Fix For Avast Slow VPN / Slow Browsing / Slow Resolving Host

Hi, I thought I would post this information for anyone who has slow Avast VPN when browsing the internet or receives a slow resolving host response in their browser as it helped me.

1) Fix Avast VPN Slow Resolving Host

disable SmartNameResolution in registry

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows NT\DNSClient] > look for ‘DisableSmartNameResolution’ > if it does not exist then create it by right clicking in right pane and selecting new DWord and name it DisableSmartNameResolution then change its value to 1.

If using Windows 10 Pro and above you can also disable Smart Name Resolution via the group policy editor (gpedit.msc), to do this:
1. Press WIN+R and write gpedit.msc
2. Expand Administrative templates
3. Expand Network
4. Click DNS-client
5. Double-click “Turn off smart multi-homed name resolution”
6. Check the box called “Enabled”
7. Click “Apply all” and then “OK”

NOTE: The person who posted this information also recommended unchecking IPv6 in the properties of your network agapter. I don’t recommend this as i recently discovered it causes a large memory leak.

2) Disable Avast Real Site (If Using Custom DNS)

This is what made the most difference. If you are using a paid version of Avast you will have an option to disable Real Site.

Disable this if you are using a custom DNS like Cloudflare or Google DNS, as having the two together causes a big slowdown in my experience.

After making these two changes my browsing speed has returned to normal even though i am using Avast vpn.

Hope this helps someone, as i know how frustrating this problem can be.

2 Likes

Thanks, this has slightly helpped, but I have 150 Mbps and I was getting between 60-120Mbps a few months ago, now I am only getting between 1-5 Mbps, which is pretty poor for a paid VPN, heck I am getting faster speeds off the free VPN built into one of my browsers. The above has helped as I am now getting around 15-20Mbps but its still fluxuating at the lower speeds.