Hey there. My computer has been freezing for about 10 seconds on just about every 3rd page loaded in Google Chrome. Everything froze (ie: mouse, keyboard, task manager, Avast main program). I Checked first for viruses, then for hardware issues, etc. and nothing worked. I then disabled the Avast Extension in Chrome and now it works great!
I don’t want to switch browsers because I know Chrome is the fastest so far. I also don’t want to lose Avast because it’s been good to me so far (7 years). I am updated to the latest version and so forth. So my question is: is this a known issue within the Avast community? If so, is there a fix for it?
I am running Windows XP SP3 (please don’t tell me to upgrade to 7) on an Acer Aspire Laptop. 2.0 Dual Core AMD, 4GB DD2 RAM, 54Mbps internet connection through a Rogers Modem.
Just had similar problems on XP SP3. No other security software resident other than the Windows Firewall.
Installed Avast Free a month ago. At first, there was no noticeable performance impact. Then, maybe two weeks ago, the computer started progressively slowing down. The rate of slowdown seemed almost exponential over time. By last night, things were rapidly getting worse. it was taking about 30 seconds to open a web page (Chrome or Firefox). But slowdown was also evident system-wide. 5 seconds to open or close any window (even the Start bar or Task Manager), and the mouse would frequently freeze. Even when not visibly frozen, many attempts to click something resulted in unintentional drags, because it didn’t register the mouse release until the mouse had moved significantly.
This seemed characteristic of thermal CPU throttling due to a failing fan, but that wasn’t it. Went on to check for bulging caps, clock/voltage instabilities, disk fragmentation, malware; in short a complete system shakedown (I’m a computer programmer and tech by profession). Finally there was nothing left to check but Avast, which I didn’t highly suspect since it was originally working so well. Disabling several non-essential modules, or even disabling Avast completely, didn’t help. Uninstalling didn’t help immediately, but upon rebooting to let it clear out any remnants, my computer finally went back to normal.
It’s a shame. I liked Avast when it was working properly. Installing it on my home computer was an evaluation, for possible deployment of the paid version on a few dozen work computers when existing AV subscriptions run out, as well as personal recommendations for a free or paid AV. I may still try the removal tool in safe mode followed by a reinstall, just to see what happens. But after this experience, and seeing so many similar problems on this forum; even if it works fine thereafter, it will be many months before I can consider Avast trustworthy.
Also, the Capcha verification isn’t appearing at all in Chrome, which made registering and posting this message a further exercise in frustration.