I have been using Avast for a few years now with no problems.
For the last few weeks Avast in really slowing down my computer every time I boot up and it appears to be constantly updating the programme or definitions and it switches off the firewall in the process.
It takes well over a minute and my computer is totally frozen and unusable until it has finished. It does this EVERY TIME even if I boot up, allow it to finish then do a restart. It cannot be updating everything again after such a short time. This never used to happen it used to update in the background and you could continue using your computer and would get a message when it was finished. Also there were never any “firewall switched off” messages from XP. A recent update 3 to 4 weeks ago must have started this problem.
I have the latest version of Avast (obviously) and also have XP SP3.
How did you set them to update? Automatically?
avast checks if there is an available connection each 40 seconds.
If there isn’t, wait more 40 seconds to check. Checking does not take more than one second and, of course, does not use the Internet band.
If there is a connection, check for an update. If there is not any new file to download, wait 4 hours to start checking again. If there is an available update, start it and install it. Again, wait 4 hours to check the next time.
Some of this settings could be configurated different, I posted the default values of the avast4.ini file. The updates are incremental.
The program updates are released but to avoid excessive load on the servers the auto update check happens randomically every 7 days.
No, it does not. Are you sure you’re not infected and the virus disabled the firewall?
I also have Spyware Detector and I initially thought this was the problem, but I have stopped all of the automatic updates on this programme. They have always been set to automatic on Avast with no problems. I will investigate further.
You could extend the delay before the update check takes place. You will need to edit (using notepad) the [InetWD] section of the C:\Program Files\Alwil Software\Avast4\Data\avast4.ini file and add the following line (depending on your connection type enter one or other of the Bold lines below):
Dial-up connections, add this line: RASWaitSeconds=120
Broadband connections, add this line: AlwaysConnectedWaitSeconds=120
[InetWD] AlwaysConnectedWaitSeconds=120 Or RASWaitSeconds=120
When complete save the changes, avast's self-defence module will ask for confirmation, etc. answer Yes.
The figure is seconds and the above equates to two minutes, you could try that and adjust upwards if required, 180, 240, etc.