Performance hogs

I have noticed a couple of programs that are making my AA1 unusable due to the constant resources they are consuming. I don't have these problems on any other system I own (which are all faster and/or dual core processors). I am running Vista Ultimate (complete install) and have 1.5G memory installed. The programs that are causing me problems are:

1. McAfee Security Center
2. Nero v8 (I use with an external DVD)

Vista seems to run fine with an experience score that is higher than some of my other systems, yet when either of the two programs above are installed on the AA1, it will move response times into the minutes range.

Have any of you experienced any software that bogs down your system? If so, what OS are your running?

 

I killed McCaffee and installed NOD32.

...yeah NOD uses around 28mb of RAM but it's a helluva lot better.

Also I went into msconfig and removed apple's bonjour service and ituneshelper module as well as google's update manager. These services are installed automatically with Chrome, iTunes and Photoshop. In sum they use around 10-12mb of ram and some bandwidth.

 

Thats good advice. I just dumped McAfee and installed NOD32 - what a difference! I also decided to get rid of Nero. I have no idea why Nero would be causing problems, but after uninstalling it, my system is flying again.

 

Nero also came with my external cd burner. Way too much of a resource hog...and hard to understand and use. I downloaded CDBurnerXP, which is an awesome program and also SureThing CD Labeler 4 SE, which also was free.

Do a google search and try em.

 

If you want free anti virus.
Try AVG Free edition (I tend to like this since i am not hitting any dangerous sites)
Antivir
Avast

As of Nero I never liked the full Nero suit !!! It doesnt let you stop certain things from loading at Windows start.
But there are some custom Nero Portable/Light version floating around that consists out of 3 basic Nero components.

 

Strange - I have both, nero & mcafee installed and don't seem to have a problem with them. My idle CPU usage (while just web-browsing or leaving the netbook alone) is between 0-8% which is the same as my dual core PC (they both run Vista).