multiple .MAD processes

I have multiple .mad processes running. Is there a reason this is normal? OSX 10.6.8

You should have exactly 2 running. The reason is the VPS update mechanism. If there are more com.avast.MAD processes on your machine, then there is something wrong (a reboot should fix it).

Exactly, there should be 2 MAD processes per each atively-used VPS version. So when you start full system scan, taking 10 hours, and meanwhile new vps is downloaded, you’ll see 2+2 MAD processes (each pair can be considered a “guard” + “worker” - but only worker performs cpu-hungry actions, when scanning).

regards,
pc