Avast tries to "kill" hdd when updating *fixed*

Avast Free Antivirus / Premium Security
1

Hi, I recently found out that every time when Avast is updating its virus lists(whatever the word was) it is reading/writing something very hard. I have three hdd’s and Avast is installed to second one. Only that drive is accessed hardly on. It stops right after avast says that virus lists are up to date. Nothing after, nothing before. This would not be an issue, but it happends every time I turn computer on after a work and sometimes later on. Whole thing takes about 1-2 minutes and of course even cpu usage is 0% at the time, computer feels sluggish. Same thing happends in my laptop too. There it takes way longer.(thus slower hdd). I saw once this windows own trusted installer thingy at resource monitor.

Win 7 home premium 64bit
I7 960
1 ssd of three hdd’s.
Avast Free 6.01289
I included screencapture from resource view. Don’t mind about the language :smiley:

2

avast needs to save the definitions to the disk and it’s optimized for full speed of scanning.
It can take resources, but not that much noticeable.
How much RAM do you have?

3

Yes that’s right.

Otherwise we can make Avast to update manually.

Avast main GUI → Settings (on the top right hand side) → updates->. Change it to Manual.

thanks

4

Please, no… There is NO sense on changing to manual what should be automatic. The user will decrease protection and increase the annoyance.
The update process is optimized to use a level of resources that does not interfere in the normal computer working.

5

I have the impression that something else is going on there. The amount of RAM might have some influence, but my guess is that it is not a “low RAM” issue in this case, considering the rest of the system info.

Being all SSD, I would tend to think even less problems should be felt by the user.

Moreover, Avast downloads between 10KB and 300 - 400 KB for each definitions update, so that many HDD (SDD) resources being involved doesn’t “sound” logical.

The only thing I can think about is to edit the ini file to delay the first definitions update when the system boots up (sorry, I currently don’t remember the adequate ini setting for this), and then to change the frequency for checking availability for updates (although, this setting should be less important for this particular case) from the current 240 minutes to something like 480 minutes for example.

One “setting” is different here: the second SSD is the one with Avast. This “should NOT” be a problem either, but maybe it is?

What security tools you have installed together / in parallel with Avast? What security tools (antivirus, firewall, others) you USED to have? I mean, running the respective removal utilities besides the normal uninstaller could help too (a partial list of the specific removal utilities of many security tools is located at http://singularlabs.com/uninstallers/security-software/ and it is usually better to run them under Windows Safe Mode).

The removal utilities are also valid for “pre-installed” security tools.

6

+1

But it happens in any update and not just after login ???

7

Yes, but the OP mentioned that it is also having some trouble when the system starts up while definitions are being updated. So, the ini setting would delay the first definitions update, so the system would be already up and running for some minutes, and only then Avast would attempt its first definitions update. In this sense, it “may” help (just a very little bit) to also delay Avast main GUI → troubleshooting → “load Avast services only after other system services”.

But, as Tech says, that’s only for the first definitions update. For the rest, at least changing the frequency of attempts “could” help a little too.

Anyway, some “paranormal senses” are telling me that all these suggestions are not going to really solve the problem. It really “sounds” like some remnants of some other security tool is “bothering” here. But, again, this is just a guess, until the OP gives some additional feedback / info.

8

Same symptoms here. Especially my Vista sidebar loads “hesitated” and too late. It happens on every startup when a definition update is in action.

9

Those are not exactly “the same symptoms”. The problem here is different.

10

This is how it used to be.

6GB

I’ll have to specify some more. I have 3 hdd’s and from those three one is SDD. Rest are regular. Avast is therefore installed to the normal discdrive.
Delaying update is not going to fix the prob at all. I think. Windows is lets say 4 month old install. No other virus software running than windows defender. Not even windows firewall.

11

Any reason for installing Avast in the second HDD, instead of the first one?

In which disk is Windows installed?

Is Windows completely updated using Windows Update? If not, please update, reboot and check again for possible available updates (and repeat again and again, including the reboots, until no Windows Updates are offered).

Before installing Avast, did you have any security tool (antivirus, anti-phishing, antispam, firewall, …)?

Please report back with all these answers so to try to give you better suggestions.

12

Avast is at the second disc, because windows :D. Format C: is much easier to do when all software is elsewhere. Windows is fully updated via it’s update and it is located at first hdd(sdd). Avast was and is first and only third party security tool at this install.
Took another screen capture just few minutes ago. There is clock running down bottom. Something around 6 minutes Avast screen comes up and things settles down.

13

Well, first let me tell you that depending on the type of Windows Setup disc, there is still a possibility to have security tools installed before Avast. I’m not saying this is your case (since I don’t have any way to know it), but the possibility is there.

So this means that there might be some other security tool, whether “pre-installed”, or that was installed “anyway” (without your knowledge, and even if it is not listed in your “Programs”).

Now, besides this, are you able to say the problem is Avast itself? Wouldn’t this be happening in your system, with any other antivirus, too?

Do you have any free space in your first disk? The reason I ask is so you could try running the specific removal utility for Avast (http://www.avast.com/uninstall-utility) under Windows Safe Mode, and then install Avast anew in the first disk.

I know this may sound at least “strange” to you, but separating the programs from your OS in 2 different partitions is not giving you any real practical advantage under MS-Windows. Using other OSs, it may. In theory, it is possible to have 2 Windows installations with dual boot, and to have only one (and the same) installation of Programs. In practice, it is not stable enough (to say the least).

So, if you could try the removal utility for Avast under Windows Safe Mode, using the correct version(s) of Avast (run it more than once if you ever had other versions of Avast), and selecting the correct current installation folder of your current Avast in the removal utility, maybe you could try installing Avast in your first disk?

After installing, please reboot immediately (before configuring or updating) and only then proceed to test, configure, definitions update, …

Independently of that suggestion, I would double check for any “strange” driver ("Device Drivers → “Show hidden devices”) and services, so to find out any potential security tool that might have left there some remnant (coming from your installation discs, even when you might have uncheck any pre-install software).

Whatever the case, please report back.

14

I bought OEM version of windows. Not from any pc manufacturer lenovo etc. Just regular oem. As far as I know it doesn’t contain any other software than ms Defender. I can uninstall Avast and reinstall it. But it sounds somehow useless. I’ve been using separate OS and software partition for ages and it has not give me any trouble ever. Instead it has saved my and some friends private files from getting deleted when there were no usb at all :smiley: And later on too.

What info i should dig out to you ?

15

Currently, until and if you have no additional behaviours, or if you don’t try the removal utility for Avast, there is nothing I can think about (maybe someone else?), so no specific info you could provide until then.

About the separate disk for programs, I didn’t say it will give you troubles (or at least didn’t mean that, exactly).

One thing is saving your DATA or documents in a different disk. A second different thing is to install your programs in a separate partition. Under the first case, you can “format c:” and reinstall more easily. With the second case, you still need to reinstall the programs after “format c: and after reinstalling Windows”, just the same.

The real advantage is on the “first” case (separate disk for DATA). Under Windows, installing the programs in whichever partition or disk you want is not going to save you from reinstalling them after “format C:”, where “C:” is the partition where Windows is installed. A separate disk for data helps for backups, for Windows problems, for filesystem issues and for hardware inconveniences. For the programs themselves, when there is a problem with Windows that really would require to start all over again, the separate partition is not an advantage.

May I ask, since “when” you discovered this HDD resources problem? I mean, it was right after Avast was installed? Or maybe something else might have triggered this? Do you happen to see a similar behaviour in this same system using other tools or under other situation?

16

Speaking of wich, Foobar 2000k music player might do the same when starting and closing it. Not when using it. But I don’t know yet for sure. That is all I can think of. I don’t even have much programs installed. This was not started straight away after install. I can’t say excatly when this started. I’ve been following this only fort two weeks.

17

Ok. Uninstalled Avast with uninstaller software. Damn it was fast boot up afterwards! Downloaded latest version from site, installed and registered straight away. So far I cannot say has anything changed at all. Installed it to C:.

18

Well, then we are almost denpending on you to find out the cause of the problem.

If you are certain there is no conflict with any other software of configuration, and you are using the latest stable version of Avast, then I am currently out of ideas (and I consulted also with others about this, with no new suggestions either).

The definitions download itself is just a few KB (between 10 and 400KB). Once it is downloaded, Avast takes the previous VPS and rebuilds it with the new differential update. That’s about 65MB. Let’s assume that between the old and the new VPS you have less than 140MB.

How much time the HDD is using intensive resources? Are 140MB (or less) something that “sounds about right” in your system? How much free space do you have in each HDD?

Just to be clear, we are simple users here. Maybe some Avast Team member could potentially give some tip or direction towards what could be the problem (if it is really one).

19

This sunday morning it was working as it should. Sdd didn’t die at glance :smiley: And boot up is still as fast as it was few months ago. Not that fast without Avast, but that is normal.
So far it seems to that problem is long gone. Foobar is still weirdly slow to start and close. But it is not that slow to be worried. I digged a littlebit deeper with this and found out that my both regular hdd are showing bit high level results at SMART test. #13 to be exact. To be worried? I dont think so. Time will tell :smiley:

Every partitions have at least 50% free space. And writing ~140MB in ~6minutes is slow. Really slow. But today it took only few seconds. Of course ssd is faster, but still. I will continue this topic, if prob still is occurs. :slight_smile: Thanks so far.

20

Glad you are having at least less problems.

About the 140MB, that’s only an approximate maximum. Only some KBs are new. About 65MB are from the previous database. So the 140MB I mentioned is “read+write”, and half of it could be only a simple “move to new folder” action (which doesn’t require a full read + write operation, so it would be much faster than the rest).

My suggestion would be to have / make a backup of your data, and then run the relevant HDD test tools (from the respective manufacturers, but not all of them provide those type of tools). After that, perform filesystem checks (chkdsk / scandisk with fix).

Finally, if you find problems again with Avast, you may want to try the removal utility of Avast applied for each and every version you ever had installed, under Windows Safe Mode (although, if I understood correctly, the only version you have ever installed is Avast Free 6.0.1289). Once removed under Windows Safe Mode, you would try again installing in the second HDD, and reboot immediately. Of course all this would be relevant only if problems arise again with Avast, and if you would want to compare the situation between the installation in the first or the second disks.

If you have any other problem or comments, please don’t hesitate to come back.