WinXP sp3 running in VMWare Workstation Pro 15.x uses 100% CPU of the guest OS. 

system · 2017-03-15T13:16:12.000Z

After Avast last upgrade, I found that if the host OS Win7Pro Avast free anti virus “enable hardware-assisted virtualization” option is enabled (default), my Windows XP virtual machine guest OS cpus are at 100% all the time, making it useless. Disabling the “hardware assisted virtualization” option restores the virtual machine functionality (requires rebooting).
The host OS is not affected at all.
I didn’t notice any problem running a virtual machine with guest OS Window 7 Pro.

Notice that the referred antivirus the the one installed in the host machine, not in the guest.

Other users at VMWare forum have reported the same problem.

(Avast 17.2.2288 (buid 17.2.3419.59

Virus def. 170314-0
VMware Workstation Pro 12.5.3 build-5115892
Host OS version: Windows 7 Professional, 64-bit 6.1.7601, Service Pack 1
Guest OS: Windows XP service Pack 3 - 32 bit fully upgraded

I hope Avast can find a fix for this problem.
May be this post can help others with the same problem.

system · 2017-06-08T04:08:52.000Z

Thankyou for posting this, we have been struggling with this issue for the past month on all laptops with Avast running.

bob3160 · 2017-06-08T13:46:11.000Z

Reported to Avast developers.

system · 2017-07-24T20:24:42.000Z

same issue. solved after some investigations dayz.
now works like a charm.
definitely an avast issue.

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