The update from 808719 to 080720 didn’t take 24:02 to update, but the update from 080720 to 080721 took almost the same amount of time:
Does Avast! only update when perhaps, the PC is idle??
It doesn’t seem like it should take 20+ minutes to install only 50Kb worth of files. The update icon was on for this 23-minute period and the indication that the database was updated, appeared shortly after I right-clicked the (a) icon and selected the Log Viewer.
The CPU is an AMD K6-2 (with 3-D Now) 500 MHz, with 512 Mb of memory, Windows XP Home with Service Pack 3.
Another computer with Avast! installed (with a separate registration key) contains an AMD Athlon CPU, 600 MHz with 256 Mb of memory, also with XP Home SP 3, this PC updates Avast! within 4 minutes.
The update icon first appears within a minute or two after the desktop appears, then it takes the rest of that amount of time before I see the indication that the database has been updated. During which time, I look at the box and there isn’t any hard drive activity.
If it is taking only 7 seconds to download the files, I would think the software should begin to update immediately thereafter.
When I reboot the computer, knowing that it is already updated, I ran an update manually (right-click the (a), Updating, iAVS Update) and saw the following:
Information about current update:
Total time: 1:59
Vps: Already up to date
(current version 080721-0)
It took less than 2 minutes to tell me that the software is up to date, yet it takes 20+ minutes to update when updates are available. Is there something about the software that I’m not quite understanding? ???
there will be more detailed timing information in the setup log in the avast log folder and you should see the update process starting immediately the files have been downloaded.
Have you checked the task manager at the time avast is updating? Do you have other processes competing with avast for your limited CPU and memory?
I’m not sure if this is specifically the reason, but a program helpsvc.exe is taking up almost 100% of the CPU resources with no other applications running.
Microsoft made a hotfix available via http://support.microsoft.com/kb/839017/en-us but the hotfix download page references it is for XP Service Pack 2, I have Service Pack 3 installed, so I don’t know if applying the hotfix will fix this particular issue.
If it helps, I am attaching the relevant portion of the log.
Although I downloaded the hotfix, I turned off the Help & Support service in the System Configuration, I never really use it anyway.
Something continues weird… 10s of download seems ok. But 11 minutes just to get back the answer is ridiculous… I suggest an installation from the scratch:
Uninstall avast from Control Panel first.
Boot.
Download the latest version of Avast Uninstall and use it for complete uninstallation.
I have an HP inkjet printer and the software loads in “HP Digital Imaging Monitor” that has an icon in the systray next to the Avast icons, but as I do not actually use it to check anything, I cannot say with any certainty if that piece of software could also be slowing down the system, but I will occasionally be prompted to download any updates from HP that may be available. There are three HP-related items showing in the Task Manager that are always running but the current CPU usage for al three, is zero.
Since I do specifically use that monitor, I would rather turn that off as well, but I will perform the Avast uninstall/reinstall first to see what occurs.
I should have left the previous installation intact.
The VRDB (i) icon does not appear on screen when the software loads in at bootup, which HAS happened before. I wound up uninstalling and reinstalling Avast three times before the (i) icon finally appeared.
When in the Update (Basic) settings window, clicking Details, hangs the software, which has also happened previously. I have to go into the Task Manager to shut that down.
It has also not updated since this last installation.
I am going to uninstall and reinstall this for a third time (second time I’ve had to install three times before it became fully-functional). If it fails again, then I’m going to back to trying a different AV software.
Googling helpsvc.exe will reveal many instances of helpsvc.exe using 100% CPU.
In the past it has happen to me. I disabled it in services. Do’nt know if microsoft fixed it or not. Guess they did, because I no longer have trouble with it running.
Darth - I am now running SP 3 and that service still used 100% CPU, so I simply turned it off in the system config, but it apparently had no effect on the Avast problem.
Information about current update:
Total time: [b]22:10[/b]
Update (Basic)/Settings does NOT hang the software, once the first update has occurred. Before the first update, it hangs the software. Perhaps the developers should look at this.
I am attaching the latest portion of the log. The second to last entry indicates something was canceled by the user. I did not cancel anything.
On my 10-year old Pentium (1) 166 MHz Linux system, it took Avast 1 minute 31 seconds to update the software. This is under Linux, but with a CPU that is only 1/3rd the speed of my K6-2.
I’ve uninstalled software I no longer use (including McAfee using their special uninstaller),
Sometimes, McAfee won’t be completely removed if, before, you do not uninstall Avast, including the use of its “Uninstall Application” if necessary (www.avast.com/eng/faq-install-uninstall-avast.html).
I have run MCPR.EXE but not VSCleanupTool. I will run that one as well.
The VRDB is currently generating, so I will wait until that finishes before running VSCleanupTool.
Someone else on the forum indicated that the VRDB (i) icon did not appear in the systray until after Avast was installed for the third time. I also saw this same behavior, twice. It is probably something that needs to be looked at by Alwil. I do not want to uninstall Avast again, because of this particular issue. So I will have to run VSCleanupTool while Avast remains installed.
I also turned off the HP digital monitor in the system config but will have to reboot it for that change to take effect, this will be done once the VRDB finishes generating, it’s been generating for three hours already.
It is now almost FIVE HOURS since I started the VRDB generation and it is STILL generating it, this is with the PC completely idle.
It takes over 20 minutes for a simple update and five hours for a VRDB generation…
If a 500 MHz AMD K6-2 CPU in a system with 512 Mb of memory is not powerful enough for Avast, someone please tell me, because I would rather not waste further time with this.
Thank you all for the help you’ve provided up to this point.
Seems ok… depends of the number of files and the number of executable files that you have.
Don’t worry that much on VRDB generation… let it manually overnight…
The problem, imho, is the update lag. Please, post the last 200-250 lines of avast log: C:\Program Files\Alwil Software\Avast4\DATA\log\Setup.log
