Avast! Free slowdown

Avast Free Antivirus / Premium Security
1

Since I didn’t want to hijack the original thread so I thought I would start a new one.

I also have a similar slowdown problem (no sound problems though) as the original poster in this thread…
https://forum.avast.com/index.php?topic=89927.0
Mine started 2 versions ago and I am running the current version. My pc has XP SP3; 72% hard drive free space; System Managed (Auto) pagefile size; 2.5 gigs of ram. I have run ALL of the suggestions there (uninstall/reinstall, cleantools, etc) in both normal AND safe Mode with ZERO success.
With all shields running, whenever I open Windows Explorer it locks up for an average of 2 to 3 minutes. If I disable the File System Shield Windows Explorer opens normally. All avast! settings are set to default.
All in all I like avast! but it’s a shame I have to turn of that one shield to be able to poke around in the filesystem using Windows Explorer.

2

How much RAM does your system have ???

3

The OP states they have 2.5 GB more than enough for XP SP3.

@ snavely
What other security software do you have installed, e.g. firewall, anti-spyware, etc. ?

Are you sure you haven’t changed any of the File System Shield default settings in avast ?
e.g. Scan when opening (Scan all files), Advanced, Packers or Sensitivity.

Do you have XP indexing enabled ?

When this happens, is the avast tray icon rotating ?
Also check the Task manager and see what process is using the majority of the CPU %

4

enter into safe mode, uninstall avast, reboot in normal mode, there you reinstall avast and disable the “delay the start of service avast” on avast settings.

test this

Marcelo

5

Sorry delaying the start of avast processes won’t make a blind bit of difference to the problem reported by snavely opening explorer slowdown.

Not to mention even if it did, there would be no need to reinstall avast to achieve that, just change the setting and reboot.

6

sim sim companheiro sei que desativar essa opção não resulta, somente desinstalar e reinstalar, desativando antes a restauração do sistema, estava pesquisando topicos dentro deste forum e no forum da linhadefensiva (Br forum)
e percebi que é um imcompatibilidade entre o office 2010 que cria um diretorio virtual, ou o sistema de restauração apaga arquivos do avast alguma coisa assim, pelo pouco que entendi …

Para que foi corrigido na 1367

7

I would play with the File Shield settings testing Explorer opening speed until you find the culprit.

If nothing else, your can always all Windows Explorer as an exclusion to the File Shield. You really don’t want to permanently disable File Shield.

I would suspect that something might be amiss with Windows Explorer. It has acted up on every version of Windows I ever had installed.

8

I have indexing disabled on my XP Pro system.

I do not have a problem with Windows Explorer on the XP Pro system.

9

yes yes mate I know that this option does not disable
results, only uninstalling and reinstalling, disabling
before the system restore, I was researching
topics within this forum and the forum linhadefensiva
(Br forum)
and realized that it is an incompatibility between the office 2010
that creates a virtual directory or the system
Restore erases files avast something,
I understand the little … Seems to solve the build 1367 ja …
regardz

10

Sorry for the delay getting back here.
Indexing is enabled; avast! tray icon spins, sometimes sticks with the icon rotated half-way around during slowdown.
SpyBot is installed, set to ignore anything avast! related; only use it for cookie/cache cleaning.
No firewall installed nor enabled (single pc connected to router running NAT, ICS not enabled so it’s not looking for a network) Avast uses 90 to 100% cpu during the slowdown, Explorer uses what little is left. Set Explorer in the exclusion list- no change.
Checked memory with memtest-no errors.
Since my cpu is an older Athlon XP3200 it may be part of the problem as most software is multi-core coded these days. Is this the case with Avast?

11

I once had this issue in my XP SP3 machine, as well. Surprisingly, a repair install worked.

Go to Add and Remove Programs > avast! > Scroll down to see a “Repair” option. Follow the next prompts.

Let’s see if it would work in your case, as well.

12

Did the “repair” in Add-Remove Programs (thank you for the tip), pc still hangs/locks up when opening ANY folder unless File System Shield is disabled. Going to try another complete uninstall/clean of avast! then install it again.
This time I will disable any program updates (not definition updates) and see what happens.

13

Get rid of Spybot, it’s known to cause some problems with avast in the past and it also uses alot of resources.
Malwarebytes is a far superiour scanner for double checking yor system and CCleaner will do a better job at cleaning your cookies and cache.

Note that you should at least have the windows firewall installed if not a better third party one ( Online Armor, comodo, privatefirewall )

14

Agreed.

15

Disable TeaTimer which is SpyBot S&D’s resident portion. That removes it’s use of resources. See http://www.safer-networking.org/en/howto/disable.html.

MalwareBytes does a better job of scanning. SpyBot Search & Destroy has a decent hosts file and adds some other passive protections, but it is getting quite long in the tooth. There is a beta version available, but it is a huge resource hog.

I use Firefox along with Cookie Monster, so CCleaner nor SpyBot S&D aren’t needed to clean cookies that aren’t set in the first place. :wink:

16

Ok, I am back and I have good news and bad news :slight_smile: You can assign either to what I post.
I was unable to correct the problem with avast! free. No amount of disabling, repairing, uninstalling or tweaking of any kind resolved the issue I was having. As a result I have gone on to one of your competitors. BUT, if I ever upgrade this dinosaur pc I will try Avast! again.
Thank you everyone for your help.