Mcafee VSE 8.8 Patch 6 System Utilization?

[Former Member]

When running my on demand scans, my CPU tends to go up to about 98% to 100% when scanning even without opening other programs.

I have the System Utilization mode set to LOW. So how come I am seeing my CPU peak up to 100% and I hear my CPU fan from the notebook.

Is this normal?

Running Windows 10.

Thanks

[wwarren]

Using 100% CPU is normal for the ODS.

High CPU usage is a potential indicator of a performance problem; it does not mean there is a problem.

There is no setting in the product that controls CPU usage.

The System Utilization slider you are modifying controls Thread Priority.

By controlling thread priority, you indirectly influence the CPU usage but only by telling the OS how to behave when other programs are running who require the CPU.

If no other programs require the CPU the OS gives all available cycles to the ODS; we don't control that, nor should we. High CPU use isn't a problem; performance is the concern.

[sunilgmanj]

mcafee support ref. it to

FAQs about McShield.exe and high CPU utilization when running On-Demand scans 

Technical Articles ID:  KB85299
Last Modified:  11/9/2015

Why was this higher CPU usage not happening in patch 4?
That was most likely because patch 4 contained a known issue where it used only one scanning thread was used during ODS.

This issue is resolved in patch 5, resulting in higher CPU utilization during ODS.

While patch 5 ODS does use higher CPU, scans finish faster. Intel Security recommends upgrading to patch 5 when it is approved for your environment, because patch 5 also contains useful security updates.

If settings on the performance tab do not change this behavior, why is that option available?
Setting the system utilization on the performance tab to Low provides improved performance for other running applications. The Low setting is useful for systems with high end-user activity. Conversely, by setting the system utilization to normal, the scan completes faster. The normal setting is useful for systems that have large volumes and very little end-user activity. You can read more about this in the "Configuring Performance Improvements" section of the VirusScan Enterprise 8.8 Best Practices Guide (PD22940).

You can also make the following adjustments to ODS settings to improve performance, as required:

• Enable scan cache.
• Set up daily, targeted ODS for risky locations.
• Set up complete ODS to run once a week.
• Set up exclusions in ODS wherever needed, such as on an Exchange server.
• Review KB74059 for Best Practice for On-Demand Scans in VSE 8.8.