Options
Can Anti Virus cause your internet to slow down?
dearmrman
Posts: 21,517
Forum Member
✭✭✭
A Colleague at work asked me if her Anti Virus (Kapersky) could be causing her internet connection to go at a snails pace?
I didn't know the answer, so I thought I would ask here, see if anyone knows if it is possible?
She had it happen earlier in the year, and was on BT Broadband, and she ended up getting a free upgrade to Infinity, but it has started again with the connection going down to a snails pace at night. So she asked me if it could be the anti virus causing this.
I didn't know the answer, so I thought I would ask here, see if anyone knows if it is possible?
She had it happen earlier in the year, and was on BT Broadband, and she ended up getting a free upgrade to Infinity, but it has started again with the connection going down to a snails pace at night. So she asked me if it could be the anti virus causing this.
0
Comments
Be aware that there are plenty of other causes of Internet slowdown - malware, poor wireless signal, dodgy phoneline, a family member(s) hogging the bandwidth by downloading/streaming, etc.
If it is OK during the day then it is very unlikely to be anything to do with Antivirus, more likely the internet connection.
Is she using wireless ?, if so get her to try with a wired connection to the router to see does it make a difference.
It might also be to do with traffic management (are you downloading stuff?) or the local area being over subscribed.
I am going to install Malwarebytes for as well, and see how she gets on.
But thanks at least now I know Anti virus could be a possibility, may not be, but good to know.
I would have thought that if it was the AV then it would happen randomly any time of the day.
It immediately suggested to me that her backup is running in the background, that will definitely slow it down for a while especially if she backs up a lot of stuff.
If it is a more general problem, i.e. her surfing is getting slower and slower, then she might have the windows disease of a pc running quick when new, and slowing down as crapware gets on. Download a copy of Anvir Free, and run it occasionally, to quarantine the junk ( I have over 80 things quarantined and my PC would slow a lot if I let them run, and all are just crapware). Also, obviously, disable all browser add ons that you are not certain are great.
Unless the AV has screwed up, which they frequently do.
OP, get them to run a speedtest several times throughout the day and night. If the slowdown definitely only occurs during a certain time, this might help narrow down the possible causes.
Perhaps the sites she is browsing are ropey and Kaspersky is just doing its job stopping her PC getting overrun with malware.
I am sure it is OK for some people but not for me!
It's the same story with all AVs. They can work perfectly on one machine, and cripple another.
Could be this.
I couldn't imagine her visiting dodgy websites, though I could imagine her opening a dodgy email attachment.
It might not even be her anti virus anyway, but as she has never done a proper virus scan or used malwarebytes it is possible something could be lurking.
She hasn't even ever done a backup either :eek: