high cpu usage by internet explorer.

[hg]

Is anyone able to help me with this message I keep getting from Norton?
My laptop is so slow it is driving me mad. Now I know many don't like Norton, but why? If I turn it off what can I use instead.?
I have tried configuration and defragging, it was ok afterwards for about.....24 hours. What are the long term affects of this? I have had the message twice while writing this and the computer turned off once.
Any help in layman's terms would be much appreciated. I am not very computer literate, I just want to be able to do my research from my laptop.
thank you
Helen

[Currie]

Hello Helen,

At a time like this it is very important to ensure that you have a backup copy of all your important data stored somewhere other than on the computer.

Norton has often been described as bloated, packed with features that nobody uses, and that tends to use a lot of resources and slow your computer to a crawl, especially if it is getting a bit old. Why for instance is a antivirus program throwing up CPU usage messages when its real job is to scan for viruses.

There are a number of free alternatives to Norton that don’t have as much impact on the system and that work just as well. I use Avast http://www.snapfiles.com/get/avast.html but there’s also AVG http://www.snapfiles.com/get/avg.html Sometimes Norton is difficult to uninstall using normal methods but there are special tools available that can properly remove it from your system.

There are a multitude of reasons why a computer can slow down and it’s a bit difficult to figure these things out from afar.

Quite often the problem is simply a shortage of memory and the computer needs to be upgraded. The 512mb of memory that was adequate a few years ago is now just not capable of running all the programs it once used to. Every year the programs it is expected to run get more and more complicated and just viewing the internet and its greater complexity adds to the drag.

Sometimes it’s a virus or spyware that is so busy doing its thing that it doesn’t leave anything for you to do yours. You could run a scan using Norton or its replacement to make sure there’s nothing lurking there. A Malwarebytes scan may also be worth a try. http://www.snapfiles.com/get/malwarebytes.html A separate spyware scan such as with Spyware Terminator may be useful. http://www.snapfiles.com/get/spywareterminator.html All these programs are free.

What operating system are you using, XP? What version of Norton is it running? What is the make and model of your laptop and how old is it? How much installed memory does it have? What processor is installed and how much hard drive space is free?

If you don’t know any of the above it’s probably a good idea to get a profile of your computer so you know exactly what hardware you are using and whether it may be lacking in some area and need an upgrade. The PC Wizard program does a reasonable job of this. http://www.snapfiles.com/get/pcwizard.html

If Norton includes a Firewall and you remove it you may have to re-enable the standard Windows Firewall or maybe install a firewall program such a Zone Alarm.

If the problem only occurs when you use Internet Explorer and everything is otherwise reasonably ok you could try an alternative browser such as Mozilla Firefox or Google Chrome. Just search the SnapFiles site or wherever you get your downloads for the links to those.

If this problem has only just happened and it was ok last week or whenever you could consider doing a System Restore back to then as a possible solution.

I hope that’s not too confusing.

All the best,
Alan

[hg]

Hi Alan,

Thank you very much for taking the time to answer my post.

At the time I was nearly ripping my hair out. A google check suggested configuration and defragging which didn't work hence my post.

I had thought of unistalling Norton but wasn't sure whether it may be some other problem.

Your post was very informative and no, not to confusing, well not until you started talking about operating system etc, but I have taken your advice and downloaded pc wizard I now have all the information regarding my laptop but still trying to work out what a lot of this is. Sorry, I must appear really computer 'dense'.

Anyway, thought I'd have one last ditch attempt at what was causing the problem before I made my decision about uninstalling Norton. Went on to their forum forum (why didn't I try this first!!!!) It would seem this is a known Norton fault and the easy answer was to turn of the antivirus until system restart. Have done this about 2 hours ago and fingers crossed it has worked. The start up is so much quicker , only had one message about high CPU usage, was hoping they would go completely.

All I have to do now is work out how to stop my 50 - 100 per day junk emails, that is never right - ist it?

all the best

Helen

[jgmills]

Helen,

There is a box in the message window which pops up saying about the high usage that you can click on to turn off the high usage message in future. Or if you feel brave, you can go into Norton Security - Settings - Miscellaneous settings, there is a section for Performance Monitoring - you can either turn of the High-usage alerts or configure it to ignore the messages for Internet Explorer or any other programs that give you the message. Family Tree Maker kept giving me grief about memory usage so I soon switched it off.

John

[hg]

Hi John,

Meant to get back to you to say thanks for that tip. Have turned it off on the pop up and no more messages. Phew

Helen