Avast 4.8 1229 Slow Startup

[devilsnight228]

Ever since I have installed avast antivirus home edition, my system takes a little longer to start up.

I have windows xp home edition sp3

[rassel]

Try delay avast from loading by Right click avast spinning icon>Program settings>Troubleshooting then check the "Delay loading of avast!...........

[DavidR]

Whilst rassel's suggestion may improve the symptom/problem, it might not determine the true disease/cause .

What other security applications run on boot ?

Have (or did) you another AV installed in this system, if so what was it and how did you get rid of it ?

[devilsnight228]

My current security products are Avast 4.8 Home, Spybot Search and Destroy 1.6.0, Spyware Blaster 4.1, and windows firewall.

I used to have nod32 and removed it by the uninstall icon in the nod32 folder in the start menu.

[DavidR]

I don't believe any of the current applications would be an issue, S&D even if you had the resident protection enabled isn't that active at boot and SpywareBlaster is passive.

I haven't heard much on nod32 leaving remnants after an uninstall like some others like Norton, a real pain to remove.

If trying the delay loading of avast doesn't seem to have any effect (there is another option) ?

Depending on your Internet connection (broadband) it is possible that your connection is established early and avast is checking to see if there are any updates available.

If the start-up is still slow after the above delay option, open task manager and see if there is an entry for avast.setup, the avast auto update process ?

[devilsnight228]

delayed troubleshooting method did not work

avast.setup - yes that is a task in task manager when I start up. now what?

[DavidR]

Delay the auto update check.

You need to edit (using notepad) the [InetWD] section of the C:\Program Files\Alwil Software\Avast4\Data\avast4.ini file and add the following line (depending on your connection type assumed as broadband):

Broadband connections, add this line: AlwaysConnectedWaitSeconds=120

[InetWD]
AlwaysConnectedWaitSeconds=120

When complete save the changes, avast's self-defence module will ask for confirmation, etc. answer Yes.

The figure is seconds and the above equates to two minutes you could try that and adjust upwards if required, 180, 240, etc.

[rassel]

Thanks David.

[DavidR]

You're welcome, it can sometimes get in the way with a quick connection setup, but it is often more frequently one of the other options which is why I check them first.

[devilsnight228]

this is better still not the greatest.   

[DavidR]

Are you still getting the avast.setup appear (I think not) in the task manager during boot ?

I did some digging and found this NOD32 Removal Tool - http://www.nod32.nl/download/tool/nod32removal.exe, right click on the link and select Save As or Save File (As depending on your browser), save it to a location where you can find it easily later. This should ensure that there are no remnants that could have an impact.