disabling automatic updates

[yyy]

After updating program, this process somehow re-enables manually disabled virus definition updates. How to prevent this?

Automatic updates were disabled, because they caused unacceptable CPU load interfering with more important programs. I am still updating manually, time by time. Predictable CPU load is well worth increased risk of viruses, in my case.

[mchain]

hi yyy,

I take it you do not want to have automatic updates enabled?  Or did you upgrade (update) to a higher (newer) version number and this happened?

To better assist, please give the version number of the (new/old) program so we'll know what you are dealing with.  When do you see this spike in CPU usage?  At boot or later?  Or all the time?

[yyy]

Yeah, both.
I do not want automatic updates enabled and they gets enabled, when updating to newer program version.

At first I noticed this issue at beginning this year, do not know exact version numbers, program has never been outdated for more than 5-6 months.
Spike in CPU usage happens when automatic update is in progress (spike probably is not accurate, it is 100% CPU use for 30sec to few minutes)(computer is not very powerful, P4 3GHz and has a VERY slow main HDD (~3MB/s))

[mchain]

Well, have an XP system too.  Look to my sig below and you will see what I have.

Updating (upgrading) an existing avast! program does not always go as well as one hopes.  Glitches come in where there were none before.

Best option I've found for an older system is to always do a clean install, especially when going up one version number.  Example:  avast! 5.0 to 6.0 or 6.0 to 7.0 or 7.0 to 8.0.  It really is not an issue to re-register the newest version after a clean install and things tend to run a lot better when done this way on an older system.  In-place upgrades within the same version number are usually not an issue.  Example:  8.0.1489 to 8.0.1496 usually work out well, and so do not usually require a clean install be done.

If I let the XP system slide for a couple of days or more where the avast! definition updates are more than two days behind by not going on the internet to get the latest vps updates, I see exactly what you see.  I feel this is normal behavior for an XP system that is still running the (in this case) the original creation volume from March 2008, so it has not had a fresh install in all that time.  And it still runs well, even with the extra clutter one gets from running a system for so long a period without refreshing or starting over. 

Then there is the issue of old hardware.  The P4 processor is an example of that.  When it was designed, it was pretty much state-of-the-art, but today's software is much more of a challenge for it to run quickly and cleanly.  It is much slower than the Win 7 system at the same tasks; about double the time to complete on average.

One way to avoid some issues with clean (fresh) installs with avast! is to always choose "Custom Install" and untick what you do not want at the beginning of the install process.

As for your HDD rating at ~3 MB/sec, that is definitely on the slow side.  EIDE HDD's can approach 40-50 MB/sec in burst speed, so you may have the old well-known XP bug:  the PIO bug.  Depending on how old your HDD is, age can also be a factor in performance. 

Here is a link to a site that may help you with the DMA/PIO bug in XP.  It just involves resetting a HDD setting back to where it should be, and once done, the system should run at normal speed once again:  http://winhlp.com/node/10

In other words, if you find the HDD setting set to PIO, it must be set to DMA 2 or higher to get best performance.  PIO is a fallback setting when XP has issues with the HDD failing certain consecutive tests; it is a safeguard setting allowing one to continue using the system as is vs. not being able to use it all.

Please report back as to what exact version you have now.  You can do that by right-click the avast! tray icon in the lower right corner and selecting "About Avast!"  Is it the free version?

[yyy]

Initial version installed here were 6 or 7, current version is 8.0.1497 (internet security trial, last update was done through vnc and it does not displays free/trial selection window, so I apparently blindly clicked at bigger button), all program updates proceeded without problems.
Issue with definitions updates have been the same with free version. I am not 100% certain, whether this problem occurred in 7 version, but it certainly occurs in all minor versions of 8. Maybe this is by design?

About HDD, yeah, i am aware of PIO, this HDD is not in good shape and has many reallocated blocks. Before previous restart it was possible to get it to DMA mode, but it dropped back to PIO (and probably will do so over and over again). In DMA mode it got ~40MB/s. (This HDD has been in use almost 24/7 since march 2005)

[mchain]

Initial version installed here were 6 or 7, current version is 8.0.1497 (internet security trial, last update was done through vnc and it does not displays free/trial selection window, so I apparently blindly clicked at bigger button), all program updates proceeded without problems.
Issue with definitions updates have been the same with free version. I am not 100% certain, whether this problem occurred in 7 version, but it certainly occurs in all minor versions of 8. Maybe this is by design?

About HDD, yeah, i am aware of PIO, this HDD is not in good shape and has many reallocated blocks. Before previous restart it was possible to get it to DMA mode, but it dropped back to PIO (and probably will do so over and over again). In DMA mode it got ~40MB/s. (This HDD has been in use almost 24/7 since march 2005)

Recommendations:

• You've a hardware issue with your HDD.  Leaving things as they are is inviting certain disaster.  Your HDD is telling you it is going to die.  No functional HDD, no computer.  Back up at least two copies of important personal files (not on the dying HDD) before it does go.  You should get another (EIDE?) drive of the same size or larger and clone it to the new one before this happens.  A free disk imaging/cloning software is here:  http://www.todo-backup.com/products/home/free-backup-software-features.htm Have used this in the past and it worked well.  You can also make an image to a second HDD and remove the bad HDD and restore that image from the second HDD to the new one.  Either way, your problem will be solved.
• Issues with current a/v install can be attributed (caused by) to left over drivers from earlier versions of avast! being left behind or other a/v programs once installed and then removed:  http://www.avast.com/faq.php?article=AVKB11#artTitle  Suggest running this tool:  http://www.avast.com/uninstall-utility  Follow directions and begin by removing the oldest remnants to the newest.  Reboot after each run of the tool.  Since you've got at least two older versions, start with version 6 and move forward.  Reboot after each one is done.

Once you've taken care of the pending hardware issue, then proceed to step two.  XP system here has been cloned with a remanufactured 40GB EIDE HDD, and has been in service for six months with no issues.  Original HDD is still serviceable and can be put back in if need be.  If you're planning to toss the old hard drive, you can either wipe old data off of it, or physically destroy the drive so it cannot be used again.  A hammer struck with great force on the removed HDD several times will work nicely for this.

Likely your issues you see are directly attributable to the failing HDD, as all data must come off the drive, and then run in system memory, for avast! to work as it should.  Not a fault of version 8, I'd say, under this working scenario, as data needed is being uploaded to memory @ ~3 MB/sec, instead of 40+ MB/sec.  Must be as slow as watching the grass grow at times.

Since Microsoft will end all support for XP SP3 on April 8, 2014, is it time to consider a newer computer? 

Refurbished off-lease systems can be bought here for as little as $120.00 USD (Off-lease means business units, which tend to be of better build quality than consumer):  http://www.microcenter.com/site/stores/default.aspx  Newegg is also an option.

[yyy]

The issue is program update setting definitions updates to auto.

I am aware of HDD problem, it will be fixed either when current HDD will die, or when PIO slowness will become annoying enough. I have good backups, so data loss because of sudden HDD failure is not considered to be a problem.

Program update reseting definitions updates to auto, has happened also on fresh installations (first program update). (tested on winxp and windows 7 on 3 different computers) On those (mostly faster) systems, definitions autoupdate is not that crippling to performance, but is still annoying, so this in not likely to be problem with remains of old version in this computer.

Generally avast antivirus works fine and program updates are not that often, but when there is a program update, it also involves need to go through settings to undo damage it did. I was just looking for means of avoiding this extra chore.

[mchain]

OK.   

Since this forum is an "exchange of information" forum, one is free to disregard information not pertinent to their issue(s).  Here we have information that will at least address the speed issue you have with your system, and make it more reliable at the same time.  It will put it back to where it shoud be if this were to be done.

You've been fortunate to have had a system run as this one has for 8 years, most don't, not without repair or replacement of hardware parts.

The issue is program update setting definitions updates to auto.

I am aware of HDD problem, it will be fixed either when current HDD will die, or when PIO slowness will become annoying enough. I have good backups, so data loss because of sudden HDD failure is not considered to be a problem.

Program update reseting definitions updates to auto, has happened also on fresh installations (first program update). (tested on winxp and windows 7 on 3 different computers) On those (mostly faster) systems, definitions autoupdate is not that crippling to performance, but is still annoying, so this in not likely to be problem with remains of old version in this computer.

Generally avast antivirus works fine and program updates are not that often, but when there is a program update, it also involves need to go through settings to undo damage it did. I was just looking for means of avoiding this extra chore.

Recommendation: 

• Don't do in-place upgrades within the same version number.  Only do version upgrades when they come in, and then do a clean install using the aswclear.exe tool given above.  You'll thus avoid having to always reset the automatic update feature in [the] XP [system] until you upgrade versions.
• Automatic Update is a feature of avast!.  It does not cause damage to the operating system, nor to the system, is not essential to the operation of avast!, and thus can be turned off.  Default setting is to have this feature turned on and active.  Which is why this feature gets turned on when you update or upgrade.  Don't do that.

Fix what's really wrong with the system, and that feature will be nil/minimised in impact, plus you will have better real-time protection against the latest known malware than with manual updating; and thus get the protection you need and deserve.

You can always forget XP, install a replacement HDD and run Ubuntu, since the machine is so old, and still do what you need without an antivirus program.  Ubuntu is a free linux operating system.

It's not avast! that is the root of the problem.  It is only a symptom of the real issue present.

[EDIT:]  Fixed ambiguous statement.