Troubleshooting Security Software

By far, the most common cause of performance-related issues such as hanging, stuttering, and hiccuping is interference by an Anti-Virus application, or similar security software. The first thing is to try to determine if a security application on your system is causing the issue. Please refer to Check Your Anti-Virus or Security Software in the general Troubleshooting Guide for first steps in determining if the problem is related to security software on your system.

Do You Have More Than One Anti-Virus Application Running?

One other issue that is unfortunately quite common is that you can end up with multiple Anti-Virus applications installed. They then compete with each other (and even further slow down everything else on your computer). Having two (or more) active, behind-the-scenes, automatic Anti-Virus programs running on your computer at the same time is a recipe for disaster.

Check through your computer's Uninstall a Program Control Panel, and see if there are more than one installed. One place this happens frequently is from the "trialware" version of McAfee's Security Essentials. This is included as an "optional" install (an advertisement, essentially) with Adobe Flash Player. Every time you update Flash, you have a "risk" that you'll accidentally install the troublesome (and not very good) McAfee application if you aren't careful about unchecking the appropriate box. If you find this on your system, it is probably inoperable anyway (because it is only a trial, after which they want you to pay for a subscription), and you should remove it.

Having additional "manual" scanners on your system, like MalwareBytes, for example, is fine. But if you have more than one "background" scanners, then expect trouble.

Consider an Alternative Security Package

Also, if you are unable to tame your Anti-Virus application of choice, and you are running Windows 7 or newer, we can recommend that you instead try Microsoft's free Security Essentials (for Windows 7) or Windows Defender (built into Windows 8 and newer). Windows Defender (and MSSE) is a quite well behaved and effective anti-virus application. It typically causes no problems (and, if so, these steps should resolve them). Plus, it is free and well supported by Microsoft. For most users, there is little need to use another application.