I think at bootup that Avast is using above average resources but doesn’t take priority when other software need it. In other words, Avast quickly lightens up on the resources after you start running other programs. I suspect that other AV programs work opposite of that because most people only check for it’s resource usage right after start up. I see a lot of posting about how much Norton or McAfee is using at start up but nothing after prolonged use. I used to monitor the memory resources myself using Avast and post the findings…

http://forum.avast.com/index.php?board=2;action=display;threadid=1782;start=15

Basically, I don’t fret too much over the memory usage since Windows does a good job of managing its use. But I have recently installed the freeware Fast Defrag Standard and set it to manage the memory itself and it seems to do a great job on Win98. I normally leave my machine on for days at a time and the program prevents a lot of memory conflicts I had been experiencing after prolonged machine use.

I have used Norton and PC-Cillin in the past with nothing remarkable to state about performance. We use McAfee at work and it is a major slowdown on my machine using such things as MS Outlook and MS Office.

So, in my opinion, your concerns about initial memory usage at start up are valid ones but I woudn’t worry about it. Avast is not prejudice against other programs that need resources when called upon. In the grand scheme of things 20mb at start up isn’t going to make a difference since Windows is constantly managing memory resources.

One other thing I have noticed is that Avast will allocate additional memory after an automatic update but the allocation quickly loses priority through other machine usage. One thing that is bothersome is the twirling blue icon ball everytime Avast is scanning something. It’s cute and many people probably want a visual indicator that Avast is doing something but the only thing I think of some times is that it is using resources to provide the visual aid and may be slowing down the start of a program. Something else as simple as the ball changing colors would be sufficient. I use the free version so I don’t complain about the small things too much. I do believe that Avast has more to offer as a great AV program than the major competitors. Norton and McAfee have a lot of overhead to provide their products and thus don’t have a personal touch to it. Here you get to communicate directly with the staff that are directly involved in the development of the software. There really is nothing else like it on the market.