Question about computer running slow- Jarone Ashkenazi

[REDACTED]

Hi Avast Community! My name is Jarone Ashkenazi. I just recently downloaded the Avast free version to help with my computer. A friend of mine told me about Avast and I decided to remove Norton since it Avast was highly recommended. So far it is great, but I'm having issues with my computer speed.

Even when I'm not running scans, things to appear to be a little slow. My question is- do I need to enable Avast 24/7 or can I only turn it on when I want to perform scans? Thanks in advance for your help!

Thanks,
Jarone Ashkenazi

[Staticguy]

Welcome to Avast Forum  . You should have used the Norton Removal tool in safe mode. Uninstall Avast via add/remove and after uninstallation it will ask to restart and follow the instructions. After restart download this tool https://www.avast.com/en-nz/uninstall-utility run it and this tool will ask if you want this tool to run your computer in safe mode automatically. Click yes on both and follow the instructions.

After that download Norton removal tool via here https://support.norton.com/sp/en/nz/home/current/solutions/kb20080710133834EN_EndUserProfile_en_us. First off, turn on your computer in safe mode and run this tool and follow the instructions.

Once that is done. Install Avast Free (use custom install) so you can choose what features you want to install. Also note that uncheck any additional/optional program that it will offer i.e. google chrome, google drive, and etc. Once installation is done it will do a quick start up scan. Once finished, restart your computer manually. After restart register your copy of avast. Registration is free and you will only have to register once every year.

We the users (avast users) are all here to help new users so does Avast team 

[REDACTED]

Hey Staticguy,

Thanks so much for your quick reply. I'll give those steps a try.

Thank you again!
Jarone Ashkenazi

[Staticguy]

Your welcome! Report back if any issue(s) appear.

[mchain]

An useful site to bookmark for future use:  https://singularlabs.com/uninstallers/security-software/

Ask if any other a/v software has ever been installed then removed, and then find the appropriate vendor removal tool to completely remove any remnants left behind. 

[EDIT:]  Sorry, overlooked your question about running avast! 24/7 or as only on-demand scanner:  http://www.bleepingcomputer.com/forums/t/186533/is-it-bad-to-run-multiple-antivirus-programs/

avast! is designed to run as a real-time scanner and not as a on-demand scanner.  Which means avast! drivers are running all the time whether you turn off the file/web/mail scanners or leave them active.  For a second-opinion scanner use ESET:  http://www.eset.com/us/online-scanner/

As with all a/v solutions, carefully check (google) any detections and quarantine instead of deleting.  Deletion of a detected file is irreversible.  You will not be able to get it back.

On demand scanners:  http://www.thewindowsclub.com/standalone-on-demand-antivirus-scanners

A further explanation is required as well:  Simply removing/uninstalling an antivirus program does not mean all active running drivers for that program will be removed when you uninstall it.  Which is why the link to SingularLabs is provided. 

avast will see the left-over drivers from the old a/v program and vice-versa, and the end result is a system slow-down due to the left over drivers from the old a/v.  You'll want to provide a clean environment for avast! to operate in, and to do that you will need to use of one or more of the a/v removal tools given above.