This question is a little opinion based, but I think it can be based in fact and I would prefer answers backed up with a link to a reputable company if possible.
The problem is at my job, we have “okay” hardware for the developers, laptops running Windows XP (I know) with dual core 2.3 Ghz processor, 2GB of memory and 60 GB hard disk @7200 rpm however, the amount of virus scan and security agents and big brother software on these make them unusable when scans are running. My company insists on running full disk virus scans every monday and “smart scans” every other day.
I appreciate the concern for viruses as much as the next guy, however it is hindering our work and we are looking for a new setup that allows the developers to work unimpeded by scans, yet provides virus protection et al that the company is looking for.
Any suggestions?
a) Try to change the scanning frequency/schedule – the machines are presumably running on-access scanning, so don’t need to be doing scheduled scans.
b) If the policy is immutable; profile the machine to see what resource is being exhausted. It’s probably the disk – laptops tend to have poor disks, and both AV-scheduled-scan and development/compilation tend to stress IO. So look at putting the fastest disks in the laptops – or even SSD.