and everything went fine