Avast and SVCHOST.EXE cripples my system

First post here :slight_smile:
I’ve been running the free version of Avast for some time with no problems (latest version as at 12th August 2015).
My PC is Win7 x64 (up to date with service packs and windows updates etc). It has 4gb memory and an Intel Core 2 Duo (T7250 @ 2.00 Ghz)

A few days ago my PC began to crawl which turned out to be svchost.exe and/or avastsvc32.exe. Each process would take up 50% cpu (one whole core each) which was leading to 100% cpu activity and svchosts.exe was also chewing up memory (over 1gb). Disabling avast had no effect. Going into safe mode and uninstalling avast did the trick and now PC is behaving normally. However, it’s not an ideal situation (no AV).

I’ve used other AV systems before (such as Symantec Endpoint and AVG and each have their problems) but I’d like to stop with AVAST. I could upgrade to the PRO version but I’m not convinced it would solve this problem.

Any thoughts?

regards
Barnsey

  • Other security related software installed…?
  • Which AV(s) did you use before Avast…?

Hi Asyn,

Got latest Malwarebytes (but only runs interactively, it doesn’t run a service)

As mentioned I previously had AVG and Symantec Endpoint (endpoint was removed with symantecs cleanwipe tool)

Everything was working fine up till a few days ago

First, be sure to get rid of all remnants of your prior installed AV(s)…!!
https://www.avast.com/faq.php?article=AVKB11#artTitle

Then:

  1. Download Avast Free Antivirus: https://files.avast.com/iavs9x/avast_free_antivirus_setup.exe
  2. Follow instructions: https://www.avast.com/uninstall-utility (Run this tool for all prior installed Avast versions…!!)
  3. Reinstall Avast with the downloaded installer from point 1.
  4. Reboot.

OK all done.

Seems OK now (as it was a week or so ago). Will post again if any issues encountered.

Thanks

You’re welcome.