Avast constantly active

Hello, I have run avast on my machine for a while now. There hasnt been any problems until recently.

I am running windows XP SP2.

Recently ashServ.exe has been using a significant amount of memory. It is using 20%-40% of CPU at all times while idle. and 40% while active. Then avast icon is spinning, but I do not know how to see what it is scanning. It also seems to be slowing my bandwidth. I was downloading Debian from a bittorrent connection with plenty of peers. The transfer starts at around 200k but drops to 10k after a few minutes. If I stop and then restart it does the same thing.

Any ideas?

Which firewall do you use?
Any other security program is installed?
Which P2P application are you using?

Are you refering to Windows or Linux avast version while downloading the debian package?

Using windows firewall. Running Windows home avast. utorrent is p2p program. I have used it in the past with no problems.

The only other security program is Search and Destroy I run on occasion but is not running.

I have tried unistalling and reinstalling avast with no problems.

Did you try disabling the P2P provider?

What do you mean ‘no problems’…
Does this solve the problem?

Sorry I meant to say I reinstalled and the problem was still there. I shutdown the p2p program and the problem is still there.

I suggest you do a forum search for utorrent as I believe there have been a number of these issues, which might be related to utorrent communicating using the email ports and avast is expecting email protocol for programs using the email ports.

Check the Internet Mail provider and see if it is trying to scan utorrent traffic.

Left click the “a” icon, click on the provider you want to monitor. It will show you what that provider is scanning or last scanned.

If the providers are not visible, click details.

Very Interesting,

I am having the exact problem and it started when I started downloading the Debian as well. Just wondering you wouldn’t happen to be downloading the DVD ISO’s would you? Just a rundown for everyone else:

I have reinstalled avast and everything is ok right up until I start utorrent, then after a couple of minutes Ashserv.exe goes nuts 10000K or higher ram usage and anywhere from 25% to 50%+ processor utilization.

I also have noticed that utorrent starts out checking the downloads for integrity but after a while, right when Ashserv goes nuts it stops. I have tried stopping the debian downloads so utorrent wont check them for integrity but it stil has to check the other downloads. I am beginning to wonder if Avast doesn’t like utorrent accessing the HDD so much or something like that because it will process what seems like a fixed amount of data for integrity then Ashserv.exe goes nuts.

I have the same problem with Avast. It runs almost constantly for the first 30 minutes or more when we start windows, and again when someone else logons (windows xp/sp2 home edition; avast 4.7 home edition). We do not use utorrent; firewall is zonealarm free edition. I was thinking to uninstall and reinstall from scratch, to get the database reorganized; would that do any good?

It won’t hurt… but, you can check the log files to see if any info could help on troubleshooting this.
Open avast Log Viewer.
What are the exactly symptoms? I mean, just disk usage? Your computer is slow, what is happening?

Hi you guys and a merry past Christmas, ??? ::slight_smile:

I’ve the same problem.
I’d been running:
Avast 4,7 prof
Sygate Personal Firewall
Spybot S&D Teatimer ( I think that doesn’t matter in any case for that problem)
Bearshare Lite Filesharing

And all was good until that day I’ve downloaded utorrent.
The same problems described above appeared on my System.
Bearshare is running on C:
my system on D:
and utorrent on E:

I recognized that the Provider “Standard Schutz” is only active on C: the Bearshare HD.
And the Provider “P2P Schutz” is only active on E: the utorrent HD
So I stopped the “P2P Schutz” Provider and several minutes later the CPU usage turned to normal and Ashserv.exe just needs about 10M RAM.
Before the CPU usage was about 40-50% high and the Ram usage about 25M Ram.
That really hurts if you’re trying to cool down your CPU with less noise as possible.

So I think that utorrent and the “P2P Schutz” are responsible for that.

German translation:
Jetzt nochmal auf Deutsch:

Hallo Leute und ein frohes, vergangenes Weihnachtsfest, ??? ::slight_smile:

ich habe das gleiche Problem welches bereits meinen Vorgängern beschrieben wurde.
Bis jetzt hatte ich folgendes laufen:
Avast 4,7 prof,
Sygate Personal Firewall
Spybot S&D Teatimer ( Ich denke nicht dass das etwas mit dem Problem zu tun hat)
Bearshare Lite Filesharing

Und es lief auch alles wunderbar, bis zu jenem Tag, an dem ich mir utorrent runterlud.
Die selben Probleme, wie sie bereits in Userbeiträgen über diesem beschrieben wurden, tauchten plötzlich auf.
Ich habe Bearshare auf C:
Windows auf D:
und utorrent auf E: laufen, das sind alles getrennte Platten und keine Partitionen.

Ich bemerkte, dass der “Standart Schutz” meist nur auf C: aktiv ist,
und der “P2P Schutz” nur auf E: sein Unwesen treibt.
Ich hielt den “P2P Schutz” an, und einige Minuten später sank die Auslastung von ashserv.exe auf das normale Maß, auf ca. 0-5% Auslastung und ca. 10M RAM.
Vorher waren es 40-50% Auslastung und ca. 25M RAM, und das schmerzt wenn man versucht seine Kiste Geräuscharm zu kühlen.

Ich bin nun zu dem Schluss gekommen, dass, oh welch Wunder, nur utorrent und der “P2P Schutz” von avast für das Problem verantwortlich sein können.

Do you all mean μTorrent? Some friends of mine say that p2p client is NOT to be trusted. Try using other torrent client.