Troubleshoot Can too much antivirus software cause buffering?

[Butch Marshall]

Briefly explain your current issue(s)

Buffering whilst streaming

Steps taken to resolve, but have been unsuccessful

Rebooting

I'm suffering from lots of buffering whilst streaming Amazon videos, viewing BBC iPlayer and Channel 4 On Demand. I have good sound but suffer from buffering every 10 seconds.

On this tower PC I'm running Malwarebytes Premium
Avast anti virus
Zemana Antimalware
McShield

My ping is 42ms, DL 6.8Mbps (I know it's slow - I'm in England), UL .9 Mbps

My laptop Windows 8.1does not suffer from buffering even with the above malware on it. So, am I running too many malwares on my old PC?

Tower PC specs are:
OS is Windows 10 pro
AMD Athalon 64 X2 dual core
Gigabyte M57 SLI54 motherboard (I know - at this point your saying my PC is an antique, but it does work)
6Gb Ram
NVidia GeForce GTX 750 Ti
NVidea nForce networking controller
Router Netgear N600 DGND 3700 v2
Flash Player v30.0.0.154

Any advice would be gratefully accepted - many thanks

 

[BoraMurdar]

Try streaming in Safe Mode with Networking but only if vga driver works perfectly in it. If it lags again, then probably the hardware isnt sufficient for the task

 

[Butch Marshall]

It isn't the AVs.

Try different browsers as a troubleshooting step. You have minor network lag. The problem can be anywhere along the line from the streaming server to your ISP - and that is if it is network related. However, you are reporting problems with only 3 specific stream sources. So that in and of itself suggests a very specific problem as opposed to a general one. It could be rendering engine. It could be the browser. The graphics card doesn't make a difference for low-end graphics intensive stuff like web streams.

Any browsers to be recommended?

I find watching YouTube in HD causes buffering too.

I think the network speed is the one that is causing you the buffer times. Unfortunately nothing you can really do to fix that except get faster internet or wait for the video to fully buffer before watching it. There are also some plugins that let you force youtube to download more of a video beforehand so that you don't hit the buffer quite as often when watching the video.

Extensions running are:
ublock
Google docs offline (don't know why - is it of any use?)
Chrome App Docs (as per Google docs?)

Try streaming in Safe Mode with Networking but only if vga driver works perfectly in it. If it lags again, then probably the hardware isnt sufficient for the task

I'll give it a go - thanks.

People are missing that he said, he has the same config on another computer, with no streaming issues, so it is has got nothing to do with his internet speed. It may be due to the X2 processor not being very fast and the security software causing more system impact on the desktop, which I presume has much less processing power than his laptop.

Thanks Roger

Perhaps I should disable all but Avast and see if that has a desired affect?

As @roger_m pointed out the issue could be the weak first generation Dual Core CPU. While streaming videos check CPU usage if it hovers around 80-100% then CPU bottleneck is the reason. 13 year old Athlon X2 CPU is certainly not designed to handle streaming HD videos.

That's my thought Kutan - so perhaps new cpu, mobo etc etc.... could cost ££££

Obviously he was watching these streams previously and all of a sudden started having issues.

It could be low RAM too.

I'm using 6Gb ram but it's way out of date now - perhaps obsolete or even vintage... : )

If you are streaming from a source that is in a different country and far away, that can cause lags.

Shmu thanks for input. I'm based in UK streaming from UK sites.

 

[roger_m]

I'm using 6Gb ram but it's way out of date now - perhaps obsolete or even vintage... : )

Depending on how many programs and services that are running, 6GB may be enough. Open Task Manager, when you are streaming videos and have a look at memory usage. If it's at 74% or less, then you're not running low on RAM. Also, go to the Details tab and check CPU use, to see if any process is using a lot of CPU rime.

 

[Sammo]

Also check your wifi channel and change it if there are too many neighbors using the same one. This can cause buffering and latency problems. Different DNS servers might help as well.

 

[Butch Marshall]

Depending on how many programs and services that are running, 6GB may be enough. Open Task Manager, when you are streaming videos and have a look at memory usage. If it's at 74% or less, then you're not running low on RAM. Also, go to the Details tab and check CPU use, to see if any process is using a lot of CPU rime.

Roger thanks for your reply.

I've been running task manager whilst streaming Amazon videos and here's what I get

Normal play
CPU at 40%, RAM 48% (@ 533MHz), GPU 8%, DL speed 6.8Mbps

Buffering
CPU 85%, RAM 48% (@533MHz), GPU 8%, DL speed .8Kbps

The buffering happens every 15 seconds or so.

Not sure why I get a drop in DL speed - is it related to the CPU performance or vice versa? Technology hey...?

Much appreciate your help by the way.

 

[Butch Marshall]

Also check your wifi channel and change it if there are too many neighbors using the same one. This can cause buffering and latency problems. Different DNS servers might help as well.

I'm using LAN cable not wifi Samm, and I've checked no outside use of my internet from my router.

Thanks for your help.

 

[roger_m]

CPU at 40%, RAM 48% (@ 533MHz), GPU 8%, DL speed 6.8Mbps

Buffering
CPU 85%, RAM 48% (@533MHz), GPU 8%, DL speed .8Kbps

You've got plenty of free RAM, so that is not an issue. The high CPU use is no doubt due to the slow processor. Try using a different browser, to see if that makes a difference.

 

[Butch Marshall]

You've got plenty of free RAM, so that is not an issue. The high CPU use is no doubt due to the slow processor. Try using a different browser, to see if that makes a difference.

Aha and much cheering here......:emoji_clap:

Roger you should be knighted, sainted and much more. I tried using Microsoft Edge as browser after your suggestion, and all runs well. Even with all my AVs running. No buffering etc.

Once again, many many thanks for helping me with this problem - this household loves you.... HURRAH

 

[roger_m]

Once again, many many thanks for helping me with this problem - this household loves you.... HURRAH

You're welcome. I'm glad that the issue is fixed.

 

[oldschool]

You're welcome. I'm glad that issue is fixed.

Nice!

 

[Butch Marshall]

As a final note on this matter, I found that changing browser from Chrome to Edge improved a lot - I also stopped Malwarebytes and Zemana. These I also found weren't helping the situation by strangling my speed.

Many thanks for everyone's input to this problem. It's very much appreciated.