Avast WEBforum
Consumer Products => Avast Free Antivirus / Premium Security (legacy Pro Antivirus, Internet Security, Premier) => Topic started by: DraGonflY_27z on January 16, 2011, 05:28:29 PM
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Hello everyone!
This morning, there has been a program update of avast! and since then, the process AvastSvc.exe uses all my CPU. It doesn't change anything to shut down all the programs running or to turn off all the shields. I uninstalled and reinstalled it, but the problem still persists.
It seems have a normal CPU usage for the first few minutes after booting Windows and then it goes crazy...
Can anyone help me figure this out?
I'm using avast! free, version 5.1.889. My firewall is COMODO and I don't use any other antivirus. I use Spybot Search & Destroy.
I've been using this set of programs for years and it's always worked great for me.
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Well, now it seems to have calmed down. XD It's been hogging my CPU for a few hours and now it's back to normal without me doing anything, I don't get it...
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Well the avastSvc.exe should only be using CPU when the resident shields are scanning.
When it is high, are you seeing the avast tray icon rotating ?
If not then it could be conflict locking things up, what would be the question.
What are you doing when this happens, P2P download in the background, browsing, etc. what ?
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Sometimes the icon was rotating, and sometimes it wasn't. But the process was constantly hogging the CPU and it couldn't have been because the shields were scanning anything because it continued even after I disabled them.
I wasn't doing anything out of the ordinary, P2P downloads are always running in the background and sometimes I browse with Firefox. I just noticed there was high usage of the CPU after the program update.
By the way, did anyone else have this problem too? For me, it stopped on its own.
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Well those P2P downloads are going to generate activity/scanning in the avastSvc.exe process as that is what controls all of the resident shields.
Why that didn't subside when you stop them to me tends to indicate some sort of conflict.
Spybot S&D if you don't have the teatimer running shouldn't be an issue, though I'm no fan of S&D (it hasn't kept pace with malware developments) without the teatimer running that shouldn't cause any problem.
Which leaves Comodo, I don't know if you have just the firewall element installer or if you have the AV element installed or if Defence+ might have an impact. I don't know as I haven't used any comodo products.
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Actually, I do have TeaTimer running. What would you recommend to use instead?
About comodo, I only use the firewall.
But I've been using this configuration for years, I don't understand why there would be a conflict suddenly (maybe the update), and most importantly why it fixed itself on its own after a while.
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At the very least I would suggest stopping teatimer and see how that goes.
What P2P application are you using, as notably utorrent causes a lot of activity (scanning) by avast, because of the way utorrent works ?
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Actually, I do have TeaTimer running. What would you recommend to use instead?
http://www.malwarebytes.org/mbam.php
About comodo, I only use the firewall.
And Defense+?
Are you running a scheduled scanning?
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Hi there, I too had the CPU constant 97-100% from AvastSvc.exe after installing the program update this morning. Windows XP Home. In case this is useful I thought I'd chime in as there was something else: I tried running an Avast complete scan several times after rebooting and each time it hung up after a few seconds at "tested files: 10" and "tested folders: 1". Dragonfly_27z, have you tried an Avast virus scan [full version], will it run?
I have been running Malwarebytes Pro [real time] and MS Security Essentials as well for a couple of months, frowned on I know, but there were no noticeable problems prior to todays program update.
Don't know how much further information I could give as I removed Avast: I wanted to run a scan with ESET online scanner and IE kept freezing [I usually use Firefox portable, which was freezing up as well, ESET is only available using IE]. IE ran fine after Avast was removed, Firefox is back to normal as well.
The ESET scan came up clean, as well as a Malwarebytes scan and a SuperAntiSpyware scan. I ran rkill a few times in there as well between reboots and it came up blank.
Before removing Avast, I noticed that it would "calm down" for periods as well [as mentioned by Dragonfly], but the system idle process would then show 100% CPU. It would flip between massive system idle process CPU usage and AvastSvc.exe.
OK, there it is, thanks for any info,
Matt
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What P2P application are you using, as notably utorrent causes a lot of activity (scanning) by avast, because of the way utorrent works ?
I use µtorrent, but the P2P shield doesn't scan it as it's unchecked in the P2P shield settings.
About comodo, I only use the firewall.
And Defense+?
Are you running a scheduled scanning?
Yes, there is something called Defense+ in Comodo Firewall, I don't know what it is exactly, but it's enabled.
And I had no scheduled scan.
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Well I was wondering if you hadn't enabled scanning in P2P that's why I asked. I don't know if the file system shield might be scanning the part download files of utorrent as it creates hundreds of small files then compiles them into the single downloaded file.
I don't use utorrent so I don't know what those files are called (file type) as on creation of these small files I don't know if avast would scan them on default settings. I assume that you are using the file system shield on the default settings ?
Defence+ is a HIPS style mechanism, how much it might interact with avast I can't say as I don't use comodo. Though there are many avast users using the comodo firewall with defence+ and we don't see much in the way of related posts in the forums.
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Defence+ is a HIPS style mechanism, how much it might interact with avast I can't say as I don't use comodo. Though there are many avast users using the comodo firewall with defence+ and we don't see much in the way of related posts in the forums.
Quick check of CCleaner analysis time (W7). Without D+ 0.25s, with D+ 0.32s.
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Well I was wondering if you hadn't enabled scanning in P2P that's why I asked. I don't know if the file system shield might be scanning the part download files of utorrent as it creates hundreds of small files then compiles them into the single downloaded file.
I don't use utorrent so I don't know what those files are called (file type) as on creation of these small files I don't know if avast would scan them on default settings. I assume that you are using the file system shield on the default settings ?
Defence+ is a HIPS style mechanism, how much it might interact with avast I can't say as I don't use comodo. Though there are many avast users using the comodo firewall with defence+ and we don't see much in the way of related posts in the forums.
I do use the file system shield on the default settings.
Also, as far as I know, µtorrent creates 1 file per downloaded file and 1 "partfile" per torrent to store data from incomplete files (the pieces in Bittorrent don't stop at the end of each file, some pieces can have chunks from several files).
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At the very least I would suggest stopping teatimer and see how that goes.
What P2P application are you using, as notably utorrent causes a lot of activity (scanning) by avast, because of the way utorrent works ?
+ 10,000 :) :)
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Well I was wondering if you hadn't enabled scanning in P2P that's why I asked. I don't know if the file system shield might be scanning the part download files of utorrent as it creates hundreds of small files then compiles them into the single downloaded file.
I don't use utorrent so I don't know what those files are called (file type) as on creation of these small files I don't know if avast would scan them on default settings. I assume that you are using the file system shield on the default settings ?
Defence+ is a HIPS style mechanism, how much it might interact with avast I can't say as I don't use comodo. Though there are many avast users using the comodo firewall with defence+ and we don't see much in the way of related posts in the forums.
AIS has found a bunch of Trojans in my utorrent downloads since I have been using AIS. However it seems to ID the Trojans and handle them appropriately only after or during the "Seeding" stage of the download which of course is when the download is complete.
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Well I was wondering if you hadn't enabled scanning in P2P that's why I asked. I don't know if the file system shield might be scanning the part download files of utorrent as it creates hundreds of small files then compiles them into the single downloaded file.
I don't use utorrent so I don't know what those files are called (file type) as on creation of these small files I don't know if avast would scan them on default settings. I assume that you are using the file system shield on the default settings ?
Defence+ is a HIPS style mechanism, how much it might interact with avast I can't say as I don't use comodo. Though there are many avast users using the comodo firewall with defence+ and we don't see much in the way of related posts in the forums.
I do use the file system shield on the default settings.
Also, as far as I know, µtorrent creates 1 file per downloaded file and 1 "partfile" per torrent to store data from incomplete files (the pieces in Bittorrent don't stop at the end of each file, some pieces can have chunks from several files).
Of all the Torrent websites the only one that seems to be relatively free of viruses in my experience is The Pirate Bay. The worst two in my experience are Queen Torrent and BitTorrent in that order. I won't user either site anymore.
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Well I was wondering if you hadn't enabled scanning in P2P that's why I asked. I don't know if the file system shield might be scanning the part download files of utorrent as it creates hundreds of small files then compiles them into the single downloaded file.
I don't use utorrent so I don't know what those files are called (file type) as on creation of these small files I don't know if avast would scan them on default settings. I assume that you are using the file system shield on the default settings ?
Defence+ is a HIPS style mechanism, how much it might interact with avast I can't say as I don't use comodo. Though there are many avast users using the comodo firewall with defence+ and we don't see much in the way of related posts in the forums.
AIS has found a bunch of Trojans in my utorrent downloads since I have been using AIS. However it seems to ID the Trojans and handle them appropriately only after or during the "Seeding" stage of the download which of course is when the download is complete.
Well, I wouldn't be surprised by that, seeing as the download isn't complete before that stage, so the virus isn't complete and therefore isn't identifiable in any way.
Well I was wondering if you hadn't enabled scanning in P2P that's why I asked. I don't know if the file system shield might be scanning the part download files of utorrent as it creates hundreds of small files then compiles them into the single downloaded file.
I don't use utorrent so I don't know what those files are called (file type) as on creation of these small files I don't know if avast would scan them on default settings. I assume that you are using the file system shield on the default settings ?
Defence+ is a HIPS style mechanism, how much it might interact with avast I can't say as I don't use comodo. Though there are many avast users using the comodo firewall with defence+ and we don't see much in the way of related posts in the forums.
I do use the file system shield on the default settings.
Also, as far as I know, µtorrent creates 1 file per downloaded file and 1 "partfile" per torrent to store data from incomplete files (the pieces in Bittorrent don't stop at the end of each file, some pieces can have chunks from several files).
Of all the Torrent websites the only one that seems to be relatively free of viruses in my experience is The Pirate Bay. The worst two in my experience are Queen Torrent and BitTorrent in that order. I won't user either site anymore.
I like to use ThePirateBay because it's one of the largest torrent indexers and so there are many seeders and a lot of rare content too.
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Exact same problem with latest version - 5.1.889. As soon as I installed it and it searched for an update, CPU usage jumped to 50% and stayed there. Tried everything and finally restored previous version - 864. Problem gone. As a double check, reinstalled 889 again - problem returned. Back to 864 for second time - problem gone again. You have a bug here, folks. Something ain't right. Running Win7 on a Dell Vostro 1500. Very experienced user.
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Exact same problem with latest version - 5.1.889. As soon as I installed it and it searched for an update, CPU usage jumped to 50% and stayed there. Tried everything and finally restored previous version - 864. Problem gone. As a double check, reinstalled 889 again - problem returned. Back to 864 for second time - problem gone again. You have a bug here, folks. Something ain't right. Running Win7 on a Dell Vostro 1500. Very experienced user.
Can you try to dump avast service?
Please download: http://download.sysinternals.com/Files/ProcessExplorer.zip
Run it as administrator, find "AvastSvc.exe" process (avast! service) and when it'll use high CPU, right-click it and choose "Create dump > Full dump". Then compress the dump file and upload it to ftp://ftp.avast.com/incoming/ (ftp://ftp.avast.com/incoming/).
You can also use hangrep: http://public.avast.com/~vlk/hangrep.exe
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Try disabling the Behavior Shield, and if that solves it, you can uninstall just the Behavior Shield and be done with it.
Behavior Shield was causing high AvastSvc cpu % on my machine.
All the versions past 677 had this problem for me.
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The idea of a support site is to try and get to the true reason of the problem and resolve it and not sidestep the issue.
The more people prepared to help and create hangreps and dump reports, etc. the more information is gathered to try and find the cause so it can be resolved to the benefit of all avast users who might be experiencing this (not a problem on either of my two systems)..
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Anyway, two users move on to AVG (and other antivirus) due to this...
Sometimes, uninstalling just a shield, temporarily, is better than to lose the user at all :)
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Anyway, two users move on to AVG (and other antivirus) due to this...
....and the two you know of from the forum may be 2000 or 20000 'in the wild'.
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And this speculation helps in what way. If they don't seek help if they are experiencing a problem what can we do. When in many cases we have suggested uninstalling the behaviour shield, they have uninstalled completely.
You can only offer the suggestions what the user does with it is entirely up to them.
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Can you try to dump avast service?
Please download: http://download.sysinternals.com/Files/ProcessExplorer.zip
Run it as administrator, find "AvastSvc.exe" process (avast! service) and when it'll use high CPU, right-click it and choose "Create dump > Full dump". Then compress the dump file and upload it to ftp://ftp.avast.com/incoming/ (ftp://ftp.avast.com/incoming/).
You can also use hangrep: http://public.avast.com/~vlk/hangrep.exe
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I have already installed this app twice and completely restored my system from backup twice. I have Process Explorer installed - that is how I know that 889 is eating 50% of my CPU cycles. And you want me to do it all over again? Sorry, but I'll just keep running 5.1.864 and hope it's fixed in the next release. Sorry, but I have to say, it's simply not worth my time. If there is anything else I can do to help, such as sending you config files or registry entries, let me know.
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The idea of a support site is to try and get to the true reason of the problem and resolve it and not sidestep the issue.
Precisely! I could disable all kings of things to FORCE this thing to work, but the purpose of reporting it is to (hopefully) get this issue back to avast! for software resolution.
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We have already received some dumps, the problem is with TDL3/4 malware detection. This will be fixed and update will be delivered within virus database update (hopefully soon, maybe tomorrow).
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Thanks for the information pk.
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Thanks for the quick jump & solve the problem.
Indeed it was very frequent in last days.
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The idea of a support site is to try and get to the true reason of the problem and resolve it and not sidestep the issue.
The more people prepared to help and create hangreps and dump reports, etc. the more information is gathered to try and find the cause so it can be resolved to the benefit of all avast users who might be experiencing this (not a problem on either of my two systems)..
I apologize. I will be reactivating the Behavior Shield from time to time to see if the signature changes have fixed it, I have ProcExp and ProcMon installed. If I run into this problem again, I can certainly give you more than "It's the behavior module," if you can give me instructions and patience.
As of this posting, I am still running without behavior shield, because that is the extent of my expertise.
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As of this morning, Feb 1, the problem persists. Will you please post a note here when it has been fixed? Thanks ! ! !
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Would someone at least tell us whether or not the folks at avast! are even aware of this problem yet, and whether or not they intend to fix it? Thanks.
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Would someone at least tell us whether or not the folks at avast! are even aware of this problem yet, and whether or not they intend to fix it? Thanks.
I read somewhere on the forum a post by pk that change's (fixes) has stoped on the 5.1 version, all effort's are being directed to the BETA 6 i believe, so your best bet would be a clean install of the new 6 version to see if that fixes your issue.
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Yes, next program update for 5.1 will be 6.0
You can test beta version, I think this bug should be already fixed there.
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VERY much appreciated. Thank you ! !
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That's weird, cause I have Avast! Internet Security with all real-time shields (sandbox will be activated on reboot, Firewall won't turn on for some reason.
Maybe it's the firewall/sandbox that's causing high CPU usage?
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As up to now problem with high CPU utilisation isn't resolved. I have it now with version 6.0.1203 version and latest definitions (on W7Ultimate 64-bit).
Currently I have uninstalled Behaviour shield and need to reboot a PC. If this will not help, I'll remove avast, as I have not time to play with this...
So there still is same bug, and it have to be resolved...
Regards,
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Same here with win xp. I've tried EVERYTHING, clean install/uninstall, etc. This only happens with avast. Start a scan and instantly, cpu goes to 100% and the mouse is intermittent. After running the scan for a while, cpu goes to normal and the mouse works and everything is ok. The icon does not revolve during the 100% usage.
If this is a bug, I wish avast would admit it or offer a solution.