dropped Norton for MSE

I dropped Norton and installed MSE. I ran a scan with MSE and with the green progress bar at 1/5, after 4 hours, 826,000 files were scanned. I cancelled the scan. Instead of Norton's suite I used MSE, Z/A, Malwarebytes + a router. Malware bytes was fine. What is my problem with such a lengthy scan that I had to cancel with MSE?? Thank you for any advice. Peter

Try telling MSE not to scan it's own directories. Most AV software does that automatically, not sure why MSE doesn't.

Open MSE, click on Settigs.
Click on Exclude Files and locations.
Click the Browse button.
Navigate to: C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Security Client; and click OK.
Click the Add button.

See if that makes a difference.

Are you doing a Quick or a Full scan? I always do Quick unless I suspect or have a problem.

Try telling MSE not to scan it's own directories. Most AV software does that automatically, not sure why MSE doesn't.

Open MSE, click on Settigs.
Click on Exclude Files and locations.
Click the Browse button.
Navigate to: C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Security Client; and click OK.
Click the Add button.

See if that makes a difference.

Are you doing a Quick or a Full scan? I always do Quick unless I suspect or have a problem.

Excluding MSI files does make a difference, There is also other obvious programs that should be added to the exclusion list (melwarebytes for instance) and of course any data partitions if you know they are OK. Also exclude any major games!

Cheers,
Lee

I have excluded both MS secutiy client and malwarebytes Anti-malware. Should I also do Zone alarm? Should you be able to do a full scan within an hour? I used to use this program but this is new.now. Thanx guys peter

I ran a quick scan and it took about ten seconds -I then ran a full and it also took ten. I rebooted and the same ocured. Now custom scan will not run and the size of my letters lower right taskbar keeps defaulting to 120 when it usee to be 125% To make matters worse, MSE does not appear in Revo

I have never had to exclude anything with MSE so I find that odd (and I have MBAM and other security apps installed too). I would only add an exception if MSE tagged something as bad that I knew for a fact was good (that is, for a false positive). A full scan, as MSE notes, can take more than an hour. Certainly, you can expect it to run longer for todays larger or multiple drive systems if they contain lots of files. I would have just let it run. I typically run a full scan once after initially installing MSE, and from then on, just a quick scan. That said, before running a full scan, I always recommend purging the system of the potentially 1000s of temporary files cluttering up the system. And I would only run a full scan in Safe Mode. Also, there have been times when MSE did not install properly, or was corrupted after a MSE program update. But a simple uninstall and reinstall of MSE fixed that.

Yes, you were correct that an uninstall and reinstall of MSE worked out. Thank you very much to all of you who jumped in as I was abit uneasy when everything hit the fan! I now have functional devices/programs; MSE, Zone Alarm,Malware Anti malware Bytes and a router with a strong password. I thought my machine would speed up without Norton but that is not the case. At any rate norton is gone in both machines and I can perform routine Windows tasks without problems. Norton disallowed file sharing,system restore, scan now and disc check. Whenever the registry was changed I had to reinstall Norton. The techs parrot that whenever you call,"Reinstall the program". I have not run a full MSE but did run quick and am confident all is ok. Peter

I got the idea from another forum but I can't find it now. I was having a similar problem on a customer system in the shop and doing the above fixed it.

Peter, any chance your Power setting put your computer to sleep after some period of time? That would impact a full scan for sure.

Also, check to see if Windows Defender is running. It should be blocked/disabled by MSE. I uninstalled it from my system after installing MSE.

Some good reading here: I installed Microsoft Security Essentials and now things are worse! How do I recover?

More good info here: MSE Slows Down Computer – How to Fix the Issue

When you run a scan would you put the power settings to "never" for sleep? I was used to running Acronis and other programs which worked while the pc was apparently sleeping or at least the monitor made it appear that way. I typed Windows Defender in the search box and a box came up saying it was turned off and I could click to turn it on, which I did not. I have Malwarebytes antimalware - do you also use it or would you drop it? Thanx a lot for the two articles. They recommend excluding so much. Do you have anything excluded? I don't since the reinstall and both pcs are moving right along. I have yet to run a full scan but will get to it. Please let me know what you advise re: power settings and the full scan. Thanx again for all the help. I was in rough shape this a.m. I have imaged both pcs now that all is running well. Peter

I thought my machine would speed up without Norton but that is not the case.

Norton has a long history of hogging resources and bogging down performance - though many claim their recent versions are better than days of old. I personally see no use in paying for an antimalware product when there are several free and fully capable alternatives. Especially when you have to pay and pay again to keep renewing.

And while ZoneAlarm is a good firewall, it doesn't sip resources either. Window's own built in firewall works just fine and may be a little less of a hog.

I have my Power Options set to: Turn off display: 15 minutes Put the computer to sleep: Never You can also looked under Advanced Power Settings at the bottom of the page the above options are on. I use Malware Bytes Anti Malware Pro. The only thing I exclude in MSE is the MSE install directory, nothing else.

I have mine set to hybrid sleep after 30 minutes.

I have Norton free as a Comcast customer but it had issues that I pointed out. I feel relieved to be free of it -the build was 2010. Power wise I will look at further options but will consider what you have suggested and apply it to OUR needs..I don't know what hybrid is but will find out. "Never" might be a good option when any scan runs Would you feel I am safe and better off without Z/A? I read where Windows own firewall only monitors traffic one way. I have a router which may compensate for that?

Windows own firewall only monitors traffic one way.

Yeah, about 10 years ago. Not with Vista or Windows 7 versions.

Would you feel I am safe and better off without Z/A?

You MUST have a firewall so you cannot just disable ZA, you must run an alternative. And and Windows Firewall is a perfectly suitable alternative.

But note the user is always the weakest link so regardless the security defenses you establish, if you, as the user, open the door and let the bad guy in, then that's on you, not your security defenses.

Sleep and hibernation: frequently asked questionsSince quick scans do not take very long, they do not interfere with the various sleep modes. I see no reason to run full scans on a regular basis. Your anti-malware solution is running full time in the back ground so periodic quick scans with your regular solution and with a supplemental scanner (like MBAM) is plenty good - unless you don't practice safe computer and participate in risky behavior - like participate is illegal filesharing via torrents and P2P sites.

If Win 7 firewall monitors both ways then I will remove Zone Alarm and enable Winndows You seem to indicate, I should only run quick scans which is fine with me.. I then would not be concerned with power schemes. Do you suggest I run any full scans with either MBAM(not pro) and MSE? Or, is MSE running background full scans and I run a full with MBAM? Thanx again for pablum feeding the less astute.