Full Normal Scan incedibly slow

Avast Free Antivirus / Premium Security
1

Upgraded to version 7 two days ago. am running a normal full system scan (default) on a 1tb drive in SAFE mode. 33 hours later, I am 55% done!! Dell Pentium 4, 2gb ram, XP sp3

2

Try a scan in normal mode.
You may want to add some RAM.
I’d go with at least 4GB RAM. :slight_smile:

3
  • Which avast!..?? (Free/Pro/IS)
  • Which version…??
  • Other security related software installed…??
4

Para-Noid

I am scanning in the “normal” mode & yeah, I need more RAM… Do you think that is the problem?

Asyn

  • Free
  • version 7.0.1474
  • malwarebytes, Spybot-search & destroy, lavasoft ad-aware

Thanks Guys!

5

RAM could be part of the problem.
How much CPU are you using during a scan? ???

6

2GB of RAM on XP is plenty, that is all I have on mine.

Personally I think a Quick scan would be better suited to your needs.

  • With a resident on-access antivirus like avast, the need for frequent on-demand scans is much depreciated. For the most part the on-demand scan is going to be scanning files that would be otherwise be dormant or inert. If they were active files then the on-access file system shield would be scanning them before being created, modified, opened or executed.

I have avast set to do a scheduled weekly Quick scan, set at a time and day that I know the computer will be on. If for some reason my system wasn’t on, no big deal I will catch up on the next scheduled scan.

That said it doesn’t hurt to do a Full scan when you first install avast, but don’t change any settings like scanning archives or scanning all files or it will take a very long time.

7

WinXP SP3 is 32 bit. Unless I’m reading it wrong, it has a 3 GB limit. 4 GB can be installed but not fully used.

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/desktop/aa366778(v=vs.85).aspx

Memory type Limit in on X86 Limit in 64-bit Windows

User-mode virtual address space for each 32-bit process

2 GB

Up to 3 GB with IMAGE_FILE_LARGE_ADDRESS_AWARE and 4GT

I also have 2 GB in my XP machine, and haven’t noticed any performance problem when scanning.

8

50% of one processor, zero of the other. the scan is the only application running & I am in SAFE mode w/o network

9

Try a repair. Control Panel>Programs and Features/Uninstall a program>Uninstall>double click “avast”>click “repair”>reboot. :slight_smile:

10

will do… as soon as this scan finishes which should be sometime tomorrow at this rate!! :o

11

i would also uninstall Ad-aware and SpyBot as you dont need these when you have avast and malwarebytes

12

I did have 3 GB on my Win7 but when I increased it to 6 GB the overall performance including scanning became better. :slight_smile:

13

Well, as the signatures shows I’ve been running Avast on my Dell Inspiron XP with only 1GB of Ram since 2002 with no issues and other Security software as well. At times I would have preferred 2 GB but have gotten by very nicely with just the 1GB. :slight_smile:

14

On a WinXP 32bit machine? ???

Win7 can handle more memory.

15

Well, after right at 48 hours, the “normal” full system scan completed. It found 4 files (it found these files in the very beginning of the scan) that it classified as a threat and suggested moving them to “The Chest” - which I did. It then suggested that I do a bootscan upon reboot and I hit “Okay”. The computer rebooted but it did not kick off the bootscan - I assume because I did the full scan in SAFE mode. So I waited until windows finished loading, launched avast, scheduled a bootscan and rebooted. That was at about 7:30pm last night. It was at 46% at 5am this morning. It has found quite a few (I won’t know how many until it is done & I can review the log) more files that it has classified as threats that I have moved to “The Chest”…

I guess my question at this point is why weren’t these files found during the 48 hour “normal” full system scan ???

16

Fully agree, even more so if you have SB or Ad-aware running in real time.

17

Any comments??

18

with no file info it is all guesswork ???

19

My current question is: Why, immediately after a normal full system scan, would a bootscan of the same files turn up more threats ???

20

How Many background processes are running when CONTROL ALT DEL is pressed. Under process tab?

I am running XP SP3 on a vintage IBM Thinkpad only 25 processes running and a full scan takes 25 mins! on avast default settings. Bet you have lots of spyware consuming the computer resorces!!!

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