I had a big problem a few minutes ago and I fear that the problem comes back.
I switched on my computer, everything was normal, and I opened firefox 3.6.17 … everything was normal at the beginning and after a few minutes, the computer suddenly became very slow, and I noticed that AvastSvc.exe was taking almost 1 gb RAM !!! I had to fight to close firefox and to restart the computer.
So I restarted the computer, it normally started again, and I wanted to know if there was an infection in AVAST, so I launched MALWAREBYTE’S ANTIMALWARE… When the program started, I had the same problem : AvastSvc.exe suddenly took almost 1 gb RAM !!! After almost 1 minute it went back to its normal way of working (between 5 mb and 20 mb RAM) and I scanned with MALWAREBYTE’S ANTIMALWARE that didn’t find anything.
I don’t understand what happened. There was no program update since at least 2 weeks, it updated the VPS normally … I made a full scan yesterday that didn’t find anything …
I visited only sites where I use to go that are trusted sites, … so I don’t understand what happened and I fear that the problem be back a few minutes after each time I will start my computer
Do you know what could have happened, please ?
All my computer details are in my signature
Thank you very much in anticipation
Sounds like you may have to many programs running in your startups for only having 1Gb of ram, you may wish to check in your startups if there a some processes that are not needed.
You can also delay the starting of avast till after other processes but better to see if there are other programs you can disable first.
But my computer always worked very well, I have the problem only since this morning, I didn’t add any programs so I don’t understand why AvastSvc.exe suddenly had that behaviour
Could it be infected ?
I think more than likely that avast was either updating its vps or running its scan that it does about 8 mins after boot when something else was trying to do its thing honestly, are you using MBAM Pro or free ? if you run the free make sure to update it before you scan.
I use MBAM free edition …
So it is certainly a normal behaviour of AVAST ?
I must say that after starting Windows XP, I use to wait 10-15 minutes to use my computer, but this morning I wanted to hurry up because I must go (I am belated now because of that) and I started using my computer only 2-3 minutes after starting it.
But almost 1 gb Ram for AvastSvc.exe … isn’t it strange ?
If its at 1Gb of ram usage that would also be with everything else trying to run also which may have caused a brainfart ( so to speak ) you can run a repair of avast if you haven’t already just to see if there is any noteable improvment.
Also good to do a clean with Ccleaner- run the cleaner and registry scans, and how long has it been since your system has been defragged ? if its been awhile it could help to make things a bit more efficient.
Well, I use CCleaner almost every 2 days (I prefer to make my pc the safest possible!).
I defragged 1 year ago approximately, maybe 10 months ago.
How can I run a repair of AVAST ?
I think there were maybe updates of a few things in windows or something else and AVAST was watching the updates … it is maybe possible ?
And as I already wrote, I started using my pc only 2-3 minutes after starting it, and usually I leave it 10-15 minutes before using it, so there were maybe processes being in progress ?
I would suggest you clean your machine with CCleaner after you finish surfing the Internet every time.
You can defrag your machine every other month or so, especially after a Windows update or an uninstall/install of a program.
Craigb is correct in all his posts with his suggestions. You still did not answer how many things you have running at start up. If you “disable” things that are not necessary at start up, this will be less for Avast to scan and speed things up.
It is normal for Avast to take this time at start up, so try reading your email if you are on a secure server (like a webmail) while it is booting up.
Also, how much RAM do you have?
You state that there was no recent upgrade, however there was a recent upgrade to MBAM free and Pro just a few days ago…assuming you opened it and clicked “upgrade” prior to doing a scan. It defaults to the Pro version for a month trial, but you need to decline if you want to keep the free version. If you did not decline, then you have the Trial Pro version…check out what you have.
10 months ago :o a defrag would definately not go a stray then.
Repair avast through remove programs, click avast then click uninstall and when you get the popup choose repair then ok and when done reboot.
A list of your startups may help us to let you know which ones you can disable, you can check all your startups through ccleaner.
I have 42 things running at start up but I manually disable some of them : wincinema, webcam, msn (since I use miranda im), …
I saved a list through CCleaner, but it is strange there are not 42 things but if you want to check : http://cjoint.com/?AFdlADqmCAk
I manually stop them because I tried to disable them but each time I restart my computer I have a windows opening asking me if it is normal that those things are disabled. So I enabled them again and I stop them when my computer starts.
I didn’t check how much RAM it takes when I check my emails when AVAST is booting up, I will check later.
Another thing that I find strange, it is that the Windows Task Manager looked strange : there is the name of the thing, then the user name (SYSTEM, LOCAL …) then the processor then the RAM that the thing uses … when AvastSvc.exe went to 1 gb RAM, there were no user names written on the Task Manager ???
But I think it normally works now
Thank you very much for your help
avra -
ps : I don’t think that the repair would change anything … Maybe am I wrong ?
edit : I use MBAM free edition, I refused the Pro version trial when updating it
I would stop all of those from starting except avast and ctfmon, just double click on the startups in ccleaner to disable them, the malwarebytes one in the list will disappear after a reboot so dont worrie about that one, BlueSoleil.lnk is only needed if you use bluetooth connection to your hp printer.
But if I disable things like
HKLM:Run ATIPTA C:\Program Files\ATI Technologies\ATI Control Panel\atiptaxx.exe
HKLM:Run Microsoft Works Update Detection C:\Program Files\Fichiers communs\Microsoft Shared\Works Shared\WkUFind.exe
…
I think I would have troubles …
I will stop some programs :
Startup Common InterVideo WinCinema Manager.lnk C:\Program Files\InterVideo\Common\Bin\WinCinemaMgr.exe ( I never used it ! )
Startup Common AOL Compagnon.lnk C:\Program Files\AOL Compagnon\companion.exe
Well, I disabled “BlueSoleil” (it is the program I use when I send files to my mobile phone, but I don’t use it often), “jushed.exe”, “WinCinemaMgr.exe”, “CAMTRAY.EXE”, “companion.exe” (it is from AOL, it is useless), and “msnmsgr.exe”.
It makes start my computer more faster now
There is only 1 thing I would like to disable but I don’t find it, it is a part from AOL too, but I opened the Task Manager and I stopped it manually when clicking on the icon to see which thing it is in the Task Manager, but I didn’t see anything closing, but it is a very small thing, it doesn’t take much RAM
Damned, I have the problem again, AvastSvc.exe suddenly took 735 mb RAM when I was writing this
Maybe a late update ? I started my computer 10-12 minutes ago.
Now it is normal again.
And I started again my computer because I found the thing to disable from AOL so I tested … and approximately 15 minutes later, AvastSvc.exe suddenly took 785 mb RAM
And again, now it is normal
Well ‘8’ minutes after the boot the avast anti-rootkit scan does its thing, but that is normally a very quick scan, but it might use resources, though I wouldn’t have though that much. For me that scan lasts a few seconds and I don’t really notice any adverse resource use, on my XP Pro system with 2GB of RAM and a relatively fast processor.
Check the C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\AVAST Software\Avast\log\arpot.log and the C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\AVAST Software\Avast\log\aswAr.log files they should give you an idea on what was scanned and how ling it took. They won’t however give you any idea on RAM use.
Thank you very much
I started again the computer, it happens again
I don’t find the arpot.log, but here is the aswAr.log : http://cjoint.com/?AFdxcskEtgK
Scan started at 22:53:50, scan finished at 22:57:21.
Well that really is very slow at 3min 31, so it shows, what I believe is a lack of resources. You also have to remember avastsvc.exe is the main scanning engine and it is responsible for all the resident shields and of course the anti-rootkit scan. So it is hard to determine which shield or AR scan is using the most resources. So you could be on-line, etc. when the AR scan kicks off or downloading a file or P2P, etc.
My last anti-rootkit scan started 10:53:16 ended at 10:53:24, 8 seconds. So I think you can see the difference in system specs I have XP Pro, with 2GB of DDR2 800 (PC2-6400) RAM. I also have a reasonably fast Intel dual core CPU, so I don’t notice this so much as it takes only 8 seconds.
The whole idea of having RAM is that it will be used, windows controls what is used, so it being used in itself isn’t an issue, should another application be running at the same time the two of them would be sharing the total available ram.
For you with only 1GB of RAM it is a physical impossibility for it to be using 1GB of ram. So where are you getting this information from ?
If Task Manager, which value are you reading ?
The VM Size and Mem Usage columns tend to be a more reasonable/accurate representation of what memory they are using.
When you run MBAM and run a scan the avast scanner will also be working overtime, as when mbam opens files to be scanned so to would avast be scanning much of that content (duplication). I used to advocate pausing the old standard shield to avoid conflict and duplication of scanning when running another security scan. But now with the file system shield (we have a different setup) I tend not to do that.
