Here lately my computer has started to lag pretty bad, I have looked at the taskmanager to see what is eating my resources. I have a pretty decent system intel 1.73 Ghz with 2 GB of ram. The only thing that I can tell that is getting most of the attention is the avast with this happens. I am not sure if it is a service provider that is causing this or what. I attempt to turn them off to isolate the issue with no luck I looked in my service logs to see if there was anything there and nothing jumps out at me. I don’t want to disable it I like the product but it has just started to slow my machine down. Anyone have any ideas what this could be. Im using Avast 4.7 Pro
Well what are the figures (cpu %) in task manager for the avast processes, they begin with ash or asw and it is most likely ashServ.exe the main scanning engine that would show most activity. I assume it is the CPU % you are talking about when you mention resources.
What are you doing when you notice these increases ?
Is the avast ‘a’ icon rotating during these periods?
What other security software are you running ?
What is it that you are trying to turn off ?
Yes the systray icon is rotating, script blocking, keyscrambler plugin for firefox, and yes it is the ashserv and aswupdSv the aswupdSv is the update thing but nothing putdates. I am not sure of the cpu% it doesnt get too bad it has just not been like this before. it is noticable.
Avast memory using for my pc (512Mb Ram) too much for me 
@ s0ulburn26
Well whilst an update is going on there is going to be increased CPU activity, I was hoping for a breakdown of the CUP figures for avast processes.
The fact that the avast icon is rotating means it is scanning something add to that any update process would be a substantial increase of CPU %. What we need to try and find out is what avast is scanning, hence my question about “what were you doing when you notice these increases ?”
The ashUpdSv.exe service is running in the background an unless it is actually checking for updates will be consuming zero CPU cycles.
Is this just after boot or at other times and again we are looking at what you are doing ?
I’m sorry I’m not sure what it is you are saying here if it is an example (for s0ulburn26) of how little resources avast is using or are you complaining that avast uses too much ?
28MB RAM usage doesn’t seem high to me at all, for me Firefox is using &&.5MB, my firewall, 28.5MB, Explorer, 21MB.
Like David said, 28MB RAM usage doesn’t seem high to me at all either.
You won’t found that much antivirus that works with less than this.
It is usually when I plug a cable in, I happened to connect my pc earlier and again it lagged so bad it almost seemed as thought my system was in the process of a very slow crash. I managed to get the task manager open and see what was going on the service ashserv had the most and cpu processes were floating between 99% and 95% I didnt happen to record the actual memory in kilobytes, so thats what I have. It usually happens when I actually connect. I think when you say that it is scanning something that is what it is actually doing that is laggin me out so bad. I guess the better question is; how can I optimize my settings so I’m still secure but it doesn’t require as much from my system when I obtain an actual ip or connect to a network connection. I have gone through the options and checked to see if there was anything that might jump at me with no luck hence im here.
I do have the provider services for Internet mail, Instant Messaging, Network Sheild, P2P Sheild, Standard sheild, and Web Sheild running. I think I understand what you are asking of me. And I will do my best to try and get a taskmanager open and snap a print screen. Hopefully that will help. I am also running Tor and I think that may have something to do with it but not sure. But thats another forum.
Just jumping in, here…check that the protection levels for those shields are set to “normal” (not “high”) and if that was the case does it make any difference?
Do you actually need all 6 of those shields running? That is: are you regularly using the programs those shields relate to?
The guidelines for solving of the problem “ashServ.exe using too much CPU” has always been the same:
- Check if the avast tray icon is spinning (while CPU usage is high)
- If it is, click it (wait for the dialog box to open), and check which file is being scanned (the Last Scanned field); the Scanned Count value should be increasing (spinning icon means a scan is in progress)
- Find out which of the providers is scanning the file (click “Details” button and check out the Last Scanned value for each of the providers). The most common providers that may cause this are Standard Shield, P2P Shield and IM Shield.
- Post a list of other running processes at that time.
I found ;D AVG antivirus…
Then, what about AVAST in my PC.
After a lot of hours surfing,sending e-mails and working with Word.
I really can’t understand the hunt for low resource (RAM) use when you have 2GB installed, good luck with avg.
I can’t understand low usage of AVG and Arovax ASh. I think he used a defragmenter memory and made an screenshot.
I used AVG, well, it’s low resources user, but onlu 1MB, no no.
I feel the same… resources, if available, are to be used 8)
;D 8) I think I have pin pointed the problem. At the time I noticed it, I would see the avast system tray Icon spin. I thought avast was busy, in a way it was. I did some checking with the settings. I had the majority of the providers set to high levels. I don’t do any P2P, or instant messaging these were unnecessary for me to use at high levels. I did notice that when my system started to slow down to the point of a crash, and I looked at the processes My TOR was what had the most resources. Since the avast icon was spinning I automatically thought that avast was eating my resources up. So I have thus reconfigured the provider services and my TOR and everything is running smoothly. I really want to take the time to thank those that responded to my post in attempts to help. 8) 8) 8)
Your welcome, just glad that the situation is now under control.
Glad to know. Next time, when you have to debug the ashserv.exe, try to post a list of running processes and would be easier to find a bad interaction between avast and other running programs.
TOR? what is it?
An explanation from an english speaker, please!!