[SOLVED] Avastsvc.exe hogging CPU (10-15%)

Avast Free Antivirus / Premium Security
1

Ever since I updated to the newest version 12.3.2280 (build 12.3.3154.0), Avastsvc.exe has been running at 10-15% CPU non-stop.
This is happening on two similar computers in the exact same way.
I tried uninstalling and reinstalling Avast, but it did not help.
If I turn off the File Shield, it drops to 0%.
I left the computers running for hours doing nothing, but it’s still 10-15% CPU.
Process Monitor seems to have it creating and deleting sig*.tmp files in the Windows temp folder again and again.
Anyone know what this might be?

Windows 10 64-bit for both computers

2

Does disabling or removing Avast Cleanup help ???

3

Do you happen to have a program called Pray installed ?

  • in another topic with this kind of CPU activity, it was found to be Prays activity that was causing avasts scanning activity.
4

The service is Prey. It keeps track of your devices if they should get lost. :slight_smile:

5

Thanks for the clarification Bob.

6

Wow! Thank you so much!
Yes, I did have Prey installed, and now that I uninstalled it, CPU is back to 0%.

Can’t thank you enough!! :smiley:

7

You’re welcome, hopefully avast will look into this and see where the conflict lies.

8

The problem with that is that if you loose your device, Prey can’t find it for you.
This needs to be solved by Avast or Prey or both.
Without Prey, I would not have recovered one of my laptops from the Miami Airport. :slight_smile:

For me, Prey had stopped working after the last Avast update. I needed to uninstall Prey and subsequently
re-install their latest version. More help here: http://help.preyproject.com/

9

Agreed.
Although, for all the hours I spent searching forums, I cannot get my Guest account to work in Windows 10. It crashes on login.
Without the Guest account, the “finder” of the laptop cannot use it, which means Prey won’t work.
On the other hand, Windows 10 has its own “Find My Device” feature (Settings → Update & security → Find My Device), albeit without the ability to remote wipe and snap pictures.
Of course this also depends on the finder turning it on, and the laptop connecting to wifi.
But I digress.

10

I just received the following:
Attention, users:

We detected that you currently have Prey version 1.6.2 or version 1.6.1 installed in one of your Windows devices, so we urge you to update immediately to Prey’s new version 1.6.3 - the first one was released with a compatibility issue that in some specific cases makes Prey ineffective on the devices it was installed. This means that if you currently have version 1.6.2 or 1.6.1, your devices could not be protected, meaning they can’t be traced nor you will be able to use any of the features provided by Prey.
Update to Prey version 1.6.3

Prey’s new version 1.6.3 is working completely fine and it should be business as usual in your devices.
We’re truly sorry for the inconveniences this may cause. Feel free to reach out to us via Facebook or Twitter to solve any issues regarding this or other problems with Prey’s performance.
The Prey Team
I’ve installed that version and Prey is again working properly.

11

Working for me too.
Thank you!!

12

My pleasure. I didn’t really want to be without this reliable additional security which has already proven invaluable to me. :slight_smile: