Reducing boot time for Avast free version

Avast Free Antivirus / Premium Security
1

dunworking
The size of my free version Avast has grown to 1211MB.
Boot time has slowed and I think it may be Avast which is doing this.
Is there a way to delete old virus definitions which are no longer relevant?

2
  • Which version of Avast Free…?
  • OS…? (32/64 Bit…? - which SP/Build…?)
  • Other security related software installed…?
  • Which AV(s) did you use before Avast…?
3

Thanks for reply
Version is 18.5.2342
Win XP/SP3
Ghostery app in Firefox (Tracker blocker)

4

Win XP 32 bit
Used AVG many years ago

5
  1. Download Avast Free Antivirus: https://files.avast.com/iavs9x/avast_free_antivirus_setup_online.exe
  2. Follow instructions: https://www.avast.com/uninstall-utility (Run this tool for all prior installed Avast versions…!!)
  3. Reinstall Avast with the downloaded installer from point 1.
  4. Reboot.
6

Thanks ASYN . Will give it a try.

7

You’re welcome.

8

Same here, it went from slow bootup to not booting up at all. I made a thread about this a few days ago.

9

The actual size of avast, shouldn’t really impact boot times the two aren’t directly associated.
Avast does have its own housekeeping routine, that should par down the defs sub-folder. I believe this is normally done and a reboot finalises it.

How many shields do you have installed and enabled ?
Generally I only have 4 shields installed and enabled, I always do a custom install if running the full program update file. First I start with the minimal installation option and add two more shields.

My Avast Software folder is a little smaller than yours and that is on a winXP Pro SP3 system, see attached images of my defs sub-folder and size and also the Avast Software folder and size.