In an OpenCode session implementing a complex specification document, after a major phase of codebase buildout, then git commit of changes results in Avast going crazy with 40% CPU usage, but my CPU usage meter shows 100%, despite other programs not making up the difference, making me wonder, what other procesess are using CPU without properly reporting it in task manager? OpenCode in both the session which Avast freaks out on, and those that didn’t initiate events that trigger Avast, become almost unresponsive. Can’t even select or type text in OpenCode with Avast doing whatever it is doing. Avast doesn’t stop with it’s high-cpu usage until I terminate the Windows Terminal instance that did the git commits (or something else the agent did; I suspect it’s the git; major writes and changes and git results in 20% usage under that load). Even if I ‘disabled shields’ Avast still does this. Even when I put git and bun.exe in ‘allowed apps’, Avast still freaks.
Needless to say, I’m not thrilled. Throughout January and February Malwarebytes was interfering with startup for OpenCode and Claude Code. I spent weeks trying to work with Malwarebytes support, and didn’t get a resolution. The solution, I had to disable Malwarebytes.
Now Avast is basically breaking OpenCode workflows. For Avast, I would need to uninstall. I’ve been thinking I should just kick Windows and go Ubuntu so as to avoid being stuck with broken software from unresponsive companies. I keep wondering, though, why is it so hard for companies to work with AI in the way that users want to work with AI?
Anyways. I’m mostly here to vent as I have no confidence in Avast or similar companies. I’d like to be surprised and get a helpful response and a solution, and go back to working effectively on building the future, but at this point it just seems like Avast is yet another reason I need to dump Windows and all the junk that comes with it.
I’ve been using Windows since 2001. You know how bad you have to screw up to push a consumer like me to the point that it seems NECESSARY to leave the Windows ecosystem?
Avast not only breaks my AI Harness workflows, critical software that is only going to become increasingly more important, but it does so while making sure to serve me popups in the middle of my work.
Avast isn’t just an inconvenience at this point. It’s an unacceptable failure point. What’s more, I’ve never actually seen it do something helpful in all the years I’ve tolerated it on my machine. Making me wonder if using Avast is even doing anything useful, or it’s just creating overhead and friction that interferes with effective work. The only notifications I get from Avast are one’s that seem to reinforce how worthless it is. Oh, my lock screen allows notifications, oh no, you need me to pay for a feature to fix that for me?
Meanwhile, I can go ask Claude to build software that no one has ever made before, at a cost that is far less than an Avast subscription.
I’m thinking the few companies that survive AI are going to be the one’s responsive to user needs. I think at this point, the most interest I have in Avast is just observing when their business falls apart and what variable pushed them over the edge.