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Consumer Products => Avast Free Antivirus / Premium Security (legacy Pro Antivirus, Internet Security, Premier) => Topic started by: hgratt on August 08, 2005, 10:47:05 PM

Title: XP SP2, IE, Standard Shield and Speed Loss
Post by: hgratt on August 08, 2005, 10:47:05 PM
When I use IE, I have a 500 - 700 mbps loss in download speed (as measured on testmy.net). If I disable the Standard Shield, the speeds go up where they should be.

This speed issue DOES NOT happen if I use Mozilla as my browser (Standard shield does not degrade performance).

Can anyone else verify this?

Thanks,
Harvey
Title: Re: XP SP2, IE, Standard Shield and Speed Loss
Post by: DavidR on August 09, 2005, 01:16:29 AM
Are you sure that it is standard shield and web shield as web shield scans web content before you see it in your browser standard shield scans files on your HDD so it shouldn't slow download speed?

The default settings in standard shield won't scan firefox internet cache as it uses extension less caching so unless you mod the standard shield settings to cater for this it doesn't scan the firefox browser cache.

I have modified mine so it scans my firefox browser cache, but I see no noticeable slowdown, however, I'm using dial-up so scans don't seem to have any effect as the download is so slow the scan completes relatively quickly.

What is your OS?
Title: Re: XP SP2, IE, Standard Shield and Speed Loss
Post by: hgratt on August 09, 2005, 01:32:46 AM
Are you sure that it is standard shield and web shield as web shield scans web content before you see it in your browser standard shield scans files on your HDD so it shouldn't slow download speed?

The default settings in standard shield won't scan firefox internet cache as it uses extension less caching so unless you mod the standard shield settings to cater for this it doesn't scan the firefox browser cache.

I have modified mine so it scans my firefox browser cache, but I see no noticeable slowdown, however, I'm using dial-up so scans don't seem to have any effect as the download is so slow the scan completes relatively quickly.

What is your OS?

I'm using win xp pro with sp2 and all updates. I disabled the avast providers one by one until the IE problem went away so I'm pretty sure that it was the Standard Shield which caused the problem.

My basic download speed should be around 5500 mbps. I only get arounf 4500 with the Standard Shield active while using IE.

Thanks,
Harvey
Title: Re: XP SP2, IE, Standard Shield and Speed Loss
Post by: DavidR on August 09, 2005, 01:55:02 AM
What are your standard shield settings?
You may be able to set it so it is not to sensitive but still provide adequate protection.

I still find it a little odd that standard shield that only scans hdd content could slow internet connection speed. Unless the high priority setting of ashServ.exe (the actual scanner for standard shield, etc., see task manager Processes) takes up cpu resources there by slowing the web shield scan (ashWebSv.exe) which could show up as slowing download speed. This is just my theory, not fact but it might explain the difference with IE and firefox when standard shield doesn't scan the extension less files in firefox's browser cache.

As a dial-up user I would give someone's right are to see my connection speed drop to 4500 mbps ;D
Title: Re: XP SP2, IE, Standard Shield and Speed Loss
Post by: hgratt on August 09, 2005, 02:25:47 AM
What are your standard shield settings?
You may be able to set it so it is not to sensitive but still provide adequate protection.

I still find it a little odd that standard shield that only scans hdd content could slow internet connection speed. Unless the high priority setting of ashServ.exe (the actual scanner for standard shield, etc., see task manager Processes) takes up cpu resources there by slowing the web shield scan (ashWebSv.exe) which could show up as slowing download speed. This is just my theory, not fact but it might explain the difference with IE and firefox when standard shield doesn't scan the extension less files in firefox's browser cache.

As a dial-up user I would give someone's right are to see my connection speed drop to 4500 mbps ;D

O.K., I have isolated the issue to the Scanner (Advanced) section of the Standard Shield. It appears that if I uncheck the box which allows avast to scan the default set of extensions, then the speeds become normal.

Harvey
Title: Re: XP SP2, IE, Standard Shield and Speed Loss
Post by: Lisandro on August 09, 2005, 03:22:24 AM
It appears that if I uncheck the box which allows avast to scan the default set of extensions, then the speeds become normal.
Unchecking you're 'disabling' the scanning unless you write a particular set of extensions.
Did you uncheck the open (1st group) or even the created/modified group (2sd group)?
Title: Re: XP SP2, IE, Standard Shield and Speed Loss
Post by: hgratt on August 09, 2005, 03:29:03 AM
It appears that if I uncheck the box which allows avast to scan the default set of extensions, then the speeds become normal.
Unchecking you're 'disabling' the scanning unless you write a particular set of extensions.
Did you uncheck the open (1st group) or even the created/modified group (2sd group)?

Yes. Unchecking the first group had no effect by itself. Unchecking the second group worked since it disables the default extension box.

Harvey