What is the answer to XP and its 100% cpu usage?

Wanting to stick with Avast Free as I have for many years but this issue is getting a bit much I know XP is old and outdated but that is the same song over and over again even for Windows 10 though I wonder if it will last as long?

My XP carries a massive amount of data which will not run on anything else, I know security is an issue but maybe like an old Win3.11 system I was running (No protection for it of course) it picked up a win32 trojan virus, that made me laugh to think this was “trapped” in a 16bit environment!! Yes I did delete it so I was not a carrier.

Each time at boot up after various items have loaded (taskmanager performance looking nice like a mountain range) bang it hits the 100% which is some fight between a System schost and AvastUI at about 50% each at which time I have a dud lump of technology.

All I can do after some trial and error is to Stop the System process this gives 100% (of what??) to Avast this just means the “lockout” is over quicker.

What crime have I done to be rewarded with this, is it as simple as buying a copy which might give me an “Off Switch” to solve this?

I have sent things in but I still do not know how to get a service ticket just get routed back here, I know it must be a problem, when I was working companies I dealt with would “move” (change their number) to get some peace for a while. I see reports of other antivirus with their slower times than Avast’s listing :'(and it makes me envious.

I am aware of Global “computery” things going on at the moment at all levels but if anyone can help me with some practical advice please do.

David

Yes, in Task Manager you will see AvastUI.exe at 99% for long stretches, usually after you start your computer. This is because Avast is loading a new screen to convince you to upgrade. The work-around solution to getting whatever program you want to be functional is to start that program and then look for it in Task Manager Processes and right click on it and change its Priority to Above Normal.
The 100% CPU utilization was becoming a problem for me too prior to an Avast upgrade on May 17 made some change so that Avast now gives the error UI Failed to load on my Windows XP system. I uploaded a zip file of all the Avast directories in Documents and Settings to the Avast FTP Server to help them figure it out. Until then, I downloaded MalwareBytes which works fine.

Yes I figured its one of the advertising promo things that was being run, my thought is if I did upgrade would it still annoy me because it would want a higher upgrade than that?

As for the program I want to work! its “all of it” in general the only thing I can get to work during this period are some old DOS based items that worked on Windows 3.11 or wake up DOS BOX and play my game of micemen, presume this is because they use so little memory or a selected portion of memory to work they just get ignored.

Yes Malwarebytes is a great program but it and Avast do not get along if both are fully working, same goes for Windows Defender so you have to keep just one alive.

Oh for the time when Avast just did antivirus and Malwarebytes just did malware, you could run both with no cross word between them Ah well.

Tanks from David…

If you’re using Avast and Malwarebytes, some folks need exclusions set up so there aren’t any conflicts.

https://forums.malwarebytes.com/topic/200324-exclusions-for-avast-users/
https://forums.malwarebytes.com/topic/200162-exclusions-for-windows-defender-users/