Lets get this straight ashServ.exe doesn’t just increase its activity (cpu use %) it has to be scanning something, what you have to find is the program that is causing the file access activity that causes avast to scan the file.
The CCleaner, MS Startup list shown are not the only programs that start on boot I use Code Stuff Starter and that shows more (insluding the ones that I have disabled), but even so the Task Manager will show what is starting in the way of services.
ashServ.exe doesn’t initiate activity it responds to activity, so can’t have excessive cpu activity.
Absolutely true if you uninstall avast nothing will be scanned, that doesn’t mean that ashServ.exe is the culprit. You have to find the program that has excessive file accesses during boot, disable or uninstall that and you will see a reduction in cpu activity because ashServ.exe doesn’t have to scan the file accesses for that program.
Those things are easily checked if you simple use msconfig… see yourself that there is nothing unusual… and best of all, absolutely nothing that wasn’t before in there. As I sadid before, I haven’t installed any new application since 2 weeks ago…
I uninstalled Kerio yesterda, relied on Windows SP2 Firewall and mu router… nothing has changed. PopPeeper is mail notification program unbelievable small and not causing these things. IU’m using it more than one year without any problems. Those things are the only things started… other stuff that can be seen in msconfig are the stuff that was always there… Indexing services are disabled forever in my system btw…
David
Certain programs and services are load at boot time because they are required. Others are loaded for convenience.
If the same program is loaded each time, then there are faster ways to compare it to what was loaded the last time than scanning the file.
It should not be necessary to rescan the files each time. It’s the constant rescanning that’s taking so long.
Exactly my point… once ashServ.exe is done, which is around just few seconds, it goes back to 75% of CPU usage at one point… and it does that during the whole minute… I repeat when I start task manager there is nothing unusual loaded, nothing that wasn’t before in there…
EDIT: Btw, LifeView HID Service is my TV/SVHS capture card and I have it more than one year now. I also tried to uninstall it completely just for the fun of it… not just uninstall drivers, but physically remove the PCI card from the slot… same thing…
We have not had any program changes to avast recently that would have changed how ashServ.exe works so it can’t of its own volition start scanning files for no reason. So what else has changed to cause the increased activity?
I was probably one of the first to bring this up and as a result of extensive testing totally disabled my firewall on boot as it made 450-500 file accesses, now they weren’t all to the same files, yes log and ini files will have multiple accesses, but that doesn’t make up the entire file access load.
Yes I think that Alwil should improve the boot up scan and as far as I’m aware it shouldn’t scan multiple accesses to the same file as is the case in standard shield. However, because this is so early in the boot it may not be able to store and access the information in the avast files I just don’t know and it was something that I don’t feel was very well answered by the Alwil Team I the thread I created.
Perhaps there should be different levels of scanning at boot that could be included in the settings, low (just those files that are loaded, normal (Loaded and important system files) and paranoid (???) which would increase the number of files scanned.
There are files in my Program Files folders (I have two) that are scanned on boot that aren’t used from one week to the next, so only files that are actually opened to run or for modification should be scanned by default.
I have to say i have much more “clean” startup than you DavidR(and BTW i don’t even use Msconfig i have other program for that ;D…) and it has been like that for ages no changes no new programs that add to startup, the only thing that i think of at the moment that has changed is the MS updates that were added recently… Sasha my services look very similar i may have 1 or 2 more (i’ll post a screenshot later right now i have to EAT haha) And did i mention my C: partition is defraged as hell(i use PerfectDisk for that).I’m sorry but it really looks like there’s something going on with avast! 
cheers friends
Mikey
Yes that’s a pretty good idea David 
But I’m not noticing the same effect considering that your start up is cleaner than mine ;D not to mention I don’t have a super fast system.
I don’t use msconfig either, just used it as an example that msconfig (for those that use it) doesn’t show everything my default is CodeStuff Starter.
Mikey, msconfig is really nice addition to Windows and it’s standard part of it… just type in inside the RUN box and that’s it (but I’m sure you already knew that). I mean, there is no need for any other application aside if you just wanna see running processes, disable them or enable them… Usually I go with right-clicking MyComputer / Manage / Serviced and Applications / Services to manage all my services, but msconfig is really fastest way just to preview them all…
David wrote:
Perhaps there should be different levels of scanning at boot that could be included in the settings, low (just those files that are loaded, normal (Loaded and important system files) and paranoid () which would increase the number of files scanned. There are files in my Program Files folders (I have two) that are scanned on boot that aren't used from one week to the next, so only files that are actually opened to run or for modification should be scanned by default.
Exactly…
Cheers !
I wouldn’t exactly call my machine a super fast system David haha ;D But the program i use is Startup CPL and i love it because it integrates into control panel For those Windows Services i use Service Controller XP i know i know i can do it all in windows but i like these programs anyway cause they make things easier… And also Sasha one of the reasons i don’t use msconfig is because i cannot delete the whole entry of the startup item if you know what i mean, it’s still there somewhere not in use but the text is still there when you look at msconfig… :
Cheers
Mikey
Yes I know, but as I said, it’s just for fast disabling/enabling. I use Manage console and from there you can completely control what you want to do with some certain service… see here:
http://img446.imageshack.us/img446/39/untitled14pe.jpg
Once you stop/disable process in there, you will not see it inside msconfig’s services list any more… until you reenable it again of course…
Hehe i know all of that i use managment also , no i was talking about startup items…
Oh Startup items are different term than Services. I thought you meant on services. Anyway, I also have StartupCPL but I mostly use CCleaner for that, and it’s always there anyway, so it’s very easy to go into Startup items and remove anything you want from the list. Removing them that way is permanent, and in msconfig’s startup list you won’t see them any more… same thing as with StartupCPL
Exactly ;D
We can keep going around in circles forever. Unless someone from Alwil has some answers or explanations,
nothing will ever really be solved or even properly explained.
As I’ve already mentioned in another thread, I just want my mean, lean avast! AV program back.
Well, it’s rather strange. There was no avast! update for some time, so I have no idea what might have changed recently to cause such a behavior.
Are you really sure that ashServ.exe is taking that much CPU without the avast! tray icon spinning? Does it (= the CPU usage) stop after the boot is finished, or does it go on forever?
I don’t know about the rest but it stops for me after the boot is finished but Igor my PC is acting so strange lately everything seems to open up slower…I’ve scanned with a million different scanners i checked everything the only time things go back to normal is when i uninstall avast! unfortunately… :