Sophos and Kaspersky andI don't run both AV programs at the same time. It's OK to run separate. My IT cousin clearly says so. I looked at task manager earlier and I really don't know what to look for.
AV products typically but not in every case use scheduled scans and real-time engines to scan on the fly. I would only have one real-time engine running.
My start up folder looked empty. Clearly, I don't know what I'm doing on that note. I will ask my guru neighbor about it, but I was wondering if anyone else ever saw this before.
Guiding a non-technical person through this can be a bit tricky as the start-up folder is only one location of a few where yo can have startup items.
There are tools, such as Ccleaner, that have a convenient start-up items list, but this excludes services. The issue with installing applications is that by default some, including Ccleaner add background processes and scheduled tasks. So if you install it you need to stop the crap from running in the background as well as stop them from auto-checking for updates. Then you need to remove the scheduled task from it's list. All of this can be done within the application.
Regardless of what you do make sure you have a back up, as the locations you re ultimately making changes to control the operating system and the environment. I recommend you remove any startup item that has to do with Adobe free products, Java, and any application that you are not using. This is one of the reasons computers slow down over time as you end up with a lot of crap starting and running in the background.
Other than that you want to check your services. Again anything Java, Google, Adobe should all be disabled. Some of these services have been compromised in the past and there is no justifiable reason to have them running, beyond keeping their respective code up to date. However I recommend that you just check for updates manually and forego the auto update approach. YMMV
Having said the above I recommend that you engage a tech to look into your system. If they know what they are doing they will likely not just deal with your immediate concern but they will optimize and clean up your system.
