Sorry, this is the first time i have used any types of forums and i don’t even know if this is in the right place or even something anyone here can help me with. I am not very comp literate so please excuse me if i seem a bit bumb… but everyone has to start somewhere. I have been using Avast Free Antivirus for a while without any problems until now, i am using version 7.0.1426 if that makes sence and windows XP with Service pack 3. My problem is that i have just had a faster broadband installed by Virgin with the new Super Hub and i am supposed to get up to 100 Mbps download speed and at the momement… this is the problem. If i have Avast running as normal i get only 31.2 Mbps down load but if i turn off the Web shield on the Real-Time shields in the User interface the speed goes up to 64.7 Mbps. Can anybody advise me on why this is and what i need to do to correct this if anything. I know this is a bit long winded but i thought i should include as much info as possible if i was asking for the help.
Oh dear, first important thing to keep in mind is that nobody gets the speeds advertised, unless they live right next to the exchange, and even then, probably not all of it.
Cheers for that and yes… They do say upto 100 Mbps. I will have that convo with them when i get the reduced speed when the virus is all working as it should sorted.
The Web Shield will do this to insane connection width like that. Weird thing is, it does not do it to everybody, just some…but yeah, you are not the first person to have to decide between turning off the Web Shield or living with slower than advertised speeds (when dealing with speeds like 100)
I’m going to guess you are using speedtest dot net for your results? This is also really off-and-on with its results going through the Avast! Web Shield, so you might not even be getting accurate results from it (if that is what you are using). Best way to truly test your speed is by downloading a large file (like a Linux OS for example), track how long it takes to complete with Web Shield on Vs. off.
@ nehpets1988
I prefer to use speedtest.net, but even with this it shows 38640kbps when my BT Infinity tarrif is a max 40mbps, so that figure is very close to my max and you never get the max as you have to take account of the line, etc.
Surely that would be a good indication not to disable the web shield; though considering your topic title of “New to any Forums and need help with Avast slowing braod band down.”, what you are describing above is the reverse ?
As I said in my first reply my broadband max connection rate for my tariff is 40mbps and I’m getting around 37mbps on speedtest.net with the web shield enabled.
Yep got that round the wrong way… sorry. I meant that when i disable the web shield the speed goes up.
The only firewall i have is the windows one… to the best of my knowledge!!!
I downlaoded the microsoft file as you suggested and got all kind or transfer speeds from 144KB/Sec… Yes KB/Sec to 28.7MB/Sec with an average of 2MB/Sec and not much different with the web-shield on or off.
The virgin engineer came back today and changed the super hub and told me the connection was all good in the house so it must be a problem with the connection and speed outside. He made a call and told me that the geeks would do someting about that from there end.
I have just tested it again and now testing the speed with Speedtest.net i get from 36 to 40MB/Sec with the web-shield on and 94 to 105MB/Sec with it off. So still loosing way over half with the web-shield on according to that test.
Also now when i download that 316.4MB file from microsoft i get a constant 28.7MB/Sec with the web-shield on and a constant 45.2 with the web-shield turned off.
Any suggestions on what to do about loosing well over half my speed with the Web-Shield turned on othe than just turn it off…
As for the 45.2MB/Sec with the Web-Shield turned off that will be another conversation i will have to have with Virgin.
Well that download of XP SP3 took 45 seconds for 316MB (2,588,672bits) 57,526kbps (unless I have stuffed up the figures as that is in excess of my 40mbps theoretical max) and that is with the web shield on.
Aside from being download it is obviously going to be scanned and for a large file there will be an overhead. There is a known overhead with very fast broadband connections and the web shield proxy, but that is supposed to be when the connection is in excess of 100mbps.
I had the same problem with malwarebytes protection module
Different speed with it on and off, so they told me to time the download
And voila, it Was the same…the protection module was fooling the speedometer
I hope you mean the times given on the file download when the download is complete and not time them manually… the time shown on the downloads were as follows…
Downloaded 316MB in 11 sec… with the Web-shield on
Downloaded 316MB in 7 sec… with the Web-shield off
It is around what I’ve come to expect with big bandwidth on some PCs…the Web Shield functions with a way lower hit to bandwidth (if any) percentage-wise, on a more average connection like mine (20 mbps)…it just seems to get overwhelmed sometimes when facing 100 mbps.
Now, what you do about the problem is up to you, you could of course disable the Web Shield, or uninstall it altogether, not something I would normally recommend (security risk), but I can also see you wanting to get most of the bandwidth you pay for. But there might be work-arounds suitable for you as well, since the Web Shield has exclusions for urls and processes. Maybe you don’t need all that bandwidth for everything, only some things?