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Since both KPaw and smokin3.0 are using XP, I’d like to ask if you notice any reduced performance when you are not using any web browser.
It has been reported that the latest stable version of Avast ( 6.0.1203 ) has some problems under XP with some defraggers and some other intensive-disk-activity tools. The problem seems to be already found, and there is a patch available for such situation.
If the performance of other activities (not web browser) is acceptable / normal (read as “the HDD led is not working ALL the time and almost all is NOT really slow”), then the problem is something else (and I apologize for the OT then).
An alternative would be to use a previous stable version of Avast ( 6.0.1125 or 5.1.889 for example ) to see if it happens under that versions too.