Responding to an Avast upgrade notice, I upgraded from avast 4 pro (paid) to Avast 5.0.462. Now every time I turn on the computer (connected ADSL wireless to Internet) it takes 4 to 5 minutes for the shields to activate. Should I go back to the earlier version, which was trouble-free? Anyone else having this issue?
Welcome to the forums, slsachs 
Try a repair of avast. As you did not include the OS you are using, the one below is for XP but you should be able to do similar with other Windows OS’s.
To do a repair of avast :
Control panel > Add/remove programs > click once on avast to select it > click on Change/Remove > scroll down the left pane and click on repair > click OK> follow directions
Thanks for your suggestion. Unfortunately it did not solve the problem. And despite a week of requesting help from Avast tech support, I have received only one response (full of grammatical mistakes and sounding as if noone had read or understood my questions) asking for details on my operating system. I’ve sent all that in (along with the requested HijackThis info), but still no response.
Have any other users found this problem – it takes 4 to 5 minutes after turning on the computer for the realtime shields to activate, and I am on an ADSL wireless connection so that’s 4 to 5 minutes unprotected.
Will just revert to older version of Avast Pro, again. …
Does the computer seem sluggish while waiting to activate? Could you take a look with Windows Task Manager to see if something is using a major part of the CPU during the 4-5 minutes? I use wireless ADSL and the shields come up immediately. Are you familiar with Wireshark?
Hi,
The biggest CPU users:
avastsvs.exe
jqs.exe
explorer.exe
svchost.exe
No I’m not familiar with the program you mention.
Thanks for your help. Does the above indicate anything to you about what might be happening?
avastsvs.exe - required on startup
avast! Services
jqs.exe - optional on startup
Java Quick Starter
explorer.exe - should not be disabled
Windows Explorer Process
svchost.exe - should not be disabled
Windows Service Host
ADD: Try delaying avast! startup of shields so there wont be conflict between system’s and avast’s startup.
1 Double click avast! tray icon
2 Click Settings > Troubleshooting
3 Put a check beside Load avast services after loading other system services
4 Click OK
Another troubleshooting aid. Download a program called “Process Explorer” from http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/default.aspx . It is a much souped up Task Manager. Under view/select columns make sure Start Time and CPU Usage are checked. This program will give you a map of what time your processes actually started and how much CPU they used. Post results if you can, or look to see what is happening to your system during the 5-6 minutes you are waiting. See attachment for the type of timeline data it can give you. You sort by time by clicking the column name and similarly for other parameters.