Avast WEBforum
Consumer Products => Avast Free Antivirus / Premium Security (legacy Pro Antivirus, Internet Security, Premier) => Topic started by: irongod on January 11, 2014, 06:58:51 PM
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Is there any way to shrink the memory footprint of the AvastSvc.exe process in AIS 9.0.2011? (it's constant at 130-160Mb after few hours)
In v8 it could reach those values, but after that was shrinking by itself to more normal values (30-60Mb) when closing programs or when "in idle"... is there any manual way to patch this memory leak? ::)
(Win XP SP3, 2Gb RAM)
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No problems here on XP.
- Other security related software installed..??
- Which AV(s) did you use before avast!..??
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No other security problems installed... used Avast IS for 3 years now (from v6 to v8 without any problems.... up to v9!)
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1. Download avast! Internet Security: http://files.avast.com/iavs9x/avast_internet_security_setup.exe
2. Follow instructions: http://www.avast.com/uninstall-utility (Run this tool for all prior installed avast! versions..!!)
3. Reinstall avast! with the downloaded installer from point 1.
4. Reboot.
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I cannot count the times I did this operation since v9 came out... even cleaned manually after all the pieces of Avast left by the cleaner program!! :P Anyway, this is not the main issue with v9, I can survive with a 150Mb process running (having 2gigs of RAM), I struggled with serious hangs and crashes due to v9, so that I always reverted to v8! Now I've tried again v9 after "some cleaning" of Host, ARP Cache and IPv6... and with the online AIS installer (instead of the full offline...) let's see if I face again the random hangs / crashes as always happened before in the last 3 months since v9 was first out!
I've noticed severals had the same leak problem and wanted to understand if there was a manual way to make processes release memory in case it is only a leak ...
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I've noticed severals had the same leak problem and wanted to understand if there was a manual way to make processes release memory in case it is only a leak ...
Well, I also run it on an old XP with only 256MB RAM, I would've seen the leak there. ;)
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In my opinion, there is no leak (even the first post says it gets constant after a few hours - a leak would grow indefinitely).
Yes, a program can tell the operating system to "forget" its memory - and the operating system either forgets the stuff it can read back from files, or writes the data into the swap file (so that it can read it from there later again). I believe that's what the previous versions of avast! were doing quite frequently (or rather, too frequently). However, it's not a good thing to do - because it slows things down (when the data are needed again, they have to be read from disk - which is million times slower than just accessing the memory). It's the OS'es job to perform the memory management - programs shouldn't really interfere with that, it's not their business (they don't have the information the OS does - it knows the overall memory usage and when it's too high, it starts "forgetting" as I mentioned - but only when needed, not sooner).
So to answer the original question - there is no way to do that from avast! itself. There might be some tools that would allow you to do that - but it's a bad idea. It would look nice in the Task Manager, but you would be interfering with Windows memory management, making things slower. If you have the memory, you want it to be used - not to sit unused.
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Thanks for the reply... I was already thinking something like that!
Still I wonder a little why it grows to such a big number without any scan, or su much disk or network activity going on... in v8 it could reach these peaks, but used to shrink down by itself... does everyone know whether this might be due to "streaming" and "emergengy" updates that are kept by the service in RAM (even if they usually consists in few kb, rather than mb)?
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Little bit of sunday troubleshooting... 8)
The machine is up from couple of hours now and the AvastSvc.exe process is about 55Mb (normal) with a peak of 99 (still normal... comparable to v8). I monitored a little the threads of this process and they are between 65 and 75 (AIS with all the shields on - no secureline installed and no grimefighter), does anyone know whether is normal number?
But, I found a "natural" way to shrink the memory of AvastSvc.exe! ;D ... it's enough to deactivate the WebShield from the Avast Setting and after few seconds reactivate it... during the transient phase the memory remains unchanged, but the threads drop to 45-50 and as soon as the webshield is activated again the AvastSvc.exe shrink to 5-7Mb! Then slowly grows again.. but still this trick could be helpful to someone that saw it raising to 250-300Mb (as I read in December on this forum!!). I start to think that while rewriting the Webshield for .2011 they may have left out some routines to optimize the memory consumption in order to increase the compatibility (but that's just wondering... ::) )
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1. Download avast! Internet Security: http://files.avast.com/iavs9x/avast_internet_security_setup.exe
2. Follow instructions: http://www.avast.com/uninstall-utility (Run this tool for all prior installed avast! versions..!!)
3. Reinstall avast! with the downloaded installer from point 1.
4. Reboot.
I'm helping someone trying to get avast! working.
How can I find out all prior versions that were installed on their PC so I can run this uninstall tool for each version?
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I'm helping someone trying to get avast! working.
How can I find out all prior versions that were installed on their PC so I can run this uninstall tool for each version?
Unless the owner can remember what versions "4,5,6,7,8" he had installed then you cant know but you can use the dropdown within the tool to change the version number and re-run the scan.
You can also run RejZoRs clean tool he created to clean avast leftovers http://www.rejzor.tk/ run this tool after first uninstalling normally and running the avast clean tool.
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That's a bummer not being able to determine what versions are previously installed and need to be uninstalled.
I'm not comfortable/confident with downloading/using "RejZoRs clean tool"...
If this is a legitimate Avast clean-up utility, why isn't this info included in the official clean-up instructions?
http://www.avast.com/uninstall-utility
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That's a bummer not being able to determine what versions are previously installed and need to be uninstalled.
I'm not comfortable/confident with downloading/using "RejZoRs clean tool"...
If this is a legitimate Avast clean-up utility, why isn't this info included in the official clean-up instructions?
http://www.avast.com/uninstall-utility
The tool is safe, RejZor ( avast uberevangelist ) made it to remove leftovers that the avast removal tool didn't remove, I have personally used the tool on several occasions and it is perfectly safe.
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Thanks craigb for trying to help me.
Clicking on the link you gave me, doesn't help me trying to help someone ...
That link looks like a web site for RejZor, not a link for any Avast uninstall/install utility/help...
I'm not sure if I can insert an image of what I see on that link ...
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Avastclear : http://files.avast.com/iavs9x/avastclear.exe
Rejzors Uninstall tool: http://rejzor.wordpress.com/avast-cleanup-tool/
Scroll down to Download and click it.
Run avastclear first from safe mode then rejzors utility in normal mode.
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That's a bummer not being able to determine what versions are previously installed and need to be uninstalled.
I'm not comfortable/confident with downloading/using "RejZoRs clean tool"...
If this is a legitimate Avast clean-up utility, why isn't this info included in the official clean-up instructions?
http://www.avast.com/uninstall-utility
The current avast uninstall utility caters for previous versions and you can no longer select by program version, only for the program type, Free/Pro/AIS/Premier and you only have to run it once.
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I thought the previous reply from Alikhan had the link to use for a "Real Clean Removal" using "Rejzors Uninstall tool" ...
Now, I'm not so sure...
Is there an official/sanctioned method to do a CLEAN UNINSTALL of Avast?
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You seem to be confused...
Avastclear - Official avast! uninstall tool by avast!. - Needs to run from safe mode. Official one..
Rejzors Uninstall Tool - Third party uninstall tool (made my avast! evangelist... perfectly safe) removes traces of avast which "avastclear" doesn't remove.
In other words, it's best to run both.
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The method I recommend... to make it easier.
I'd recommend a clean install:
1. Download Avastclear, Rejzors uninstall tool and the appropriate Avast program edition
Note: You need to be ONLINE during this install (online installer works in all cases whereas offline sometimes doesn't)
http://files.avast.com/iavs9x/avast_free_antivirus_setup_online.exe
http://files.avast.com/iavs9x/avast_pro_antivirus_setup_online.exe
http://files.avast.com/iavs9x/avast_internet_security_setup_online.exe
http://files.avast.com/iavs9x/avast_premier_antivirus_setup_online.exe
Avastclear : http://files.avast.com/iavs9x/avastclear.exe
Rejzors Uninstall tool: http://rejzor.wordpress.com/avast-cleanup-tool/
2. Uninstall Avast by control panel [If you don't have Avast in control Panel go to #4]
3. Uninstall in safe mode using Avastclear.
4. Run Rejzors Uninstall Utility in Normal Mode (removes traces avastclear doesn't) - reboot.
Check : Once uninstalled check in device manager>view>show hidden devices if there is anything related to avast with a yellow triangle.. if so, uninstall it and reboot.
5. Install the version you downloaded.
6. Reboot.
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Yup, I'm confused.
Some instructions say run the uninstall utility for each VERSION of Avast that were ever installed ...
Now, instructions (reply #15) say run the uninstall utility for the PROGRAM TYPE ...
Why aren't there CLEAR instructions on how to cleanly uninstall ?
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Forum Admins or Moderators,
Please delete all my posts in this thread.
I realize I took the OP topic off track, and that was not my intent.
I apologize to everyone.
Thanks,
David
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Yup, I'm confused.
Some instructions say run the uninstall utility for each VERSION of Avast that were ever installed ...
Now, instructions (reply #15) say run the uninstall utility for the PROGRAM TYPE ...
Why aren't there CLEAR instructions on how to cleanly uninstall ?
The older version of the avast uninstall utility had selection of versions in its dropdown list, the new version doesn't, it is by program type as shown in the image I attached.
If you downloaded the avast uninstall utility from the link previously given you will see basic instructions on uninstalling.
All you are seeing here is an expansion of those instructions, that page also needs to be updated (and that is what you are seeing here) as you don't have to boot into safe mode, the new uninstall utility handles the boot into safe mode.