I have found that excluding the following folders in File System Shield reduces startup times greatly: -
C:\Program Files\AVAST Software\Avast
C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\AVAST Software
Is the Avast self-defense module sufficiently effective to make this practice safe?
what do you call “greatly” in this particular case? excluding avast program folder should have no measurable effect (due to the persistent cache usage e.g.)
Thank you Maxx_original.
I refer you to the thread at http://forum.avast.com/index.php?topic=88741.0
I observe the considerable beneficial effects in performance at startup. The system is now ready for use after a much shorter time, i.e. the wait is now tolerable. The self-defense module seems to prevent attempts to subvert the Avast! files. I have confidence in the self-defense module. Is that confidence well founded?
I would get rid of Spybot - Search and Destroy as that has not kept up with the times.
Malwarebytes (MBAM) is much better.
Did you do what DavidR recommended: ???
http://forum.avast.com/index.php?topic=88741.msg709785#msg709785
You do not show in your signature the CPU type nor operating speed nor how much RAM the system has like DavidR does.
Yup, EnablePrefetcher already set to 3. I have only just reverted to this state. Curiously I had disabled Prefetcher since 2008 precisely to mitigate slow startup. Prefetcher now works great but only after creating the exclusions of Avast folders from the real-time scanning by Avast!
The system otherwise works quite beautifully with great stability and decent performance despite the modest (by current standards) processor. Of course one is constrained to retain the system board in use when Windows XP was installed (unless someone knows better). Understandably I do not wish to do a reinstall when it works so well.