Avast Won't Complete Scan

Question:

I have been having this problem about once a month now. It seems to correlate whenever Windows 8.1 Pro updates or is searching for updates.

When I initiate a virus scan (e.g. quick/full, ect…) the scan begins, but abruptly stops after about a second. Avast then reports that the scan is complete and “NO TREAT FOUND”. Normally a full scan takes over an hour on my machine, a quick scan is not much quicker.

During this time the computer is a little slow and the hard drive is more active than usual.

Further, I noticed a couple of Windows notification pop ups appear by the taskbar, but they appear and disappear so quickly that I don’t have time to read them. (Is there a log entry that records these so I can see what they were?)

These symptoms last for about a few hours. Afterwards these symptoms disappear. Avast then scans normally, and the lag in my system is gone. When Avast does perform its Full Scan, it reports “NO THREAT FOUND”.

I have scanned with Malwarebytes and it too reports no problems.

Avast is the only real time security product I am running.

The only correlation I could find is Windows Update because I recall on the last few occasions of this occurring, Windows was looking for updates. I am not sure if this problem exhibits because of Windows looking for updates or perhaps due to something more serious.

Any ideas would be appreciated. Thank you.

  • Which version…?
  • OS…? (32/64 Bit…? - which SP/Build…?)
  • Which AV(s) did you use before Avast…?

8.1 Pro / 32 bit - Latest Updates and Service pack installed.
Avast 11.2.2262
Only used Windows Defender before I installed Avast.

Avast 11.2.2262
https://forum.avast.com/index.php?topic=187663.0

I just upgraded Avast to the latest version today. As I recall this problem manifested itself a couple of updates ago. If it is an update issue, I hope that the Avast people fixed the problem. This problem happens irregularly so I will need to give it some time to see if it happens again.

Still having problem. Can’t scan computer. Avast begins “full scan” and then abruptly stops seconds later. There also seems to be a few seconds delay with lots of hard drive activity whenever I do something (open up folder, use the internet ect…) I don’t know what this is. I checked Avast and it says that all my definitions are up to date and the program version is up to date as well:
Definitions: 161105-0
Program: 12.3.3154.6

FYI this was in an earlier post, but I’ll restate for convenience:
Windows 8.1 Pro (32 bit) up to date
4gig ram
Intel Core2 4300

Thanks for any help! If any further info is needed let me know.