Avastsvc.exe always at 25% CPU, even when not running anything else!

Avast Free Antivirus / Premium Security
1

On my Quad core/Win XP PC, avastsvc.exe always takes a minimum of 25% CPU. I now have a three-core CPU… :o
There are no scans running, no other programs loaded, no activity what so ever. Still Avast takes 25%. Why? Why? Why?
Any ideas? Should I re-install Avast? Un-install and try something different?
I’m tired of my CPU fan running at high speed all the time. Not to mention that the PC is noticeably slower at times and occasionally “freezes” when other programs try to make heavy use of the CPU (roughly when using more than 75%).

2

My Win XP PC has exactly the same problem. Disabling all shields and rebooting the PC does not help.

UPDATE 1:
After I disabled all shields and the automatic update and rebooted the PC (for the 2nd time), the problem was solved.
The problem returned after enabling the file system shield, so this seems to be problem.

3

On a side note :

I now have a three-core CPU
If you mean a Phenom 710, it is a quad core but only 3 work by default unless you change the ACC setting in the bios ;)

What exact OS/SP ?
What exact version of avast ?
Any other security (related) software installed ? (or was there)
Are all cpu cores used or just one ?
Already performed a repair of avast ?
Already did a clean installation of avast ?

4

No I have a Phenom 9550 quad core but can only use 75 % of it’s potential performance at the moment

What exact OS/SP: Win XP 32bit SP3
What exact version of avast ? V11.1.2245 Last updated yesterday
Any other security (related) software installed ? (or was there): Used to run Norton Professional AV but have used AVAST problem free for a couple of years now.
Are all cpu cores used or just one ? Load is fairly evenly spread among the cores.
Already performed a repair of avast ? No, except for updates.
Already did a clean installation of avast ? Not yet.

5

Found out how to do repair from another forum post. Testing…
I’ll be back (after restart)

6

Ran repair.
Repair completed successfully.
Restarted PC.
Avast stayed at 2-3% for about a minute, until I loaded the first program.
It’s now back at a constant 25%, even after I unload the program (notepad).
Any ideas?

7

You say it is constant 25% - is the avast tray icon rotating (it should be) ?

8

Yes, it is.
While it’s using 25% I can sit and watch Tools/Statistics and it shows absolutely no activity…

9

Which Avast…? (Free/Pro/IS/Premier)

10

Free, Version 11.1.2245

11

First, be sure to get rid of all remnants of your prior installed AV(s)…!!
→ https://www.avast.com/faq.php?article=AVKB11#artTitle

Then:

  1. Download Avast Free Antivirus: https://files.avast.com/iavs9x/avast_free_antivirus_setup.exe
  2. Follow instructions: https://www.avast.com/uninstall-utility (Run this tool for all prior installed Avast versions…!!)
  3. Reinstall Avast with the downloaded installer from point 1.
  4. Reboot.
12

Followed the procedure as suggested, ran the relevant removal scripts, removed Avast, re-installed Avast.
It looked good at first, until I ran a smart scan (as suggested). Smart scan ran as it should until it got to “Network Threats”. The computer sat on that section for more than two hours without any progress so I stopped it. Afterwards it is back to 25% load again…

13

Might be a bug, wait for one of the devs and/or submit a ticket: https://support.avast.com/support/tickets/new

14

Tested some more,
Managed to run it for a few minutes after restart without the 25% issue but after starting a few programs it’s back to square 1. One thing I’ve noticed (probably not related though) is that the file system shield is occasionally working on the same files over and over again. The files concerned are temp files of the web-based AMD RAIDXpert console (I run my disks in a RAID 1 set). I will uninstall or upgrade this software to see if anything changes.
Will also try the devs/ticket.

Cheers

15

OK, report back.

16

Submitted a ticket. Will see what they say…

17

Ok…

Lenovo Yoga2Pro with Win10 upgrade & Custom PC Intel I3 with Win8.0

Both after the update to Avast Internet Security 11.1.2245 caused avastsvc.exe to peg cpu usage at 25-32%.

I opened up Task Manager and manually killed the task “Avast! Service (32bit)”. Avast then whined it was turned off.
I allowed Avast to restart the avastsvc.exe again. Wah lah! After I restarted my Win10 Yoga “ALL was Well”…
till I opened a program. I opened Chrome and clicked on Avast Passwords and now the CPU usage is 32-52% for
avastsvc.exe. Desktop is the same.

Anyone have any ideas… I use Avast on five devices and don’t want to reinstall any of them. They all worked before the
update.

18

After some Avast! trial and error I see now this problem only happens after the “Main Password”
is entered. If you cancel that then everything works like it should I believe.

However, Avast Passwords cannot work without logging in with the “Main Password”.

This kind of defeats the purpose of having an account linked between devices does it not?

19

Does anyone else see this same behavior?

Are the Devs checking the link between the “Main Password” and the CPU throttling?

20

Still no response to my ticket #144937, so anybody’s guess I suppose.