Hi everyone
I have only just started using Avast having converted from Norton and am generally quite impressed. However, I am finding that the Webshield is reducing my internet speed by 5 to 6 Mb/s. If I turn the webshield off it goes back up to full speed (20Mb). Does anyone know why this is the case and if there are any settings I can alter to reduce the impact on download speeds.
Cheers
It shouldn’t have that much impact…
Do you have any other security program?
Did you fully uninstall Norton using Norton Removal Tool for Windows 2000/XP/Vista?
I’m an ex-NAV too…
Welcome to avast forums.
I Installed a new HDD and a fresh reinstall of windows last weekend. NAV was on the old disk but decided with the new install to try Avast after reading good reviews of it. I am using Comodo Firewall but the problem is definitely webshield as if I disable comodo I still suffer the 5 to 6 Mb swing turning webshield on or off
Maybe you can activate logging in WebShield:
The log file are \data\log\ashwebsv.log and ashwebsv.ws.
They would be accessible when WebShield is terminated again.
Post them here or send by mail to rypacek (at) asw.cz
After that, disable the logging to avoid a big log file.
We have not had this report in a while so I have not tested my experience with the latest release of avast.
I just did. Admittedly my stated download speed is slower than yours (my ISP boosts the early part of downloads and at that point I regularly measure >20Mbps download speeds).
I just downloaded the same 20Mb file from the same website twice (using http).
I won’t blame avast for the speed increase while it is scanning.
This is running the Webshield at normal sensistivity. What sensistivity have you selected?
Hi
Thanks. I have done that but no ashwebsv.log file was produced. There is a file there called ashwebsv.ws but it is 0kb and empty
If you done it right, most probably WebShield is not scanning because it’s not working. Are you sure you’re Norton clean? I mean, no remains of Norton were left in your computer?
Finally got it to save a log (.log file only - the .ws file is still empty) and have e-mailed it to the address above
This is a fresh install of windows on a new HDD so there are no left over traces of Norton. The scanner is set to normal sensitivity.
Cheers
Hello avastnoob,
surely, avast! WebShield is an extra step in your downloads, so it is possible you will notice some delays. Especially if you create a large number of connections (hundreds) as some speed test do, you may observe some slowdowns - but transfer rates during continuous downloads should be limited only by the avast! engine power (and as the scanning during downloads is performed only in the memory, it is much faster than 20Mbps on today’s systems). Judging from your log, your connections are reused successfully and several requests are handled on one HTTP connection - so I don’t think there is anything strange happening that may indicate you have a problem.
How did you observe the slowdown? Is there a special file you are downloading where the slowdown is visible? Can you perform a similar test as Alanrf and post here the times and URL of the file your are testing?
Lukas
Hi,
I’ve just made some test on our local network. Dowloading 200MB file with and without WebShield.
using wget:
With webshield: 48.12 MB/s or 46.42 MB/s
Without webshield: 56.64 MB/s but also 42 MB/s
well, there seems to be a slight slowdown, however, in these speeds the current load on the server HD and disk cache contents is relevant.
(we are talking about 384 Mbps with WebShield enabled)
The same file in Firefox downloads (according to the download manager) first at about 8000KB/sec and ends at the speed 3950KB/sec – with or without WebShield - don’t ask we why.
Here are the results for the download of a 200Mb file with webshield on and then off. As you can see it is one helluva difference
With webshield On
226 Transfer complete.
197163008 bytes received in 140.06Seconds 1407.68Kbytes/sec.
quit
221 Goodbye.
18:38
12/12/2007
With webshield off
226 Transfer complete.
97163008 bytes received in 83.55Seconds 2359.93Kbytes/sec.
quit
221 Goodbye.
18:40
12/12/2007
Hmmm, interesting though is the fact that “226 Transfer complete” and “221 Goodbye” seems exactly like FTP status messages? Or am I mistaken?
If not, well, how do you force FTP client to use WebShield as it’s proxy? WebShield does not support FTP command interface, only FTP-over-HTTP but that certainly does not support commands like GET or QUIT…
Doh! Yes you are right. It was a small file passed to me by my ISP some time ago when I was having problems with download speeds following upgrades to 20Mb. Thinking about it it is an FTP download.
Why then is webshield affecting it as further tests I did last night all showed similar results i.e. a severe drop in download speed with webshield on.
I will try and download HTTP next time I am at my home PC and post the results
Thanks for your help so far
I’m experiencing that webshield slowing down internet speed, but I didn’t any measure as I notice it in just web navigation. When I stop Webshield provider the whole thing noticably accelerates again.
The slow down got more power since the last “microsoft patch tuesday”, so it may be a clue.
Ok, just downloaded the Microsoft Office 2003 Service Pack 3 at 117.7MB from MS website
With webshield ON it took 66 secs
With webshield OFF it took 52 secs
I remain perplexed.
I do not want to sound like one who never questions the impact of avast (just ask the avast team) but there is still the unexplained and dramatic difference in speeds of FTP downloading files reported by the poster when avast is totally uninvolved. If this system has such differences in subsequent FTP downloads of files where avast is not involved then what reliance can be placed on the timing of file downloads when avast is involved?
In my last tests I reported in this thread I performed the same download via a port scanned by avast and then on a port not scanned by avast. So - to be clear - the avast Webshield was operative in the system on both tests but only scanning one of the file downloads. The download on the session not scanned by avast was slightly slower than the session scanned by avast.
I have just repeated my test but this time I made it a little closer to the test reported by the poster. I just downloaded a 157Mb file via http first with the avast Webshield active and then with the Webshield terminated.
Test 1 - Webshield active - download speed 825.55 KB/sec
Test 2 - Webshield terminated - download speed 823.51 KB/sec
I must conclude that my tests are within the differences one must expect of network connections and again I will not assign to avast the slightly faster speed with the Webshield active.
So what are the differences?
I am using Windows XP SP2 but I think that we have not yet been advised of the OS of the poster … could this be a XP versus Vista difference?
The poster clearly has a basically faster connection than I do … is it possible that avast can penalize very fast connections but not slower ones?
There is still the very nagging question I posed at the start of this particular post. Can I ask the original poster to look at the possibility of providing some figures based on an average of sample downloads?
alanrf
This is a fresh install of Windows XP SP2 on a brand new formatted HDD. I am using the latest version of firefox as my browser and using Comodo (the last version prior to release of v3) as a firewall. ISP is VirginMedia 20Mb/s.
When I was downloading files to update the PC after the WinXP install I noticed that I was only getting around 14MB/s download speed wheras for the last few months I have had a rock solid 18/19 Mb/s on fast sites like AMD / Microsoft / Epson etc.
Aware that VirginMedia’s tech support is
a) expensive and
b) bloody awful and they will always blame their customer’s PC / Anti Virus / Firewall,
I started testing by turning the antivirus / firewall software off before I called them.
From doing this I narrowed the problem down to the webshield of Avast. It is totally consistent - turning on webshield reduces web download speeds by around 5 to 6 Mb/s
I have to admit that I have again tried the ftp download and it seems that maybe there was a blip in the result the other night as tonight I am getting
Webshield ON - 82.92Seconds 2377.69Kbytes/sec
Webshield OFF - 86.97Seconds 2267.05Kbytes/sec
However, trying the 117.7Mb M/s download fromthe M/s website again I am getting
Webshield ON - 61 sec
Webshield OFF - 48 sec
I have also tried a 39.5Mb file from Epson
Webshield ON - 21 sec
Webshield OFF - 16 sec
I should also mention that I have tried other PCs on the network
Work laptop with McAffee a/v
spare PC with AVG a/v
Wife’s work laptop - can’t remember what her firm uses as a/v
and all are downloading at 18/19 Mb/s
I do not believe I have access to the MS file you used for testing. If the Epson file is freely available can you post a link please? I would like to test with same file that you have also used.
I do understand the reports of the other systems - but - as a (very) old hand in the business you will, I hope, understand that a true test would require you to uninstall avast on your system and try McAfee and uninstall whatever on your wife’s work computer and install avast. Comparing these systems - while not unreasonable - is not a truly reliable diagnostic and I certainly understand the limits that you might be willing to go to.
I think that you can appreciate too that, were this a more general issue affecting other avast users, this forum would be lit up like the proverbial Christmas tree.
microsoft office 2003 SP3 - http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=E25B7049-3E13-433B-B9D2-5E3C1132F206&displaylang=en
I cannot remember what the epson download was - it was merely a largeish file I found on their website the other night which I chose to download merely for the purpose of testing download speeds.
Appreciate your help so far. I too am totally perplexed as to why this happening. As I have not got round to totally re-installing everything on my PC after the XP re-install I may try re formatting and re-installing over the Xmas break and see if that makes any difference.
Ok, I just did the test with the Microsoft file in your link.
I too am using the latest release of Firefox but I only use the native XP firewall.
For me:
Webshield on 02:12 (914.21 Kbytes/s)
Webshield off 02:20 (858.44 Kbytes/s)
The only consistency for me (and I ask you to believe I am not faking it) is that it is faster with Webshield on.
However, that made me think. The big difference with Webshield on and off is who is actually doing the reading from the Internet. When the Webshield is off it is Firefox actually reading from the network; with the Webshield on it is ashWebSv.exe that is reading from the network.
This leads me to a couple of questions: