multiple copies of ashmaisv.exe

[nephron]

I'm having extreme slowness issues with my computer, and one thing I noticed was every time I ended a process, it got replaced by (at least  one) copy of ashmaisv.exe.  I didn't  notice this the first time until there were about 10 or 15 copies running around.

This really isn't helping system performance. I didn't even have any mail programs open, so I can't see why this'd be useful.

Running Win2000 on a P4.

Any knowledge of why this is happening and/or what I can do to fix it?  Thanks!

[igor]

What exactly does it mean "ended a process"?
Can you post a list of all your running processes that you find suspicious?

[Lisandro]

Nephron, do you use any spam killer? Which is your email program?

[nephron]

None of the running processes seem particularly suspicious but I can no longer tell as task manager has died :-/

I use Eudora Light for one of my email addresses and webmail interfaces for the others.  Don't use any spam killer although I get fairly minimal spam.

I'm pretty much resigned to format/reinstall right now, but I am curious about what might have gone wrong, and what caused the massive spawning of ashmaisv.exe

Thanks! Sorry it took me a while to reply, had to access other computer

[Lisandro]

I can only imagine that a problem with your email client (Eudora) could be 'starting' many instances of the avast scanner (ashMaiSv.exe) but it's too weird. It's an avast service and should be run only at one instance. 

[igor]

The e-mail client doesn't start ashMaiSv on demand - it's started automatically and the connections from the e-mail client are just redirected there. So, it would be really strange...

[Lisandro]

The e-mail client doesn't start ashMaiSv on demand - it's started automatically and the connections from the e-mail client are just redirected there. So, it would be really strange...

I know... so I said it's weird... Anyway, if I'm not wrong, I noticed that some Windows services start many instances (if started with different parameters).