I have been using Avast since v.5, at least, and v.7 was fine. Problems started as I "upgraded" top v.8. As AntiVirus, I don't have a negative reaction, but since v.8, my computer slowed down, and more important scanning is a drag. My computer is old, and there is no way around that, if I want to keep it (I am 81, and money does not grow on trees!), but things have changed to the point that I removed Avast three times since it came out, but nothing else satisfied me.
I like to do a Custom scan, which other Antivirus programs do not offer to be scheduled. But the time that it takes to do a Custom scan is incredible. With Avast 7, I was going at a rate of nearly 10 MB/sec. Since Avast 8, it rarely, went over 3.0 MB/sec. And, the last scan did nothing for 41 min. I have about 55 GB on my drive, using WinXP-SP3, and my custom scan goes over 25 GBs. In the last hour, the scan has not budged from 94% ( % of what?), and has gone for nearly 3 hours.
Other than scanning speed, Avast or my Computer, for that matter have been ok.
Is Avast 7 still available? And working at the same rate as before? I succeeded in installing Avast 7, oce before, but Avast did not stop bugging me!