There are a lot of people who firmly believe any antivirus software invariably slows down their computer significantly. This was indeed true decades back. But as of the present day and the times it is not anymore. Although a security suite may affect the overall speed and performance of a device. A computer slows down for a string of reasons and not just for any antivirus application. But it is the antivirus that gets all the bad reputation. One should rather analyse a situation properly before blaming antivirus suites for slowing down of computers.
One of the best things to ensure your personal computer is in a great performing mode is to use genuine software and not any pirated or spurious version. However a significant number of people are unaware or ignorant about it. You must make it a point to buy software online only from reliable vendors at all times.
Contents
- 1 How antivirus suites may affect the performance of any computer
- 2 What other factors make a computer slow
- 3 Check the hard drive
- 4 Operating system (OS) must be updated
- 5 Potential malware issues
- 6 Check the programmes on background
- 7 How can you speed up your system?
- 8 Are you still blaming your antivirus suite?
How antivirus suites may affect the performance of any computer
Every software application that is installed in a computer system makes use of the system’s processing power. Antivirus applications perform regular and frequent scans to detect the presence of any virus or threat. As a result of these scans there is a higher CPU usage. Scans may occur at scheduled intervals. Even when a new application is installed, antivirus software installed in the machine normally execute a scan as well. When you insert an USB device the system prompts for a scan automatically. Every time scanning gets executed the installed antivirus has to compare the network drive with a lengthy list of malware signatures. This obviously consumes up a descent quantity of processing power. Almost innumerable types of malware are there in existence. As a result security suites have to check for lengthier databases.
What other factors make a computer slow
When a computer slows down in performance it is not only because of the antivirus suite or any other software application that may have been installed. There could be loads of other factors behind it. It is pretty much unlikely that the modern versions of a security suite will slow down a computer to a significant extent.
Check the hard drive
When your computer is performing slowly you should better check the hard drive for any probable issue. When the memory is full the system will have a tough time while struggling for adequate space for proper operation. When sufficient space is not available the processing capability of the system will slow down instantly. In fact the overall performance of the machine could even be affected. One of the commonest causes behind slowing down of a computer is hard drive issues including lack of sufficient free memory.
Operating system (OS) must be updated
Another reason that slows down computers is when you have not updated your operating system for a long time. Any computer must be up to date on its operating system. Specially if you want your system to perform at lightning speed having the OS regularly updated is crucial. When the OS is updated security vulnerabilities get patched to a great extent.
Potential malware issues
Malware is another reason that makes any computer lag in performance. Even if you have an antivirus guarding the system, some malware or the other may slip through the safety net. These slips mostly occur when you click download without caring the warning message popped up by the antivirus. Installing free malware detectors is a smart move determining whether any malware is the cause behind slowing down of your machine. However here is a word of caution; you should first try out the antivirus installed in your machine. If it detects any issue then fix it first. Then you work on those free malware detectors to reach out deep to understand the problem.
Check the programmes on background
A large number of apps request start-up permission. Thus as soon as you log into your system, these apps open up instantly. As the apps keep running in the background, they consume processing power. Is your computer system turning hot? Is the fan inside the processor making a nasty noise hat you can hear? When too many processes are executing simultaneously operations may take longer. Close the apps that you are not using. This will free up processing power and your system can perform faster. How do you check which apps are currently running in your system? Open the Task Manager in Windows or Activity Monitor on Mac operated machines to find out the apps that are currently keeping the processor busy.
How can you speed up your system?
Now that you know the various factors that are likely to affect the performance of your computer system, let us explore few tips to overcome the problem.
Close all the unused apps – if there are too much things running in the background then it is obvious for a system to slow down. Make sure to close all the programmes that you are not using presently and not likely to use in immediate future. If necessary force close applications through the Windows task manager.
Delete unwanted files – every hard drive is allocated a wasted space. Varieties of things exist that may take up your computer’s memory. These may include accidentally downloaded files, applications, old files that you do not need any more. Remove every unwanted file from your hard disk. If you do not want to remove files permanently from your system then you may safe keep those in external hard disk.
Always schedule updates – the operating system is not the only factor that is responsible for slow performance of a computer system. Every single software application that you install in your system may have the identical effect. It is indeed necessary to schedule updates for the applications, browser, e-Mail clients as well as streaming services. Once the system is overall updated you will automatically sense the difference in its performance.
Are you still blaming your antivirus suite?
Scans that run in the background consume processing power of a system. Therefore you can bypass inconvenience by modifying the settings to schedule all scanning jobs for the computer during the night or any other time when you are not working on the system. It is high time to realise that reputed security suites are not meant to slow your system down.
At the same time it is important to buy software online UK only from genuine or reliable vendors. Pirated software could affect the performance of your machine to some extent or the other. But when you have the authentic license keys the installed software just cannot hinder the performance of your system.