Avast WEBforum

Consumer Products => Avast Free Antivirus / Premium Security (legacy Pro Antivirus, Internet Security, Premier) => Topic started by: oxygenuk on October 12, 2007, 08:00:06 PM

Title: avast and system resources
Post by: oxygenuk on October 12, 2007, 08:00:06 PM

hello just been searching google for comparisons with AVG etc to see what uses less resources, i think avast uses less but is there a 'fact' that avast uses less resources?

just wondering, and also does it use less resources if you use less protections, for instance disabling email and messenger protection...

thank you :)

ps: i have 1ghz pc, 256mb ram as far as my system resources are concerned

Title: Re: avast and system resources
Post by: DavidR on October 12, 2007, 08:40:06 PM

It is hard or impossible to compare two applications directly that have different levels of functionality and would be like comparing apples with oranges. avast is relatively light on system resources but it has functions that AVG doesn't so may depending on how many of those function you use as to just how much system resources you use.

You don't mention what operating system you use (?) as that is possibly even more important, whilst avast is committed to supporting win98/winME, AVG may be going down the road of dropping support for older OSes.

Title: Re: avast and system resources
Post by: bradlyblb on October 13, 2007, 07:57:14 AM

You know i thought i would be fairly safe running an amd dual core with 2 gb of ram,but with avast running my ram is totally maxed out 90-99% all the time.
My computer slowed down so noticeable i gave up on what could be the best anti virus software on the market due to this resource issue. Went and tried a couple other notable software programs and they didn't use the extreme resources avast seemed to.  If they is something i did wrong please someone let me know because i loved the avast anti virus software, but hated the slowing down so dramatically of my computer with 2 gb of ram ( need i add another 2 gb to max it out) 

Title: Re: avast and system resources
Post by: alanrf on October 13, 2007, 08:09:39 AM

I'm not sure what you are doing.  Perhaps you could give us a bit more information on your avast settings and resident processes.

With avast running on my dual core 2G machine there is no memory problem.

Title: Re: avast and system resources
Post by: oxygenuk on October 13, 2007, 09:18:05 AM

i have XP, and i only really use web shield and standard sheild, and the icon always seems to be spinning ???

Title: Re: avast and system resources
Post by: DavidR on October 13, 2007, 02:05:05 PM

The icon only spins when it is scanning (that is what on-access scanners do), so what you have to check is what is it scanning, so there is something going on on your system.

What are you doing when this happens ?

You could enable this option, 'Show detailed info on performed actions,' it will show what files are being scanned by the on-access scanner (Standard Shield), it may be quick but it should give you an idea of what is being scanned and hopefully why. If you can give some examples of the file and locations that are being scanned ?

This function is also on the Web Shield and Internet Mail providers so you should also check those, if thee isn't much shown on the other one.

(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v325/for-dwr/ShowDetailedAction.jpg)