avast causing memory leak?

[Dave50]

Hi everyone!  Here's the latest from my test with K-Lite and avast.....

After reformatting my hard drive and reinstalling XP and temporarily NOT installing SP1 or any other Windows Updates (no Media Player 9 -- just the XP player), I downloaded the newest K-Lite version 2.4.3.

Memory use is lower than the other recent versions --
12,576K as opposed to amounts higher than 18,000K.
Avast memory use (with 3 of 5 providers running) holds between 20,000k and 22,000k (according to task manager).

The lower memory use of K-Lite 2.4.3 seems to do the trick.  Next up, whether putting Windows Updates back in changes things.

Dave

[greatwhitenorth221]

OK I have figured out the performance monitor thing.  I can generate a whole big pile of counter data and save it in various formats.  Is is anyone willing to look at it?  If so, what format is preferable, Theres binary , text etc.

[greatwhitenorth221]

also, I want to make sure I have identified all the relevant processes.  I have in the log file:

ashdisp.exe
ashserve.exe
ashMaiSv.exe
aswvpdSv.exe
kazaalite.kpp

Any other processes I should add? Do I just want counter data?

Thanks for your patience,

K

[YaN]

Hi!

I pointed out a similar problem some time ago:
http://www.avast.com/forum/index.php?board=2;action=display;threadid=1100
I removed avast that time. On Friday I decided to try again hoping that the newer avast! is better. Well, system freezes with "no available resources" after a few hours and I have to reboot. avast! was setup to run only Standard Shield with checking on create/modify only. P2P software used - eMule 0.30. Other software - Webshots screensaver (free version). I mention it now since webshots crashed also when trying to change a background image (no resourses).
I checked the memory usage in Task Manager - but could not identify the exact process. Maybe the driver is not freeing file handles or something like this?

[Hornus Continuum]

greatwhitenorth221,

I'll have a go at it.  I'm cursious about what will be in it and planned to have a look had you posted it anyway, but I don't guarantee results.  (Your mileage may vary.   )    Make it a text log so you can attach it to your post.  Include ashSimpl.exe also if you are using the simple interface.  Run both a trace log and a counter log.

Regards,
Hornus

[Vlk]

Virtually any status value/counter can be monitored using the Performance Monitor (perfmon.exe).

The Task manager also provides quite a number of useful info. See e.g. the Performance tab. You got handle count, thread/process count, physical memory usage, and kernel memory usage (=the memory used up by the device drivers) all on this page.

Vlk

[Hornus Continuum]

That's one hell of a box you're running there Vlk, 8 processors   ?

Hornum

[Vlk]

Hehe, yeah it's a screenshot from an 8-way test server...
(and no, the memory isn't taken up by the avast processes )

[Dave50]

Hello Vlk and everyone else!  Since Saturday when I reformatted and reinstalled XP temporarily without SP1 and Windows Updates, avast! and the latest KazaaLite version (2.4.3) are running perfectly.  Absolutely no memory leak, no lockups and no freezes.

I've noticed on this forum and on the K-Lite forum that everyone having the crash problem is running XP -- either home or pro, along with Windows Media Player 9.

I honestly don't think the problem is with avast! or
K-Lite.  I think there's some type of conflict issue with
WMP 9 or the Windows Updates.

I'm going to spend the next day or so gradually putting Windows Updates back in to see if I can narrow this down.

Dave

[Vlk]

Dave, thanks a lot! We really appreciate your effort -- we would very much like to fix this problem asap we aren't able to simulate it. It just works here.

I'm really curious what's the real cause of the problems.
Vlk

[Dave50]

Hello Vlk and avast team...

I apologize for the length of this post.  But, I want to give you everything I can regarding the KazaaLite crash issue.

I am now more confident than ever that it's a problem with Windows Updates and/or Media Player 9 and not avast.

My computer -- HP Pavilion 760n, 1.8 ghz Pentium 4, 512mb ram, 120 gb hard drive, Windows XP.

With SP-1, all critical updates and Media Player 9 --
using avast 4.1.268 (home) -- K-Lite version 2.4.3 (the newest) eventually leads to an error that Windows Explorer has a problem and must close.  Versions 2.4.2 and 2.4.1 crash.  Version 2.1.0 build 3 gets the Windows Explorer error.  Errors happen within minutes or a couple of hours -- there's no set pattern.
Results are the same with Norton NAV 2003.  
using AVG-6 (Free) -- all versions of K-Lite get the Windows Explorer error.

With SP-1, critical updates and XP's Media Plauer --
results above are repeated but it takes a little longer to get the errors.  I suspect there's less of a memory drain without Media Player 9, but there's still a drain.

Removing SP-1 and all critical updates --
all versions of K-Lite work with avast, nav2003 and avg,
no errors, no freezes, no lockups.
As stated before, some computers just will not work correctly with Media Player 9 and Windows Updates.  On the Dell forums, there are complaints that a new XP update that came out last week is causing help files to disappear.  Other people still have problems with the revised update 811493 -- the original release 6 months ago caused thousands of computers to crash.  Indeed, when I download Windows Updates, it keeps trying to send me a Lucent phone modem driver as a critical update (I'm on cable broadband and don't even use a dial-up connection).

I would suggest that greatwhitenorth221 and anyone else having the crash problem simply try using avast and K-Lite without Windows Updates.  No guarantee it'll work for them but on my computer, it seems to be the way to go until perhaps XP's SP-2 comes out.  Perhaps there'll be fewer conflicts then.

To repeat -- on my computer -- it's not avast!

Dave

[Vlk]

Hi Dave, thanks for your post.

Your observations make me ask one more question: If the patched and/or updated WinXP do not work properly with the AV progs (at least with those you've tested), do they work without any AV? In other words, is the AV program the trigger, or is it completely unrelated?

Thanks
Vlk

[Dave50]

Vlk -- my computer gets very sluggish with the Windows Updates WITHOUT antivirus programs.  I tried a test with a clean install of XP, putting in SP-1 and all critical updates.  Computer slowed WAY down.  I then tried to install AVG-6 (Free) which is very light on resources.  Every time I tried this, AVG would not install properly.  It installed properly if I put it in right after finishing the clean XP install.  Of course, following that with the updates then created problems again.

Also, while my case may or may not be unique, I do know of some cases where a few Windows Updates have created problems only if Norton 2003 is installed.

So, to answer your question -- on my computer, Windows Updates don't work properly at all and on some others, the trigger is the antivirus program.

Dave

[Dave50]

Vlk -- one additional thought ....

The last time I installed SP-1 and all critical updates (before this latest round of testing), my computer ran into serious problems -- wouldn't boot.  I was on the phone with HP for over two hours and we discovered that the updates corrupted a system32 file.  We managed to eventually get the computer to perform a CHKDSK which repaired the file.  At that time, HP told me and I quote -- do not install SP-1 or any Windows Updates.  Perhaps HP is aware of a conflict with my particular model -- I don't know.  I can tell you that right now, without the updates, avast, k-lite and everything else on my computer is working perfectly.

Dave

[Lisandro]

Results are the same with Norton NAV 2003.  
using AVG-6 (Free) -- all versions of K-Lite get the Windows Explorer error.

Removing SP-1 and all critical updates --
all versions of K-Lite work with avast, nav2003 and avg,
no errors, no freezes, no lockups.

To repeat -- on my computer -- it's not avast!

Dave

Thanks, Dave.
I suppose you are not using two av at the same time in the same computer...
Am I right?