Author Topic: Problems with Avast sucking up resources  (Read 7802 times)

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shawng

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Problems with Avast sucking up resources
« on: November 01, 2005, 02:21:15 PM »
I've had a randomly occuring problem with avast and it going on a memory binge until it eats up all the servers resources. I'm presently testing it on a Windows 2k3 box serving as a terminal server. The system instance of aswWebSv.exe basically gourges itself on ram until the the system has none left to give then crashes with the following error

Reporting queued error: faulting application aswWebSv.exe, version 4.6.665.0, faulting module aswWsFtr.dll, version 4.6.695.0, fault address 0x00001ef8.

I've seen this happen once before earlier on in the testing but attributed it to overuse on the server (there were 50 users connected). System this morning had 3.5 gigs of ram free with 90% of the CPU unused (the server is a dual 3.4 ghz xeon with 4 gigs of ram) before the crash happened.

either rebooting or end tasking the service gave the resources back to the computer, but this kind of concerns me. We're coming up on the end of our demo soon and would like to have all the bugs known about before we make up our mind to purchase.




Offline Vlk

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Re: Problems with Avast sucking up resources
« Reply #1 on: November 01, 2005, 07:31:48 PM »
So the ashWebSv.exe process took up a lot of RAM? Like how much, exactly?


BTW chances are that there was a dump file generated during the crash. It should be in the <avast>\data\log folder and should have the .dmp (or .mdmp) extension.

If there's such a file (with a matching timestamp), please send it to my email address for analysis.


Thanks
Vlk
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shawng

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Re: Problems with Avast sucking up resources
« Reply #2 on: November 02, 2005, 07:40:53 PM »
The system was rebooted before I got a chance to look at exactly how much was using it (I was enroute when another admin decided to reboot server). I've got the dump file and it's been sent to your email address. Any imput you can offer would greatly be appreciated.

thanks, have a good day.

Shawn

Offline Vlk

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Re: Problems with Avast sucking up resources
« Reply #3 on: November 02, 2005, 07:57:38 PM »
Got the file. Will have a look at it. Thanks.
If at first you don't succeed, then skydiving's not for you.

Offline Vlk

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Re: Problems with Avast sucking up resources
« Reply #4 on: November 02, 2005, 11:36:41 PM »
OK, this seems like a real bug (although quite subtle).
It'll be fixed in the next program update.

Anyway, this bug couldn't have caused any excessive memory usage. It could only cause the crash of the aswWebSv.exe process...


Thanks
Vlk
If at first you don't succeed, then skydiving's not for you.

shawng

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Re: Problems with Avast sucking up resources
« Reply #5 on: November 04, 2005, 03:45:25 PM »
ok, I'll look into it further on my end. With the service crashing, is it possible this crash could hang the system? Several users reported "Insufficient resources" error around the same time, but this might be due to something else.

Thanks for the help,

Shawn

DocOfficeIT

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Re: Problems with Avast sucking up resources
« Reply #6 on: December 15, 2005, 12:23:57 AM »
Ever come up with a fix to the bug?

I have been having similar problems with my 2003 server.  Windows take forever to login to domain.  System resources / shares are no longer available over time.  You cannot login with remote desktop or even at the server.  It says Applying Settings forever.  You have to crash the server hard!  To ensure it was Avast, I installed twice and had the same problems.  Initially it seems OK but within a week the problems arise.  After the uninstall the server runs as good as it can. 

We have another 2003 server running our EMR program that is experiencing unexplained slow downs.  Removing the AV product from it tonight or tomorrow.  Will advise on that when complete.

The Avast home version is great but I think they have some work to do on their corporate products.  I really want to buy their software for 6 servers and 125 desktops but could not recommend them at this time.

Offline Vlk

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Re: Problems with Avast sucking up resources
« Reply #7 on: December 15, 2005, 08:44:37 AM »
Did you change the sensitivity of the on-access scanner (e.g. from Normal to High)?
Also, were there any logs in the Event Viewer that may be related to this?
If at first you don't succeed, then skydiving's not for you.

DocOfficeIT

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Re: Problems with Avast sucking up resources
« Reply #8 on: January 03, 2006, 04:20:35 PM »
Did you change the sensitivity of the on-access scanner (e.g. from Normal to High)? 

--- Avast was installed with normal / default settings.

Also, were there any logs in the Event Viewer that may be related to this?

--- No logs or indication of a problem existed.  I was not able to look at memory usage as the system was hung on multiple occassions.  Microsoft spent hours and hours going over log files and dumps but nothing ever was determined as the specific problem - not even Avast.  The only common denominator was that after Avast was on the server for a week or so the server stopped sharing resources and eventually hung and had to be rebooted.  I removed Avast and the problem went away for the several months it ran without it.  I reinstalled to see if it was Avast and within a week it did the same thing.  Removed Avast again and for 3+ weeks now the server has run like a clock.

I like the software but can't count on it at this time to run on my servers unless something changes.