Abnormal disk access

[midget]

Hi,

I've noticed an abnormal disk access on my PC, with FileMon by Sysinternals I've discovered that ashServ.exe and ashDisp.exe do frequently reads of Avast4.ini and Avast4.mdb.

ashServ.exe does the read sequence (OPEN, LOCK, QUERY INFORMATION, READ, UNLOCK, CLOSE) on Avast4.ini   90 times per minute; moreover the command READ is performed on Avast4.mdb  240 times per minute.
ashDisp.exe does the same sequence (O, L, QI, R, U, C) on Avast4.ini   20 times per minute.

Could the developers modify this behaviour ?

Thanks in advance!  

[igor]

I don't think so.

The avast4.ini file is checked for possible changes (editing by the user that takes effect immediatelly). It probably could be modified somehow, but there's no real reason to do that - the file access should be handled by your disk cache, so the file is not accessed "physically".

The avast4.mdb file is accessed by the Microsoft Jet drivers (that avast! uses) - so we can't do anything about it at all. However, if you use avast! 4 Home, you can edit avast4.ini and change Database=ODBC to Database=XML - that should stop using the Jet drivers.

[midget]

What about making checks on Avast4.ini less frequently ? Maybe one every 10 seconds could be enough ? It would mean to pass from 90 to 6 access per minute...

For the disk cache argument, I would think same if I don't hear the disk make noise one time per second... maybe the disk cache doesn't work as expected every time ?

Thanks again!  

[watchthisspace]

Is the odbc Database thing better than XML?

[norxh]

Hi Igor, wouldn't this be an approriate place to use ReadDirectoryChangesW on NT/2k/XP? In .NET apps I use System.IO.FileSystemWatcher. From what I understand FileSystemWatcher uses ReadDirectoryChangesW. This will remove the need to constantly open, read, close.  For Win95/98/ Me there is FindFirstChangeNotification