Avast and slow USB data transfer rates

Avast Free Antivirus / Premium Security
1

Hello,

I have encountered a problem with my USB flash drives and Avast. I had an old Windows XP computer that worked flawlessly with Avast Free Antivirus. My new computer has Windows 7 Home Premium (64-bit) installed. When there isn’t any antivirus software installed the data transfer rates to all of my USB flash drives are quick. When I installed Avast some files being copied to my USB flash drives became slow and I do mean incredibly slow.

A friend of mine suggested that the problem was probably coming from my antivirus software, I disabled the file system shield from Avast and the data transfer rates from my computer to any of my USB flash drives sped up noticeably. There were a few instances when disabling the file system shield alone still didn’t solve my issue. I decided to uninstall Avast and the data transfer rates to my USB flash drives were fast. The files that were once slow to copy to the USB flash drives were now being transferred fast.

I understand that antivirus software scans files being transferred to a USB flash drive causing some slow down but in my case it was extreme. When the slow data transfer occurs either two things happen I see a calculating message or just very low transfer number rates. I uninstalled Avast and the slow data transfer rates was solved. I had decided to install another antivirus program but I ended up with the exact same problem. This doesn’t seem to be strictly an Avast problem but an antivirus problem period.

After I encountered the exact same problem with the other antivirus software I decided to uninstall it and install Avast again. This strange situation has been plaguing me for quite a while I don’t want to be without antivirus protection. At this point I am shutting down the file system shield or shutting down all of Avast’s shields to yield fast transfer speeds to my USB flash drives. I don’t know why Avast (or any other antivirus) is causing files to be transferred ridiculously slow to my USB flash drives. I have just about given up trying to resolve this issue. Being without any antivirus software is not an option for me. Why is Avast causing some files to be transferred incredibly slow to my USB drives? Is there a specific setting that I can configure in Avast to alleviate this issue? Any advice would be appreciated.

2

Hi Toledo343.
It will be very nice to know your system’s specifications for the beginning, also can you provide a screenshot of the copy window, with speeds visible ?
Did you also have any other security software installed(a firewall maybe ?).

3

I have Windows 7 Home Premium (64-bit) and avast! and I have not noticed any slowdown of USB data transfer rates.

4

Sparxx,
My system specifications are: Intel Core i3 550, 6GB DDR3 ram, Intel Graphics Media Accelerator X4500 video card. Apart from Avast I also use Malwarebytes (free version), SuperAntiSpyware (free version), and Spywareblaster (free). I have also provided two pictures of the problem I am having. With Avast (or other antivirus software) the file transfer speed to the USB flash drive sits at calculating for a long time as shown in picture 01. At other times the file transfer speed to the USB flash drive is severely slow. When I should be attaining transfer speeds at about 4MB I end up with incredibly low transfer speeds as shown in picture 02.

At times even shutting down Avast doesn’t work but when it’s uninstalled the USB flash drive transfer speeds return to normal. I don’t know why this is happening on my older Windows XP computer I never had this problem. If this were a hardware problem then this situation should occur even without Avast being installed.

5

Why are you using two antispyware program.use any one.do you using malware bytes as a realtime scanner or on demand scan?

6

Swarnava/Heaven GOD, both antispyware programs are free versions and neither have realtime protection. I do have Windows Defender as the only realtime antispyware software running.