Startup scan slows down computer

[Berny2u]

Hi,

I have quit an old computer and selected Avast because it was a lightweight antivirus solution. Now through the updates my computer is very slow at startup, it takes 15 minutes before it is usable again due to the high amount of disk access. The program is probably doing a startup scan and reads about 350MB of data in. This is putting a load on my harddisk and slowing down my computer. Is there a way to "spread out" the scan so the harddisk load is not that important ? My version is now 8.1483

Best regards,
Bernard

[JuninhoSlo]

Update to version 8.0.1489.

http://forum.avast.com/index.php?topic=123563.0

[Berny2u]

I did update to the version mentioned but this does not cure the problem. No one else is bothered by this ??
It's the process avast.setup that is like hostaging my harddisk. This was not a problem some versions ago, something must have been modified there.

[Asyn]

1. avast! GUI -> Settings -> Troubleshooting -> Enable: "Load avast! services only after other system services"
2. Click OK.
3. Reboot.

[igor]

avast.setup is checking the packages on the disk and attempting to update (program or virus definitions).
So I'm afraid the thing that might help would be switching the updates to manual (which is generally not a good idea). What Asyn suggests may move the operations a little later, but I'm not sure if it's gonna be of much help.

[Lisandro]

To delay the update of avast into a permanent internet connection (DSL), just change (or add) AlwaysConnectedWaitSeconds value into the [InetWD] section of avast5.ini file.
You could set the number of seconds to wait before attempting to update. The default is 30 but it may not be enough in some DSL systems. In this case, you can try increasing this e.g. to 120 (2 minutes). That should be enough.

[DavidR]

I did update to the version mentioned but this does not cure the problem. No one else is bothered by this ??
It's the process avast.setup that is like hostaging my harddisk. This was not a problem some versions ago, something must have been modified there.

What are your system specs, Operating System, CPU and RAM ?

You could delay the auto update check, in preference to setting it to manual. If the suggestion by Asyn doesn't help (I not sure it will help much either) then we can try delaying the first auto update check until later when the system has quietened down.

You could also check what other programs that you have start on boot, many programs set themselves to start on boot when they aren't essential.

[Berny2u]

Hi,

Like I told already this is an old computer, the specs are 400MHz XP SP2 270MB Ram. Because of some old software I like to keep it going. I took some of the options off in the settings/troubleshooting. Enable rootkit scan and enable raw disk access. Now harddisk access is acceptable again.
I never run with shields down, so disabeling the rootkit scan should no harm I guess...

[davexnet]

That's pretty low spec - i doubt even Microsoft Security Essentials would run on that box.
Windows Defender maybe.

[CraigB]

Yes those are definitely bare minimum spec's, no wonder the system is slow.

The only way I think for your system to function more responsively with avast installed would be to add more ram if possible and shut down anything unnecessary in startup/services. 

[bob3160]

When you're equipment is a turtle, it's hard to expect it to perform like a jackrabbit.
You definitely could use some more ram.