Better Frame Rate

[Retro00064]

Hmmmm, so it looks like maybe I should ditch McAfee and go with something else. It may have to be freeware right now.

The following three look like good free choices:

* AVG Free Edition (I used this on my old laptop for a long time).
* Avast!
* Microsoft Security Essentials.

I wonder which one would be the best to use.

Regards,

Zachary.

 

[johnwhelan]

Hmmmm, so it looks like maybe I should ditch McAfee and go with something else. It may have to be freeware right now.

The following three look like good free choices:

* AVG Free Edition (I used this on my old laptop for a long time).
* Avast!
* Microsoft Security Essentials.

I wonder which one would be the best to use.

Regards,

Zachary.

I was talking to one of the security guys at Microsoft a year or two ago. In three years he'd only seen one bit of Malware that exploited a problem that Microsoft hadn't patched first.

Most Malware creators these days look at the latest patches then work backwards to find the opening. So I'd go with Microsoft Security Essentials since Microsoft knows which patches are going in first.

Cheerio John

 

[rjhowie]

BitDefender gets a good report and I think isn't too memory hungry and you can get 3 licences for a reasonable sum.

 

[sparky15]

I'm a Mac head so take this with a grain of salt. It IS NOT which is better.
When I had a Windows install, it never went on line. No anti virus or firewalls, nothing. Actually able to run 09 and 12 at somewhat usable frame rates. Not as well as 06 but usable.
With all the talk of constant upgrades in hardware and all, I find it odd Windows users don't keep two computers. Before I bought into Mac, that is what I did. The new computer became the gaming rig, the old, the internet surfer loaded down with anti virus and put into paranoid mode.
Surf the web and download on the older computer, load it onto the gaming after being verified on the old. Not hard to load a version of Trainz just to download with and verify. Once it's in, create a CDP to be put on a jump drive and transferred to the gaming rig.
Even now with Macs, I have an older computer for web surfing and my newer is for programs to actually run them on. Gets rid of all the virus garbage we are forced to deal with and preserves an install to actually run. Be surprised how well some installations of Trainz run when you have an OS stripped down just to run programs instead of checking for viruses.
I know these days you have to deal with viruses and programs to defeat them. Viruses are useless if the computer never touches the internet. Hate to say it but I think companies who sell anti virus programs put some of the scares out themselves. Why deal with it in a game if you don't have to. Load a copy of Trainz on a computer that goes nuts if you just turn it on. Once content is installed, transfer it to a computer with nothing installed but the program you want to use. You know it's clean.
Viruses, and more importantly anti virus programs, drove me away from Windows. Even now I use two computers but I don't have a program loosing it's brain because I downloaded a picture from my digital camera. The killer was a program freaking out because I wanted to take a picture from one folder and transfer it to another.

Dave.......

 

[JCitron]

I've had pretty good luck with Sunbelt Software's Vipre 4.xx It does a nice job of staying out of the way by taking up very little memory space. You can get a good deal from their website. www.sunbeltsoftware.com

@Dave (Sparky15). This is a great idea and this works too if you do your browsing in a VM and your other stuff on the main computer.

John

 

[sparky15]

Been a long time since I had a PC, didn't know you could do that. Anyone who hacked mine would find my name as Joe Schmo and my address worked out to Wrigley Field ala The Blues Brothers. I'll leave the rest to your imagination as it wouldn't be appropriate here.

Dave......

 

[sniper297]

Sparky, 1060 West Addison, 60613

I have McAfee mainly because it came free with the internet service and I'm a cheapskate. To eliminate McAfee as a possible culprit, I unplugged the cable to the router modem, completely uninstalled McAfee and ran with no antivirus or firewall at all. Zero difference, all the benchmark sessions got the exact same framerates, and the one major duplicatable gripe;

http://forums.auran.com/trainz/showthread.php?t=59346

Did the exact same thing with TADDaemon showing the same symptoms in task manager.

I'm not real fond of McAfee, but it doesn't contribute to performance problems on my system.

 

[Retro00064]

Hi guys:

Thanks for the responses. Much appreciated.

There is a possibility that a family member will purchase a subscription for the payware version of AVG on his computer and he may purchase a second subscription for my computer, but I'm still interested in freeware right now. I'd love to get that shameless McShield.exe leech out of my RAM.

According to Task Manager, whenever I click a link in Internet Explorer to go to another webpage (or even when I just click the Refresh button), the processor usage of McShield.exe shoots from nothing up to around 25% or sometimes even around 50%. Just think about how much of the processor McAfee is stealing from Trainz when I use it.

I seem to be eyeing Microsoft Security Essentials. I'll probably try that one, but I'll probably still hang around for a little while before installing it, though. Additional thoughts on the free security software out there like Microsoft Security Essentials and the other two I listed in my above post are still welcome! I will, of course, have to figure out if McAfee will allow itself to be uninstalled easily.

@JCitron, the prices for the VIPRE antivirus at the link you posted seem similar to the sale price that McAfee was showing me after my subscription expired, I believe. The sale price McAfee was showing me was slashed down a good bit from the regular price, if I remember correctly.

I realize that some others around here do run Trainz on a seperate computer from the one they use for other stuff. I think that keeping everything to one computer may be the better choice for me. I have my old laptop but it has only 1GB of RAM, an 80 or so GB hard drive, AMD Athlon 64 x2 ~1.8 Ghz processor, and ATI Radeon X1270 integrated graphics, that's slower than my current one. When I use that one, I actually get Game Booster started and run that computer in Gaming mode just to keep a chunk of junkware out of that computer's RAM.

Regards,

Zachary.

 

[Retro00064]

McAfee uninstalled easily through the Programs and Features section of the Control Panel. :Y:

Microsoft Security Essentials is now installed.

Regards,

Zachary.

 

[gearhead2578]

Just a bit of optimism for ya - Microsoft Security doesn't seem to hog any resources when it runs, and does a decent job of blocking crap. I'm sure you won't regret the switch.