SBAMsvc.exe causing 100% CPU utilization

On boot SBAMSvc.exe is using exceesive CPU, and lasts for up to 5 minutes. Also notice a signifigant slow down on entire system while doing normal tasks. Yes this all started after Virpe was installed and running. I have only 1 AV/AS program (vipre) 1 Firewall SBPF, Normal day to day tasks include Outlook 2007, IE7, Expression web, photoshop. I have no indexing software, no external drives. I have made the following modifications to Vipre: See photo atatchments. I have also found that this was (is) an issue in the Beta build of vipre around may 2008 and reports still coming in July 2008.
Symptoms include slow web browsing, long time (excessive) to boot, very long time to open outlook, photoshop expression web. Vipre is not set to scan on any of these operations, and a scheduled "qucik" scan takes over 78 minutes on a 120GB laptop Sata HD, during that time the computer is useless. radical mouse movements during web browsing and skipped letters during email composing, all pointing to CPU spike.
Any help out there? If I uninstall vipre things works well, but it's advertised as "to NOT slow down your computer" what gives??

Thanks

Hey Jimbo,

1. For the scans, let’s try disabling rootkit detection from the scans by following the instructions below to see if that stops the issue.

Open Vipre,

Go to FILE/SETTINGS,

Click the tab for “Scan Options”,

From there uncheck “Enable Rootkit Detection” and click OK.

2. For the slowdown of opening programs, Under "Scan Options" uncheck "include low risk programs.

If you continue to experience any more problems please feel free to contact our support team at support@sunbelt-software.com or by Phone at 1-877-673-1153 M-F 9am-6pm EST and we will have someone work directly with you. Please reference ticket id 001-00-237358

Thanks,
~Tim

will advise.
Thanks
If this does work, and improves the performance, how much better off am I with this running at 75% instead of a default install? Also, for mass deployment, if there a config file for these settings that can be introduced to other systems?

That definatley did the trick. here is useage on boot, substatial increase!!
Can you get me in touch with reseller support, i have several other customer systems with the same issues. I need to find out if there is a way to easily modify the settings (and is it a safe method to use) for mass users, such as a config file that can be dumped into the dir or imported, something to that nature.
Thanks much!!
Still a little concerned that it took all this modifiction to make it "not slow down my computer"

For everyone else having similar issues these are the settings I am using and work on Sony Vaio VGN-SZ370P DC Intel 2.0 2 GB ram 250GB Sata HD XP Pro SP3.

Hey Jimbo,

I am glad everything is up and running to your satisfaction. We have been doing a lot of work and research into Vipre. We have noticed that some settings may not be feasible for all users and is why we recommend these changes. This doesn't mean you are less protected, just less false positives and less the system slowdowns. Some of these default settings are going to be adjusted in later releases of Vipre.

If the Vipre definitions are up-to-date on your system and anything were to try and compromise your system our Active protection will grab it. Then as a second level of protection there are the scans to find active and none active threats.

As far as reseller support and more advanced options with copying over the config files, I think it would be best to contact us directly at support@sunbelt-software.com or by Phone at 1-877-673-1153 M-F 9am-6pm EST and we will have someone work directly with you. Please reference ticket id 001-00-237358

Thanks,
~Tim

got it thanks very much!!

How terribly disappionting. I don't buy the Sunbelt response, that you can uncheck these setting and no harm. Then why are they there? This software has been touted as VERY low on resources with graphs galore, but in practice it spikes and holds CPU usage at 100%. After all the time you spent getting it to market, you couldn't get this right? I have a home license and feel cheated.

I had the same problem. I do IT support for small businesses and not for profits and I have always used Sunbelt products where privacy was an issue, otherwise open source or free versions. That said I am getting ready to install Vipre on a number of systems and was shocked at the slow downs. I think the "checking on file opening" feature does most of the slowdown. That is one of the core features of real time response. Turn that off and things are much better. So I will proceed with the rollout and have a combined antivirus/antispyware that rocks and a real time feature set that rolls a little bit, Add the personal firewall and the client has good to great protection.

Dear Vtek,

I agree with not turning off protection that is clearly designed to be there. I have been branded as not polite enough to the support staff, so I have taken to not particpating much. However, I agree 100% that turning off reasonable protection is fool-hardy.

I have been a Sunbelt customer for years and anxiously awaited Vipre, but I find several very severe limitations, so for now I am still relying on Webroot's Spy Sweeper with AV.

One big issue is the 100% utilization problem; particularly since they brag about their small CPU footprint.

Another very serious concern is no "toggle" to have Vipre load at boot or not. The only way to not load Vipre upon boot once installed (as is often desirable for a boot or two) is to unload the software entirely.

Third is the "default" settings for all unknown issues is "Allow and don't notify me." That seems like a poor recommendation and default and when I challenged that I was branded as disrespectful.

I also believe the user should have the option to quarantine an item and tag it to always be quarantined - or always removed. This is like Spy Sweeper and not in Vipre (I was making a full feature for feature comparison).

Lastly, not previously mention, and also a weakness in SS is that in order to deploy email protection, the user must deploy it for both POP and SMTP. I really have no desire to have my outgoing message checked. But both products are either on or off. Interestingly, the last time I used ZoneAlarm they treated this as two functions. I would love to see that in Vipre (or SS).

BTW, I have also found that with Vipre Email protection running I have been problems with Outlook Express hanging when sending (never receiving).

I truly wish Vipre would work to come out with a release that truly addresses these issues (and I am sure others have good concerns, as well). In the meantime I have put Vipre back on the shelf, as I wait to see if they are serious about being players in this market.

Regards,
Sandy

I have the same problem. I am running Vista 64bit with a dual core processor, and it brings it to its knees.

The problem can be easily repeated on my machine.
I have a shortcut to a folder called "downloads" which contains mostly .exe file types. (about 60 of them) Opening this folder causes Vipre to spike the cpu near 100%.

It can only be fixed by unchecking the "Check files if they are copied or open" option. Its as if Vipre is trying to scan all of the files in the folder, even though none of them are being opened or copied.

I agree that this really does need to be addressed as I would think this is a very important feature of any virus scan application.

Strangely, I have not seen this problem on my 2 XP machines.

There was a new update to the Vipre application today, but that did not help this problem.

Randy

I performed unchecking the " enable root kit" and " include low risk programs". Made some difference...running winxp and Netscape 7.2 for email. Both are slow especially the reading and receiving of the mail. Nervous turning off some of the protection while still seeing a computer that is running maybe at 30% speed. Even takes Task Manager 10 seconds to load if you don't have to click it twice. know you'll be working on the problem and will get it ironed out. Please send fix when you get it...thanks

I agree with Vtek.... Disabling the root-kit detection has helped speed up the "deep scan". Unfortunately, it does not help with copy operations (which are already painful under Vista, to say the least!). It seems that the only way to speed up a copy operation to anything less than several minutes between two Vista boxes with 1 GB network adapters and a copy file size of about 137 MB is to turn off the active scan that takes place during open and read of files (e.g. where it scans the file as it is opened and copied).

Obviously, turning of this active scan is not a good thing, since it is effectively turning off the antivirus/antimalware program!

I find that the problem is not quite so severe on dual or multi-core systems as it is on a single-core CPU, since it is possible to isolate SBAMsvc's affinity to only one core, but it is still a serious problem in a product that is specifically advertised to NOT have resource/CPU hogging issues--and then turns out to be worse than most anything else I've tried....

Aside form this one fault, Vipre really does seem quite good, and the licensing terms ($50 to use on as many machines as I want at home!) are fantastic.

I'm hoping for a fix soon as my 15-day trial installations are almost up and I don't want to pay for something that isn't going to do what I need it to do....

A./

Dear Thread Readers,

After complaining sharply and asking for someone of authority to contact me, I did receive contact from and eventually have a conversation with Sunbelt's CEO. He seemed like a very nice gentleman, but of course, completely devoted, to and a believer in, his product/s. While it was a pleasant exchange, no real progress was made on any of my issues. He had an "answer" for everything.

Beside numerous UI and functionality concerns I have about a toggle to start on boot or not, or the "default" settings for unknown programs under "Customize", or being able to control email via POP and/or SMTP and not just both or neither, or be able to "always quarantine" an item, etc., etc., we are still left with the basic issue of a product that boasts of a small footprint, but that the footprint is only small if you turn off all (or most) your protections.

And for Tech Support and even the CEO to suggest with a straight face that these can all be turned off with no consequence makes one question the use of the product entirely; or their understanding of security. It was even suggested to me to turn off the email protection, as there is a low(er) level program always running that monitors those threats (at least if using a Microsoft client).

I would VERY, VERY, much like to be a user of VIPRE. But at this point I figure it was $50 down the tubes and I continue to run with Spy Sweeper. I would love to make the switch; truly would, but Vipre is not yet "ready for prime time" in my humble opinion.

BTW, Mr. Eckelberry reports (I can't imagine how he has the time) that he reads all these post and is sensitive to all our comments. I hope Mr. Eckelberry you remember our conversation (you had to run abruptly, as you has another commitment and we couldn't complete our conversation - or you were done with it anyway), and I hope you understand that we are writing to demonstrate our genuine concern. I am sure you still have my phone number, so feel free to call and allow us to finish our conversation anytime.

We would all like to use Vipre, if it functioned as advertised (with some tweaks), but so far some of us looking "under the hood" are finding it not up to our desires. And for ANY of you in your industry to build your product so that it can't be tested side by side with a competitor's product without a complete uninstall, means I lose interest very fast.

Problematic as it is that a user cannot run two AV/Anti-Spyware products simultaneously, that issue can be understood by us. But to make it so that the product can't be "installed" but be made to be completely inactive with a toggle, while the user deploys an alternative product is arrogant to say the least; and not just arrogant by Sunbelt, but arrogant by any that allow their product to install that way. To that point, even Spy Sweeper, when toggled to not start upon boot, still boots with an underlying Process running. Shame on Webroot.

I continue to hold out hope for a big improvement, but in the meantime I run with Spy Sweeper.

Thanks for all your time. I appreciate your accessibility.

Best regards,
Sandy Hamm

I have been communicating with the Vipre tech team on a regular basis lately. Here is a reply from them that might answer people's concerns about why it is okay to uncheck "Check files when they are opened or copied."

From Vipre Support:
The check files when opened or copied is a added feature, Vipre has two different threat detection engines. The scan engine and Active protection. When this feature is checked the scan engine will look at the file when it is copied or opened, much like right clicking on the file and choosing scan now. With this feature turned off, Vipre's active protection will still monitor for suspicious behavior and known bad programs when the program or file is launched. We are currently looking into this issue to make it more stable.

Ran into the same issue on my laptop. The reason I bought Vipre was for the advirtised small footprint. Running at 100% is hardly a small footprint.

Being an IT consultant, I often test different products. I am currently running (on different machines) the following AVs:

Trend Micro
Kaspersky
McAfee
Vipre

I had such high hopes for Vipre. All these softwares have their ups and downs and the small footprint was really the selling point for Vipre. Hope they can fix this in future releases

Regards
J.F. Tourigny

Dear JF_Tourigny,

I am with you. Had same high hopes. Waited and waiting hoping this would be a kick butt product. I run a similar range of AV and Anti-Spyware products, with Webroot added in. At this point the machines I have Vipre on, all I have done is disable Active Protection entirely and disable Email Protection. They claim it doesn't matter, 'cause all those things are "extras." You know, extra layers of protection you don't need, but they built them in and made them standard and Default for fun. Just turn them off and don't worry.

Hey guys,

I apologize for all the inconveniences. In most cases, it is the ON ACCESS scanner that is causing the slowdowns. This is only an added feature to the Active protection.

Below are somethings that may help with your situations.

If you have active protection enabled VIPRE is going to monitor everything you do while you're on your computer, this includes opening/accessing files and so forth. However, if you have another active monitoring system in conjunction with VIPRE, they can butt heads causing things to run slower than normal. If you have any other type of active monitoring, try turning it off and see if everything settles down.

Also, try the below settings:

Open Vipre,

Go to FILE > SETTINGS,

Select the Active protection tab,

Uncheck "Check files when they are opened or copied",

Click "Apply" & "OK".

*Vipre has two different threat detection engines. The scan engine and Active protection. When that feature is checked the scan engine will look at the file when it is copied or opened, much like right-clicking on the file and choosing scan now. With this feature turned off, Vipre's active protection will still monitor for suspicious behavior and known bad programs when the program or file is launched.

If your problems continue, please feel free to contact us. We can start a support ticket and have someone work directly with you to try and resolve some of these issues. Please contact our support team at support@sunbelt-software.com or by Phone at 1-877-673-1153 M-F 9am-6pm EST.

Thanks,
~Tim

Dear Tim,

We have heard all those suggestion before. As Sarah said "Thanks, but no thanks" Selling an AV/AS product with the BIG claim of its small footprint, and then telling the user to shut off modules, just doesn't fly. You can keep posting such suggestions, and I will keep using an alternate product and tell others not to install Vipre as it does do what it claims.

I TRULY wish it did, and I TRULY would like to use it; and your CEO is a nice guy, but I won't use Vipre until it can run and not slam my computer, let alone all the other issues I have raised (all of which Sunbelt has an "answer" for). And don't tell us to turn stuff off ("it doesn't matter; you don't need it"), or stop claiming you have small footprint. Something.

Thanks for the responses, but contact me when Vipre can fly.

We were having this same problem on a new Toshiba Qosmio laptop running Vista 64 bit. Went thru the settings and found a setting for CPU priority. Setting allows you to run the scan with low priority. Clicked the boxes for the 3 scan types and then rebooted system. No more CPU pegging.

Richard mentioned using Avanquest (Fix it Utilities) ver 8 as a solution. I agree but with two comments:

1- Aquest ver 8 likely has about the same protection as Vipre w/ the 'check files when opened' set to off.

2- Avanquest / Fix it Utilities 9 has added the exact same av/as engine as Vipre and when I upgraded I experienced the same slowdowns discussed here. For what its worth, the Vipre involvement here is more than I have ever gotten from Fix It / Avanquest over the years.

I'm not sure who is licensing from whom but we all look forward to corrections yielding a non invasive av/as application :).

Let me add to my earlier reply...We totally fixed the issue on both Vista 64 bit and 32 bit systems by simply setting the CPU priority for all 3 scan types to LOW. All modules are on and the systems are responding quite well. I would have to say we are getting better response from the systems than when the same systems were running Symantec Endpoint Protection. Don't turn off your modules, just set your CPU priority to LOW. BTW--manual and scheduled scans still run reasonably quickly (as fast or faster than Symantec) with less of a hit on system responsiveness.

Are we referrring to Vipre?
Could you tell me where this setting is?

"simply setting the CPU priority for all 3 scan types to LOW"

Yes, I'm referring to VIPRE. Setting is found under file>Settings>Scan Options, select scan at lower priority for all 3 types.

Found it and I'll try it as you recommended.
I probably didn't associate the setting with the "SBAMsvc" maxing out on boot.
Settings in Help:
"allowing you to continue working with other programs without decreased performance."
seemed to apply high usage while working.
Mine goes to 100% and will stay there. I use Process Explorer to kill it so I can start working.
That doesn't seem to affect Vipre.
We got this even while in beta testing.

Our systems did too. For roughly 5-10 minutes after boot would be pegged at 100% CPU usage for the SBAMsvc process. Once we changed that setting it stopped hogging the CPU. We tried everything first, then on a pass through the options I saw the one for the low priority for scans and thought what the heck. We've tried everything else, may as well set that too. Hope it fixes your issue too!

Thanks, Polly.
This was happening also during our beta Hot Fix which just closed today. I'll post back if this works and I'm sure Sunbelt will pick up on it.
Your solution is about where I was going.
Who wudda thunk!

I'm not sure why setting the scan CPU priority to low affected SBAMsvc even after a boot with no scans but it did! Haven't had a problem since.
Thanks.

Does anyone know if the version update cleared this problem and we can now unckeck the low priority boxes ?

I was having the problem using the beta HotFix which just ended with the User update release. Unchecking appearently fixed the problem, not the Update. I don't know whether this problem was addressed.The beta Forum closed the day I tried this fix from Polly.

I would complain about the opposite. 2 cores, total 40% CPU use, and the disk is used about 25% (10-20 MB/s on a solid state disk). Plz try to read more and faster from disk and process it better

Mattias, make sure you dont have any other active protection running from other security software. This could cause the extra resource usage.

I had not had thios issue until about a week ago. I'm not sure what changed, but it's bringing mys system to it's knees. I switched from CA because they started adding "features" that had major negative impact to my customers. I hope the same is not happening here. A bad reputation is hard to outlive.

Drew,

You may want to contact us at support@sunbeltsoftware.com so we could get some system information from you on the system that's having the problem. Have you installed or updated any other software recently? Do you have any other software which actively monitors files on the system?

I recently purchased Systemsuite 9 and installed it on my system. I noticed that sbamsvc.exe is consuming 100% of cpu and causing my system to run VERY slow. If I uninstall systemssuite 9, it sbamsvc.exe and problems disappear and system behaves properly, but as soon as i reinstall ss9 the problems return. i have contacted ss9 support, but no answer. when i do a search of sbamsvc.exe i found this site with same problems from sbamsvc.exe, which looks like sunbelt software. SystemSuite 9 uses sunbelt software, any thoughts on fixing cpu usage and shutdown problems or should i just remove systemsuite 9 and black ball it and sunbelt software.

Tom,

Unfortunately, this isn't our product so we can't support it. You'll want to wait to hear from Avanquest's support team.

I can say that most likely there is something causing a conflict with their active protection. If you have any other software that's running any kind of real-time monitoring, try turning that off and that may solve the problem for you.

I wish there was a knowledge base article on Sunbelt that told us exactly what the workaround was for this problem. I'm having this AND the thunderbird problem and sad that it's been a problem for 6 MONTHS! And I also agree that there should not be checkboxes for this if it causes us so much grief. OR at least put warnings up about them. my users are not happy and neither am I.

I had this problem this morning. I am running a P4 with XP sp3. I tried reinstalling Vipre, but that did not solve the problem because SBAMSve.exe could not be deleted, and therefore the original Vipre installation could not be completely uninstalled. Could not turn off SBAMSve and get it to stay off either.

Here is what finally worked: I searched for the file name. Could not immediately delete SBAMSve because it was running and would not stop. So I deleted the SBAMSve prefetch file, rebooted, searched again and then deleted all files with SBAMSve in their name. Then I did an uninstall of VIPRE including all data and histories. Then I did a clean install of VIPRE, put in my license key, etc.

Seems to be working fine now!

This may seem a little extreme, but I tried lesser measures, half steps etc. They did not solve the problem. This did!

Or you can boot in safe mode and delete SBAMSve.exe. Reboot then uninstall Vipre. Reboot again and re-install Vipre (newest version available).

This worked fine on another of my computers.

This problem has just started for me, so what's changed in the last few days?? No new programmes added to the computer and as far as I know nothing has been changed. SBAMsvc.exe is using 100% of CPU and the system more or less stops completely. There seems to be some conflict withThunderbird as the system works OK when Thunderbird isn't running. By the way, I am NOT a techie person so easy answers please!!
Running Windows XP.

Note (other threads) that this problem emerged again on March 7,
2009. This very service (SBAMSvc.exe) is the culprit, and there are
various other associated problems, e.g. with Thunderbird email.
It's not clear that there's a good solution yet. Having lost the entire
day yesterday (March 6) and still not solved it, I'm wary of the latest
proposed solutions (the latest came only a couple of hours ago
and the explanation was not fully baked, so I can't be optimistic yet
--- and, like Charlie Brown, I went to kick that football a few times too
many yesterday and have PTSD).

I'm not sure why tech support hasn't dropped by here and put people out of their misery; this is a problem well known to Sunbelt. I called them on Wednesday and they knew right away what the problem was.

They let a bad definition file out on Monday or Tuesday of this week (March 2nd or 3rd) that is causing this problem. They had me disable the Vipre service, reboot, remove cadd.vtd, cdel.vtd from the definitions directory: C:\Program
Files\Sunbelt Software\VIPRE\Definitions, re-enable the service, then reboot again.

Worked like a charm. This is the reduced detail account, if you need more help with it, you should probably email Support@sunbelt-software.com and I suspect they'll get back to you fairly quickly if you have a subject of "SBAMSVC.exe taking up 99% CPU"

They really need to put this in an FAQ section, since it's going to effect lots of people. Perhaps it's XP only?

With due respect to benoden ...
In some of my conversations with Sunbelt yesterday,
I was told that definitions 5019 was the only known problem,
and that was from Tuesday. However, the problem I'm talking about
appeared on Friday and was due to 5023 and 5024, and
is still unsolved. I totally uninstalled and reinstalled VIPRE
yesterday (Friday), among many other things. The problem is still
there. A few minutes ago, employee Jacob acknowledged this,
on another thread. I'm just posting to dispel any illusion
that this problem has been solved. If it has, its twin came out
shortly after.
I lost the entire day yesterday on account of this,
and my wife was impacted seriously in her work too,
and it is still not solved, as of midday March 9 ET.
As for the question of whether it's XP only, that's a great one.
They have given no indication at all of who has the problem.
In addition there's a problem with some email programs (Thunderbird
in particular). But, for the main problem, see the thread
on vipre_using_100_of_cpu_update_5024 .

I agree with Gideon. I am running with new file scanning off and (because of another bug affecting secure ports) e-mail scanning off, so I do not have good protection. Sunbelt seems to think both issues will be sorted shortly, but are not clear what that means.

And I do not understand why yesterday Sunbelt asked me yesterday to do a full diagnostic run if they knew all about the problem. I spent perhaps 40 minutes doing it (all very slow because of SBAMSvc.exe!) and have not had a reply.

To Roger Salmon's post, a comment. Thanks for mentioning the
email port problem. I use SMTP (outgoing) port 587 instead of
25, and on one of the 2 main computers I couldn't send mail,
until I reset VIPRE to default (port 25 out), and now I can send.
My understanding is that incoming mail would still be checked.
(I got this impression from Sunbelt staff, but it might be wrong),
and that 587 is not blocked, since it is not being filtered.
I could well have this wrong, but that's the setting I'm using.
But, the absence of checking of new files does imply (again,
if I understand aright) that incoming mail won't be checked,
unless ...

Even with email scanning turned off, I have been unable to use Thunderbird for incoming email. I have to resort to using the web interface to my email provider.

I've lost an inordinate amount of time to this at home, having followed all of Sunbelt's advice re: stop the service, replace the signatures, restart the servce -- on 4 machines at home and several at work. This was already hours of work, considering how slowly the machines had been running. The we discover just a few hours later that this is not sufficient, and we're told to stop the service, uninstall, reinstall, get all new signatures -- with multiple reboots needed once again, and more hours wasted.

It's been several days of lost time now, and my impression is that perhaps the actual cause of the problem is not understood.

Even stranger is what happened just now as I was typing this note (6pm ET Saturday). I had email monitoring and active protection turned off -- my Vipre tray icon was red, and email would still not come in. As I was typing, I noticed the tray icon turned blue, and suddenly all my email came pouring in. CPU usage is down, and Vipre is reportedly using 5027, date 3/6/09 at 7pm.

I have no idea what to believe at this point. My confidence in the software and the related QA processes is gone. Is this really working now? I just don't know what to think now.

- Jon

I had an experience much like Jon's yesterday, including all the time,
all the wrong advice ... and times when hopes came up, only to be dashed.
As of 5028 the situation is still the same. 5029 just came in,
and eventually I'll test it too.
I don't know what to think either. In this respect, my experience
would be much better if the Sunbelt folks would be more
forthcoming about this, and also do something internally about the
quality of their advice. Not just "do this", "do that".
I had a really lousy experience with one tech I talked to
(three times I think). And a great experience with Tim.
Although, the bottom line is much stress and wasted time,
and the result is still zilch.
At the very least, they've been very slow to catch on to the
existence of this problem. They're still not saying who is affected,
or how many are. And who knows if they've diagnosed it --
might be a complex job and overloaded staff. Not good.

Oh, ah, I make no representations about thunderbird or email... That sounds ugly. It's a bummer that there's another problem too. (does the CPU shot to 100% when you try to use thunderbird?) I'm just saying that as of update 5029, and a couple earlier, my 100% CPU problem went away.

5028 didn't do it for me, but 5029 does. I think.
I dare to hope. I'm not confident only because
of all the past disappointments, and yet ...
(Except the email port assignment problem.
It still doesn't do SMTP port 587 so as to enable
sending mail in Thunderbird. I still have to set it
for 25 even though I'm actually sending mail
through 587.)

I notice in some threads, that
there seems to be some confusion. Staff too sometimes
skip one point. Go to help/about in VIPRE.
If one has VIPRE+AV (I have the home version of it),
then there are two version numbers involved.
Some folks who have the 100 percent CPU problem
have apparently updated their definitions but not the core version,
aka the engine. When you do help/about, there are two numbers
One reflects the definitions version, which starts at 3.1. (3.1.2483 now,
and they call this "software version"). The other is the engine,
"VIPRE version", for which I have
VIPRE Version = 3.2.1875.2 . If you don't have 3.2,
you need to upgrade the VIPRE engine, aka core.
Get it from
http://www.sunbelt-software.com/suppo...
and update from it.
With that one, plus the latest definitions, it seems that you never use
more than 50 percent of core, and therefore things don't get stuck.
SO
the problems I still see are
a) The port assignment problem: I have to set SMTP port as 25
in order to send any mail out, though I use 587 (on Eudora and Thunderbird).
As a result, I think my outgoing mail doesn't get filtered at all by VIPRE.
b) The problem I had when conducting a deep scan in Safe Mode:
Scan seemed to get stuck at a folder that contained 8 files, totaling
3 gigabytes. At this point, the "status" didn't name a file being scanned,
but rather only the folder, which was not its normal behavior.
(I have XPH SP3 with Pentium4, 2.6GHz, and 1G of RAM)

I found this thread by looking on line for causes of the same 100% CPU problem as described above. In my case, however, I've already uninstalled the trial version of Vipre because of the system slowdown problem and have gone back to Avanquest (SystemSuite 9.0). However, I find that SBAMsvc.exe is still running on my system - shouldn't that have gone with the uninstall? Or do both products use this .exe file?

Martin,

Avanquest also uses SBAMsvc.exe. If you're also having trouble with Avanquest's product I'd suggest contacting them as you don't have our product installed to troubleshoot.

Hello everyone. I recently started selling an using sunbelts products. On average I get about 15 computers in every week for virus cleaning. I use kaspersky scan tool in safe mode to get rid of the big guys and I use Vipre in protected mode to take care of the rest. I have sold hundreds of home licenses since I partnered with Sunbelt and over a hundred enterprise licenses. Only on a couple of occasions have I encountered the CPU utilization issue. Luckily I didn't get the faulty update a couple weeks ago so I wasn't affected by that. When I have encountered this problem I have resolved it by stopping the agent service and restarting it. It's threat detection mechanisms are impressive and Vipre has proven its self time and time again I had one company that had users who constantly contracted viruses from Myspace and youtube. Once Vipre was deployed these infections ceased. I have even had a couple Vipre customers tell me that the rouge antivirus pop up would start by warning about a mass amount of infections so they would bring their machine to me. I would perform analysis and various scans on their computer and I couldn't find a single bug. Now that is impressive. I haven't seen a single other antivirus program do that.

I also meant to add. If Vipre is on hundreds of thousands of systems and a handful have the CPU issue isn't it safe to assume the problem might be caused by a conflict within your system? It might help if you guys could post a belarc profile and a hijack this log so we can see what might be in common between these systems and your problems.

I am having this problem on 3 different computers and it all started in the last week or so. One is a dual core 64 bit Vista workstation, the other a dual core 32 bit Vista laptop and the last is a netbook running 32 bit Win 7. All have worked perfectly for several months and then suddenly last week or so, they all started having the 100% CPU utilization at start up. It lasts for about 5 minutes and completely brings any of the machines to a grinding stop. SBAMSvc.exe *32 is the problem as identified in CPU usage in the Process tab of Task Manager.

So while, I don't have hundreds of thousands of machines to test, I do know that a random sample result of 100% (3 for 3 and all different hardware and software configurations) is an exteremly high failure rate.

Would it be too much for Sunbelt to e-mail their customers and alert them to the 'potential' issue and assure us they are working on a solution? They seem to be fairly prolific at sending out their Sunbelt Software newsletter ( I must get one on average every other day or so) where they are quick to tout the advantages of their product over the others.

Pollok,

It would be best if you could contact us directly at support@sunbeltsoftware.com so we could collect some system information from you to see what may be causing the conflict on these systems. It sounds like there is some software on the system causing a conflict with VIPRE's Active Protection.

Hello,

Thank you for contacting Avanquest Customer Service.

We have a fix for this issue

1.Open Service Manager (the easiest way to do this is to
right-click on My Computer, choose Manage, expand "Services and
Applications", and select Services)

2. Find the service simply "SystemSuite" (NOT
the one called "System suite Task Manager",) . This is the Sunbelt
service (SBAMSvc).

3. Double-click on this service

4. When the dialog opens (it may be slow in these circumstances)
click the Stop button and change the Startup Type to Disabled. Click
OK.

5. Now the machine's CPU should be freed up.

6. Uninstall SystemSuite

7. Delete the anti virus folder located at C:\Program Files\Common Files\AntiVirus

8. Reinstall SystemSuite

9. Run UpdateCheck and get the latest pattern file

Thank you,

Michael
Technical Support Representative

Avanquest USA
Calabasas, CA

Phone: (818) 591-6258
Web: http://www.avanquestusa.com

Thank you,

Michael
Technical Support Representative

Avanquest USA
Calabasas, CA

Phone: (818) 591-6258
Web: http://www.avanquestusa.com

i still think the the company that made the software should be fixing the problem and posting here that it has fixed the problem and where to download the fix at.
we are a computer shop that has had our customers install this software to protect them and now has made one very big headacke for us.

in closing i guess it is best to turn it off and hope no one intrudes the PC....

PS...
the uninstall and reinstall didnt fix the problem SO IT IS now turned off and deleted

Since the upgrade I am experiencing 100% CPU utilization after reboot. Lasts for about 5 minutes and then it is fine. It is the SBAMSvc.exe process. I have been using VIPRE on several PCs for 4 months. I am running Vista Home Premium. Is the development team working on this issue?

Hello Ken,
Id like you to contact us directly so that we can try and resolve the issue.
Please email us at Support@sunbeltsoftware.com so that we can troubleshoot what is causing the High CPU usage in your case.
I am sorry for any inconvenience this causes.

Thanks,
Peter

Same issue here using VIPRE Enterprise on a client's XP laptop with a Centrino. Fine until login, then 100% CPU and totally locks up.
Defs at 5050, latest version. Tried uninstall, delete files, push new installer from server, same issue. Finally gave up and uninstalled VIPRE, reinstalled SAV 10.1.x.

Since this was a T&M client, they wanted to know why we would have them spend time and $$ to install this. (Of course it was the company president's laptop). Tried calling Sunbelt for support, but it was after hours for you guys. This is also an issue.

Might I suggest staffing a support desk for after-hours support, at least for your resellers, as we tend NOT to install this stuff for our clients during the working day?

If you can't do that, at least provide coverage until 6PM PST, unless you only want to sell this product on the East Coast...

-Doc

When I first bought vipre it ran flawlessly until about a 3 weeks ago and now I've had to un-install it as my cpu goes nuts

I've been back and forth with customer support and I've yet to get a solution to this issue. The last response was to update the definitions manually as it hangs up trying to update automatically. The problem is I cant run the update because all 4 cores are at full tilt.

The same thing is happening on my wife's core duo laptop.

I'm a bit miffed at not being able to run a programme I paid for

Patrick, I am sorry your having trouble, Please contact us directly at support@sunbeltsoftware.com so that we can assist you in troubleshooting the issue.
You can also call us at 877-673-1153 7 days a week 9am-6pm and we can Assist you.

Found high CPU for 5 minutes at boot up was caused by conflict with ASUS PC Probe II. Stopped PC Probe from starting at boot up and VIPRE was back to normal. Asked support if they can resolve the conflict as I would like to run that monitor.

Ken,
Thanks for letting us know, I will pass the information on to the developers.
If you have any other questions please let us know.
Thanks,
Peter

Peter,

When I get some spare time I'll call up customer service. Maybe the person I speak to will have a better idea than the person I've been emailing back and forth.

I'd really like to know what got changed in vipre that caused this in the first place as up to that one definition update it had run perfectly.

Patrick, Please feel free to call us, we are open 9am-6pm EST Monday-Friday.

Thanks,
Peter

Ugh. I originally purchased Vipre after reading a review at pcantvirusreviews.com, and have been pretty happy with it, until today. Today CPU usage hit 50% (dual proc machine) and everything has been agonizingly slow.

In looking into it, I found a scan scheduled for 1:am was still running and had been for over 676 minutes! That's getting close to 12 hours and still going! It said it was done, but it was in the midst of scanning a rather large zip file.

I spoke with tech support and a clean install was suggested. I asked if I would have to reboot and was told no. I mentioned my task bar at four rows of tasks and that a shut down takes me about two hours (to finish up with all the tasks). I ran the cleaner and was prompted to restart. Ugh! It also shut down all my open emails and mail client.

Please warn a person that they may lose whatever they are currently working on.

Now I'm off to finish up the two hour process of shutting down a million tasks and restarting. Hopefully everything will be sorted, but I am pretty frustrated that I was told I wouldn't have to do this...

Since System suite 9 changed to SUnbelt I've had a number of issues.

1) First a program called "whatrunning" seems totally crippled.

2) I think one or possible 2 malwares got though and Sunbelt is Still Unaware of it.

3) I have a constant re-emerging cookies tracker

4) I have a svchost process transmitting bulk data whenever the internet is connected, and it refers to a local IP

5) And when first installed Sunbelts firewall took 20 - 30% CPU now its way up there at 80 - 100% a real problem

I am having serious reservations about keeping systemsuite 9 after I've used the Vcom product for nearly a decade sunbelts conponent has me seriously worried.

Duf

Okay, all frustration with the reboot aside, It's not bogging today after the clean install. Scan still took 12 hours, but I think it's the huge zips, some of which contain more huge zips of thousands of files each, which might be behind the slow scans.

webadept,

To check if it's the .zip files that are taking so long to scan you could either add the .zip files to the always allowed list or disable the "scan inside of archives" option in the Scan Options. Scanning .zip files can take quite a bit longer then regular files, especially if they are very large.

I've been running the vipre trial -- and im glad i didnt buy it! it's slowed my startup time to a crazy speed... You have to wait over 5mins to do ANYTHING. CPU is at 100% with "SBAMSvc.exe" holding everything up.

Back to AVG free for me!

I hope you fix these problems - i found vipre as it was advertised as fast - but... it's not.

Another user here with Vista 64 bit running a 2.8ghz Intel core 2 duo and experiencing both cores at 100% until the SBAMSvc.exe is killed in task manager. Started happening when I did a backup to USB drive and hasn't stopped. This is killing me - but I am happy at this point that I did not buy the product yet, its still 12 days left on the trial. If this is not fixed clearly I will go back to Panda.

I actually have Vipre running on serveral Vista 64 boxes. All you have to do is uncheck the setting that says something along the lines of check files when they are copied. I know you may say that you want that feature but if the files you are copying are suspect then scan those files prior to copying. It will be much quicker. The scan while copying feature causes a tremendous slow down when copying files. So if your copy operation went a bit slower than expected this would be why.

Obviously they still haven't fixed the problem completely...
Def Version 5489

Same problem here. Reason I bought Vipre was because it allowed multiple pc use with the home version. Have 2 XP boxes and when SBAMSvc runs nothing can be done on the computer. Takes forever to even open taskmanager. Changing the settings has no effect. Thing is it only does it randomly. Not every boot up. Will not be renewing though if this continues. I don't even have some of the settings with the version I have.

I see that this is still an issue. After all this time and still no actual solution I'm unhappy that I paid for a programme that causes so many issues.

Dump XP and install Ubuntu. My laptop is so much happier now, and so are my other big boxes. Instead of waiting for 5 minutes to do something after a re-boot (due to all the crap that's being discussed in this thread) I'm up and running in under a minute. Only a few things I regret not having, none of them so vital that I've learned to live without. WINE allows me to run most stuff that I wanted from Windows.

I had this problem for a very short while but now it all works fine - and much quicker/less resource-hogging than McAfee. That's with XP, although considering upgrading to Windows 7.

Once again I am surprised that so many people are having problems. I install Vipre on at least 5 systems daily and have the enterprise version running on over 200 computers. None of which have these problems. One company had a slow down issue when I first deployed Vipre but that was resolved by unchecking the scan files when opened and copied. There has to be something specific about these implementations causing your issues.

What level are you running your Active Protection at?

Do you update your windows system regularly?

Do you use software that might behave like malware?

I used to be a big fan of NOD32 for several years, until it became bloatware a couple of years ago, and started to bog machines down. Until then, I outfitted several enterprises with the product, and it was virtually invisible to users -- except that it worked. Once they started to bloat the product, Vipre hit the market, and seemed to be a viable answer as it was, initially, super fast and lightweight, and with this in mind the early price promotions made it hard to resist.

Unfortunately, within a few months, all the performance issues began, both in the work environment and at home. New machines, old machines, XP, Vista -- didn't make a difference. The product might run invisibly for weeks, and then suddenly tie up 100% of the CPU until a new signature was downloaded to fix the problem days later.

I really wanted to like the product, and feel more than a bit foolish having approved use of it across the board at one company and on half a dozen machines at home. I've got my IT guy taking another look at the marketplace to see what looks promising these days. At home, I pulled out Vipre and replaced it with free versions of Avast on half a dozen machines. Amazingly enough, we've had no infections since, and Avast seems to have little or no impact on system performance.

I wish I knew what to think about Vipre. For the first several months, it seemed that the community was very willing to play along and be supportive of Sunbelt's attempts to get the product to play nicely. I thought this "nice", but it seemed more like a shareware community than a support forum for a commercial product. That's nice, but I personally needed a commercial product to truly work like a commercial product. If Vipre ever gets back to being reliably lean, mean and effective, I'll consider coming back. But as long as I'm seeing threads with people complaining about the exact same issues as a year ago, and being told that the "answer" is to shut off product features, I'll remain on the sidelines watching.

- Jon

My solution is very simple: Goodbye System Suite. It used to be a great product, but not any more. I've had much fewer problems with free products.