I just want to see whether I can do anything to lower the absurd amount of CPU usage.
More details? What do you all absurd? I see 28.2 MB for Avast.
A screenshot might help, as might also be helpful is what are you doing at the time ?
You also don’t say what Avast Program/s and build number/s you are running ?
At times my Avast process barely feature in the CPU/RAM usage of the Processes screen. But currently I’m only browsing and posting here, so I wouldn’t expect it to be high. Avast is generally light on CPU?RAM, but it really does rely on what you are doing.
I currently only have browser tabs open. I put an exception to websites like Google Meet and my CPU currently looks like this. My current Avast version is 21.2.2455 and the build is 21.2.6096.651. This usually only happens on start up and lasts for about 20 minutes.
Only difference I can see is your build number differs from mine, but a check reports my program being up to date.
Do you have any other security based software installed ?
Have you tried an Avast Repair ?
AvastUI > Menu > Settings > General > Troubleshooting > APP Repair - Restart after completion.