It seems that after the “update” to new, windows 8 friendly version, avast started to interact with my browser in a rather unfriendly manner, causing it to “hang” for few seconds every time I try to scroll the page or use anything related to php. Is there a solution to this or is it a new feature? I’m using firefox 16.1, zone alarm firewall and windows 7 64-bit.
Well i’m using firefox 19.02 and I don’t have such problem of hanging. Try to uninstall firefox and install the new 19.02. And see if there any change, if not try a clean install of avast 8 free. Any way IMO if u are behind a router, then there’s no need for 3rd party firewall, windows 7 firewall is very good, and with avast 8 free is a light combo. I only agree to use 3rd party firewall on win xp, but hey this is just my opinion.
Regards RealNature,
Thanks for the replay, I rather not update firefox, the newer version have too much bloat for my taste, I’ve done a clean install of the avast 8, disabled the firewall and it still did the same thing, I’ve just rolled back to avast 7.x, no problem whatsoever, I think I’ll just leave this version alone.
I’ve noticed that scrolling is weird in Palemoon and Firefox (both 19.02)
with Avast 8 Free.Sometimes it looks like scrolling is “harder”. No problems
with IE10 and Opera.Maybe it is problem with latest Firefox (Palemoon) .
Well I know on some site scrolling is slow but that only till everything is load in the page, well we will see what vers 20 has to offer, but if in vers 7 this isn’t happening then I turn my eyes on avast 8. If this thing is confirm by other user, then avast should do something in this direction.
Regards RealNature,
I’m not seeing any problem with Firefox 19.0.2. However, I don’t have any extensions that I’ve pushed to be compatible. Even though modifying the Install.rdf of the .XPI file will get the extension to load, that doesn’t guarantee that the extension won’t be problematic.
There have been quite a few vulnerabilities fixed by Mozilla since Firefox 16.0.1. See http://www.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/releases/.
Hi there,
I’m running Firefox 19.0.2 and Avast 8.0.1483. All is well until the afternoon (Mountain time) update of the virus definitions… which is anytime from about 2:30 to 3:15pm. This action from Avast totally freezes my system! It takes quite a bit of closing down to get it to let go.
This does not happen in the morning and happens only once in awhile in the evening… nothing like what happens in the afternoon. Even with a clean reboot with nothing else running it will freeze up like there’s no more memory available.
I’m running Windows XP Service Pack 3
Really frustrating… this has only been happening since the most recent Avast update then the recent Firefox update…
Bear
I would strongly urge you to upgrade to Firefox v20.0 as it fixes some stability issues.
Having up-to-date software is always a good idea.
You may want to think about a different firewall as there seems to be a few issues between avast and ZoneAlarm FW.
@ RealNature As far as a router for defense goes a NAT router is best. I’m running a third part firewall with no issues.
In fact many of us do use third party firewalls without issues. In the end it’s what trips your trigger that counts.
Just curious those who are getting freezing problems during the update, what are the specs of your systems. I wouldn’t be surprised that the Avast updates takes cpu cycles potentially freezing systems, but I haven’t noticed it. Maybe it is because of the fact that Avast seems to update its main updates twice or once a day and then uses streaming updates for everything else which lessons the impact of updates.
I am currently on a old q8200 quad core processor, 4 gigs of ram, windows 7 64 bit.
The vps updates shouldn’t increase CPU usage nor cause “freeze-ups”. And when avast has a “regular” vps update the previous streaming updates are included. And the vps updates are relatively small. It sounds more like a browser issue. I have absolutely no issues with FF 20.0 and avast. 
Could you explain the VPS and how it works with updates? I assume Avast just updates like other AVs, they download definition updates, and when it “applies” the updates it uses CPU cycles like every other program or AV.
Well, I upgraded my Firefox and the freezing just got worse…
Then I found this website:
http://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/fix-problems-realplayer-add-ons?redirectlocale=en-US&redirectslug=Using+the+RealPlayer+plugin+with+Firefox
I removed my RealPlayer altogether and my whole computer runs better!! I had several versions of it from years of use and updating and deleted whatever I could find. It must have been conflicting with all sorts of operations… it has it’s own updater that loads on startup. It also inserts scheduled update checks in the “Scheduled Tasks” section in the Control Panel.
Really? New software is by definition…new, as in untested in the field. I NEVER do that until I know the issues with it. Windows 8 is a prime example.
There have been so many AV updates and OS updates over the years that have caused serious issues…if I could backdate FF about six iterations, I would, right now.
I’m running XP, and will continue to do so long after MS quits supporting it. MS support is a joke anyway.
No need for me to help keep Gates a billionaire.
This will make you very vulnerable to drive by downloads.
It is essential yo keep your software up to date this is even more important then a virus-scanner.
The vps (virus definitions) updates are relatively small, amounting to a few MB at most.
These are so small you shouldn’t notice any CPU usage difference.
It’s 2:43pm and the Avast update is running right now… troublefree!!
Running Firefox 20.0 on 5 computers and NO problems.