Unexpected, unwanted, very annoying scans

system · 2015-03-28T10:04:30.000Z

Several months ago I already submitted a post about this behavior of AAV. I had no answer at that time and several program updates later the problem is still there.
I have no scheduled scans whatsoever, smartscan is disabled but, from time to time I see a large disk activity, which I identified as being due to the Avast service.
This activity can last for several hours, accessing hundreds of gigabytes, and during that time applications working with the disk are slowed down to a point that it makes it very unpleasant. Even launching an application can last for more than 10 seconds instead of a glimpse !!!

For the time being the only workaround I have found, a drastic one, is to stop the Avast service. After 1 minute or so I can restart the service and work normally.

I have identified one case when the unwanted behavior arises. When the screensaver scan is enabled the scan does not stop when the PC comes back to an active state.
But this is not the only case.
Strange point : during these unexpected scans the tray icon stays still. Cannot be confused with normal realtime protection.

Pondus · 2015-03-28T10:14:01.000Z

Sure it is not Windows indexing?

Tried a new clean install? … uninstall tool https://www.avast.com/uninstall-utility
Download https://forum.avast.com/index.php?topic=168376.0

system · 2015-03-29T10:54:50.000Z

I’m positive it’s the Avast Service. I can see it in Process explorer of Systernals.
And the fact that the huge disk activity stops when I stop the servicxe is another evidence.

And I have disabled the indexing service from the very first day I installled W7.

This morning the activity started again without any reason 10 minutes after I started working.
I let it go for 10 more mns and looked at it in process explorer. 100 Gigabytes had already been read by Avast.

And it’s a fresh install on a fresh install of W7 home. I’ll see what a full bleaching and re-install will do anyway.

Eddy · 2015-03-29T12:23:47.000Z

Several months ago I already submitted a post about this behavior of AAV

I only see two post from you and they are both in this thread ???

system · 2015-03-29T18:55:04.000Z

Eddy post:4:

]I only see two post from you and they are both in this thread ???

At that time (March 2014) my alias was PoP.

Today I uninstalled AAV with AvastClear followed by CCleaner to remove registry keys, value or data, folders or files that referred to “Avast”. Like the windows uninstaller AvastClear still leaves a lot of traces. Well …
After re-installing Avast free I waited for the screensaver to start. When the PC got back to life the screensaver scan did stop as expected. I was quite happy with that …
Alas … a few hours later and a second start of the screensaver I could see that the avast service did not stop scanning after the PC wake up.
So the un-re-install did not solve the issue. I still need to stop manually the service to stop the scan !

davexnet · 2015-03-29T20:27:41.000Z

What components, other than the shields, did you allow when you installed avast.

Did you do the default or customized install ?

Which Windows version?

How much RAM in the PC?

system · 2015-03-30T10:52:22.000Z

davexnet post:6:

What components, other than the shields, did you allow when you installed avast.
Did you do the default or customized install ?
Which Windows version?
How much RAM in the PC?

Avast free with shields and only browser protection allowed.
All other options sandbox, … where unchecked at custom installation time.

I use only the screensaver scan. Exceptionally I perform a manual scan on some folder (Downloads, …)

My system is W7 64b home premium sp1 all updates and hot fixes; 6G memory (no it’s not a virtual memory effect). I re-installed it 2 weeks ago but the issue is at least one year older. The avast issue, among other small problems, with ie11, WMP, … in particular, was a reason why I decided to re-install everything from the factory state.

I have made a little more investigation to understand when the problem occurs. Several times a week but at random - apparently.

One reason why the unexpected scan is not always noticed is that the disk activity associated with it is not at a constant level. Sometimes it’s very high (HDD led constantly lit) sometimes it’s weak (a few led blinks per second).

There is another reason why I’ve not always noticed the issue after a screensaver period. Actually

the scan does stop when the screensaver stops
EXCEPT if the idle time has been long enough that the display has been switched off for power saving
AND not long enough for the PC entering the sleep state.

In my case 5 mns for SS, 15 mns for display off, 1h for sleep. So for less than 15 mns of SS the scan stops when the SS stops, between 15 mns and 1h the scan continues even though the SS has stopped, after 1h the scan has stopped when the PC wakes up (be it because of the sleep state or because the scan is complete, I don’t know yet). Such test is time consuming, I have repeated it twice (not statistically valid …). I’ll try with shorter delays…
Now I have set the display off delay to so I should not need to stop the avast service manually, hopefully.

carfal · 2015-03-31T08:56:13.000Z

Try disabling the software updater module. It worked for me. I was scratching my head for days trying to work out my intense background scanning (which just started happening out of the blue) and finally tracked it to the software updater module. Its worth trying to see if the same is for you.

bob3160 · 2015-03-31T11:55:29.000Z

carfal post:8:

Try disabling the software updater module. It worked for me. I was scratching my head for days trying to work out my intense background scanning (which just started happening out of the blue) and finally tracked it to the software updater module. Its worth trying to see if the same is for you.

Software (Program) updates are set to manual by default.
VPS (Virus data base) updates are on by default as they should be to keep your protection
against the newest discovered viruses as up to date a s possible. (streaming updates)

system · 2015-03-31T14:42:40.000Z

carfal post:8:

Try disabling the software updater module. It worked for me. I was scratching my head for days trying to work out my intense background scanning (which just started happening out of the blue) and finally tracked it to the software updater module. Its worth trying to see if the same is for you.

Thanx for the idea but I already disabled all options but the shields.

I have looked at another PC W7 Starter 32 b.
AAV freshly installed
I see exactly the same undesirable behavior.

The screensaver scan stops when the screensaver stops EXCEPT if the display has been switched off in the meantime.
Apparently the service keeps thinking that the screensaver is on even when the PC is back to work.
Looks like it’s really an AAV bug

davexnet · 2015-03-31T18:26:45.000Z

Perhaps you’ve found an anomaly with the screen saver scan.

I don’t think that many people use it. I assume if you discontinue this scan, every thing is normal ?

system · 2015-03-31T20:50:03.000Z

.

davexnet post:11:

Perhaps you’ve found an anomaly with the screen saver scan.
I don’t think that many people use it. I assume if you discontinue this scan, every thing is normal ?

Well that’s a nice idea.
The option is buggy, don’t use it !!!

Sorry the screensaver scan suits my needs much more than a scheduled one because unlike any other kind of scan it is supposed to stop as soon as I start working and continue from where it stopped when I stop working. And I can start and stop working at any time
Fortunately I found a workaround …

bob3160 · 2015-03-31T21:41:46.000Z

I personally don’t allow my system to go to sleep or hibernate.

Lisandro · 2015-03-31T21:49:20.000Z

bob3160 post:13:

I personally don’t allow my system to go to sleep or hibernate.

I, on contrary, let it sleep/hibernate twice a day

lee277 · 2015-03-31T22:09:32.000Z

The only Chrome extension is Avast Online Security and the only plugin In Java. IObit may have had an extension installed at one time, but has long since been removed.Also, all scheduled and startup instances of IObit and ASC have been removed. However, i do still have IObit’s defragmenter and uninstaller installed.

DavidR · 2015-03-31T22:19:22.000Z

I tried setting this up to test - my only issue is that I do have a reasonably aggressive power saving settings.

I was able to set up the the avast screensaver but the monitor turning off after 5 minutes, seemed to stop the scan, as it would be considered activity, albeit negative. So when I came back my screen was blank and no screen saver running, bringing the monitor back up would also kill the screensaver scan if it were still running in the background.

The only way was not to have any power saving settings - and the screensaver scanning responded as expected.

I just can’t see the point in screen saver scanning, I would much rather have power settings than scanning.

With a resident on-access antivirus like avast, the need for frequent on-demand scans is much depreciated and that would include the screensaver scan. For the most part the on-demand scan is going to be scanning files that would be otherwise be dormant or inert. If they were active files then the on-access file system shield would be scanning them before being created, modified, opened or executed.

I had avast set to do a scheduled weekly Quick scan, set at a time and day that I know the computer will be on. This Quick scan has also been abandoned.

carfal · 2015-04-01T07:25:59.000Z

bob3160 post:9:

carfal post:8:

Try disabling the software updater module. It worked for me. I was scratching my head for days trying to work out my intense background scanning (which just started happening out of the blue) and finally tracked it to the software updater module. Its worth trying to see if the same is for you.

Software (Program) updates are set to manual by default.
VPS (Virus data base) updates are on by default as they should be to keep your protection
against the newest discovered viruses as up to date a s possible. (streaming updates)

Just to be clear, I’m talking about the 3rd party software updater module found under “Statistics>Component Status”. The centre box is the 3rd party Software Updater. Disabling this cured my unwanted scanning. In my case the scanning was related to Avast searching for any 3rd party software that required an update. The scanning of this process was triggering the ondemand module of Avast to scan every accessed file. This would keep my system very busy to say the least.

Since i disabled the 3rd party Software Updater all is calm. ;D

This may or may not be the issue with your system. I just wanted to make sure that you disabled the correct module. 8)

bob3160 · 2015-04-01T22:51:06.000Z

I also used Program and settings and Changed Avast and Removed the Program Updater Module.
I don’t have an SSD drive but also saw a lot of HD usage. After the requested restart, the HD usage was still between 90% - 98%.
That excessive usage continued for 11 minutes and then drastically subsided.
The most active module at the time when there was a lot of HD activity was avast! Service (32 bit).

DavidR · 2015-04-01T22:58:24.000Z

Check your Software Updater settings, avastUI > Settings > Tools > Software Updater > Customise.

I believe that the default setting is to ‘Automatically download updates if possible’ I would suggest unchecking this option if it is enabled.

I prefer to be notified and I will authorise the update and its subsequent download.

bob3160 · 2015-04-01T23:56:46.000Z

DavidR post:19:

Check your Software Updater settings, avastUI > Settings > Tools > Software Updater > Customise.

I believe that the default setting is to ‘Automatically download updates if possible’ I would suggest unchecking this option if it is enabled.

I prefer to be notified and I will authorise the update and its subsequent download.

The tool no longer shows up under tools. it’s in the scans.
On my system, it’s been removed.

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