The latest update to Avast slowed my computer waaaay down. v1074
Currently running Windows Vista Home Premium.
If I turn off the “Standard Shield” everything fine.
But if I turn “Standard Shield” on, it takes about 30-40 seconds to simply open firefox, or IE, or Outlook, control panel, notepad, my computer, etc. Anything.
Actually browsing the internet once Firefox is open is still fast, and so is checking email. But when the computer has to start any software, shut down, start up, etc., it lags and lags.
Just thought I’d share in case others report similar problems.
What are the Standard Shield sensitivity settings, Normal is the default ?
Though that if it was the same before the update shouldn’t see any change. I certainly don’t see any change in ny system after the update.
For me, Firefox has always been a slow starter, mine take about 10 seconds and that hasn’t changed, I have 27 Extensions installed and running, so all of these with be scanned when opened.
Igor, some times it is not spinning but avast can be freezed… isn’t it possible?
It seems that you’ve changed the avast settings without knowing what you were doing…
Enabling ‘Show detailed information on action performed’ isn’t more reliable to follow avast behavior?
I get exactly the same symptoms. The Avast icon doesn’t spin more that usual (a couple of times when I first try to run an application, then nothing). Each application typically takes 20-30 seconds to open, often with “not responding” initially. It’s only started happening since the latest update was applied. I’m running Vista Home Premium.
I am having the same problems. I have had my laptop for about 1 month now and it has been running fine, even with the free trial of Norton that it came with. Norton decided to stop updating so I uninstalled it and went back to Avast and Zonealarm which I had on my previous machine. At first everything was fine, but a few days ago even though my internet speed is showing what it should be when I test it, it is taking ages to load web pages. This happening with both IE and FireFox. It is doing my head in, and a few times I have felt like throwing the laptop out of the window (not a good idea).
When I stop the Avast protection I can acces web pages a lot quicker, but as soon as I turn avast back on it slows right down.
I would be grateful if anyone could give me some advice on what could be happening.
Whilst there shouldn’t have been any difference between two versions of avast and having had Norton previously, NAV is notorious for remnants even after an uninstall, so it might be best to try a removal tool.
I ran the installer and it’s still slow. I paused the shield and it wasn’t any quicker, I then stoped avast and the web pages loaded quickly but as soon as I turn it back on it slows right down. Would it be worth me doing a clean install of Avast?
Pausing or Terminating the Standard Shield resolves the problem. With the Standard Shield running, the problem comes back. I’ve only used Avast since I got the PC, so there is no conflict with old A/V. All other security stuff is std. Vista - Windows Firewall, Defender etc.
The original poster (plus nick.walters, for example) is having problems related to the Standard Shield provider (intermittent hangs of the machine etc).
jc3131’s problem, on the other hand, is related to slow browsing with avast under Vista.
Let’s start with jc3131’s problem. That’s the easier one. Simply put, there’s a bug in the Vista version of ZoneAlarm that is preventing the avast webshield provider from working properly. That is, it IS working properly, but the connections are really slow (for each new connection, there’s roughly a 2 second delay). The only workaround I have at this time is to replace ZoneAlarm with something else(sorry). Hopefully, this issue in ZA will be fixed soon (avast is not the only application that is affected by this).
As about the Standard Shield problem. Well, indeed, there have been some changes in the Vista Standard Shield driver in avast build 4.7.1074. Unfortunately, we don’t seem able to simulate the problem on any of our machines. To analyse the problem properly, it would be really useful to have a memory dump of the machine at the moment the problem is taking place (i.e. the machine is “stuck”). This basically means manually blue-screening the machine (forcing it to write out the memory dump file) and then submitting it to our ftp site. Would any of you guys be willing to do this? Detailed instructions can be found in our knowledge base: http://support.avast.com/index.php?_m=knowledgebase&_a=viewarticle&kbarticleid=71
VLK as stated before : I use xp pro and I am experiencing the same slow down. In my humble opinion I assume the changes made in the shield are responsable for this loading delay… :-\
VLK as stated before : I use xp pro and I am experiencing the same slow down. In my humble opinion I assume the changes made in the shield are responsable for this loading delay...
There have been no changes in the Shield for XP in this version.
Anyway, you may follow the same procedure (create a dump as described in my previous post) and we’ll try to find out what’s going on…
There have been no changes in the Shield for XP in this version.
Anyway, you may follow the same procedure (create a dump as described in my previous post) and we’ll try to find out what’s going on…
VLK thx for the offer but this ‘dump thing’ is way out of my league …
I’m a layman who uses Avast! who noticed a possible problem, reported it, and hoped to find a cure for it … but nothing more. Although I will stay in touch with this board and see if someone, with more knowledge of computers, has the same experience; 8)