New? AVAST GUI... more memory than before!?

[ChicagoJammer]

  I'm running XP SP3 on an old compaq with 2GB of ram; AVAST gui is using toooo much,
IMNSHO...  PROCEXP (process explorer) sez (sorry, can't paste a screenshot..?) it's
using 84,780K.  or, almost 90MB.

  a little HIGH just for an icon, don'tcha think?  How much extra code does it
drag in??  And, is there a LITE version and how do I get it?

  thanks! 90MB might not be much to folks with 4, 8+ gigs of ram but it's a lot to
my ancient machine!

[Eddy]

What makes you think it is the GUI that is using much memory ?

90Mb is nothing nowadays.
It is not even on a old(er) system unless you have a 486 system.


Note:
1] The attached file is empty.
2] You can attach a image to your post or place a image in your message.

[DavidR]

I'm just looking at memory usage in windows10 and avast isn't that much, but firefox is currently showing 1.19GB it is an absolute hog. But I have 8GB of RAM on this system.

On my winXP Pro SP3 (in my signature information) I have 4GB of RAM and again avast's processes are relatively small compared to many other processes. Memory also fluctuates depending on what other processes are using it and how much you have. The other thing in XP what Memory are you looking at as there are different memory calculations ?

[ChicagoJammer]

  Hi, Eddy, thanks for repling.  DavidR, just caught your post. If I had 4 GIG this wouldn't be an issue...

 As I said, PROCEXP (process monitoring tool) reports AVASTUI.EXE consuming 84,720KB
as private bytes.    If I could paste a screenshot you'd
see the numbers;  be nice if RTF's were kosher, paste works for those but not TXT
and apparently OLE/cutnpaste won't let me paste a screenshot here even using CTRL-V.
(anyone got a fix for that?). this seems to be the exception to the rule??

  BUT.. procexp let's you save a file!, so here ya go: AVASTUI.EXE.TXT.

  Note the diff between AVASTUI usages and the other icons
  - AvastUI.exe             84,720 K      Avast Antivirus   
  - RTHDCPL.EXE  (sound)    14,064 K   
  - rundll32.exe     (monitor)   2,716 K      Run a DLL as an App   NVIEW TRAY
  -  hpqste08.exe  (printer)   11,924 K      HP CUE Status
 
  AVASTUI's even using more than EXPLORER.

   why is this?

   and... 84,720KB IS a lot on my machine. it maxes at two gig.

   when FIREFOX hits > 1,200,000KB I have to restart it.

   So, your comment re 90MB is "nothing these days" is, at the least, inappropriate as well as innaccurate, IMHO.

[Eddy]

As I said, you can attach a screenshot (image) to your post.
Just click on "attachments and other options" and choose the file.
Another option is putting the image online and use the "insert image" option. (right beneath the "B" for bold icon)

On a note:
84.720 Kb = 82.73 Mb, not near 90 Mb 

[DavidR]

As such in winXP task manager there isn't a Private memory(bytes as you say), I believe they are possibly using the VM Size field value. I have found at times is even higher than The Peak Memory Usage, that I find strange.

Also your figure of 84,720 K is only 84MB of 2GB and shouldn't be an issue. When you consider firefox is using 1.2GB (of 2GB), then 84MB is a drop in the ocean.

Ram is there to be used, there is no point in having it and it not being used and windows controls its use, swapping it out to the pagefile if required.

I would advise upgrading your RAM to 4GB (max for XP), it is a relatively cheap upgrade that should see an overall improvement in system performance as there wouldn't be so much swapping out memory to the pagefile (a notorious bottleneck).

[Eddy]

It depends on the XP version that is used.
XP pro, 32 bit can handle 4 Gb, but XP pro 64 bit supports up to 128 Gb.
It also depends ofcourse on the hardware (chipset mainly).

80 Mb is only (around) 4% of 2 Gb.

On old(er) systems often speed can be increased by disabling not needed services, not letting applications start at boot time (and heaving them run in the background and such.
Also over time the systems get "polluted" with all kinds of things and a clean installation of the OS (and other things) almost always will bring a noticeable increase in speed.

[DavidR]

It depends on the XP version that is used.
XP pro, 32 bit can handle 4 Gb, but XP pro 64 bit supports up to 128 Gb.
It also depends ofcourse on the hardware (chipset mainly).
<snip>

Not the case here as the OP stated "I'm running XP SP3" so it has to be 32bit as there is no SP3 for the 64bit version of XP, that only goes to SP2.

[ChicagoJammer]

  Eddie 'n David...kewl, thanks for the dialogue 

  Upgrade to 4GB? OH, if I only could. Max for this chipset, per AMD, is 2GB. Darn.
  If only memory worked like routers...you can daisy-chain those, yes?...well, then
  memory on any machine would be inifinite. Alas, it don't.

  But...if I may, I'd like to bring it back to the original question,
  to wit why oh why does the Avast GUI need 85MB, whether
  VM or actual allocation?   How much did the prior version require?

  IIRC previously versions used substantially less.. which is why I'm
  confused / concerned enough to ask what's what.

  I think I figured out the workaround for appending screenshots here,
  seems you have to paste into PAINT, (never use it, really) & create a .PNG.
  meanwhile, sysinfo tells me I have

    Physical Memory  : 1,982 MB
    Virtual Memory    :    518 MB
    Total Memory      : 2,500 MB
    Free Memory       : 1,134 MB
    Used Memory      : 1,366 MB

  so there ain't all that much to work with.   
And there ain't all that much running but optimized (as best I could) services.

 AND... the new GUI cannot be killed?!  I get 'access is denied'. Hmmm.
  Wasn't that way with the previous version.  So, que pasta?

  Curioser and curioser!

  Again, thanks for your comments. 


       

[DavidR]

The avast Self-Defence module would be stopping you from disabling the avastUI.exe (mine isn't much different to yours when I look at it with ProcExp). You would have to first disable that.

In all honesty, even stopping the avastUI.exe at 82.7MB isn't going to recover you much memory, I would be looking at other processes and see if they really need to be running.

[ChicagoJammer]

 ah, Defence. ok, got it.

  b-b-but the primary question hasn't been answered re 'more memory'.

  just chalk it up to 'new AVAST version' I guess. 

  but, oh mighty systems designers, makers of wonderful security software,
please be aware that incremental additions / tweaks / redesigns of anything
we access or use, be it AVAST or newfangled, incredibly overdone webpages
with tons of monetization and tracking code, are overloading older systems
like mine.

  I still think an AVASTGUI LITE would be a good idea.

  thanks for your comments, then, eh!

[DavidR]

I can only assume that the avastUI does a little more than in the past with the new functionality.

I check my win10 laptop with the previous avast version 12.3.2280 and the peak working set (PWS) memory is 46,128KB, so that really isn't a huge jump. Though I will find out when I eventually update avast on that system.

As I keep saying there are much larger fish to fry in regards of memory usage. Even windows explorer (113,796K PWS) the flash plugin is also using more (67,060K PWS) than avastUI.exe. I only run programs that essentially have to run in the background, otherwise I close them and only run them when required.

[Tangy]

On my set up avast is using (  AvastUI.exe 28.184 kb's )

oops sorry mate I am using the previous version of avast.

[ChicagoJammer]

 [note to all: pardon my rant. I do feel better now.  ]

  G'day, Tangy.  Yes, 28K sounds 'bout right.  The new! version also adds a defence agent
 (awidsagent, 28KB now) and an antivirus installer (regsvr, a little shaver at only 5KB) on top of
 AvastSvc at a whopping 233KB and AvastUI at 84KB.  That's about 330KB in Private bytes (he'll never make corporal) with the Virtual sizes 3-4 times that size.  It's a hog, IMNSHO.

   Perhaps there's a competition with FireFox?, which appears to have very poor memory
management, you can see it grow incrementally, often reaching 1,000+KB overnight when
I leave the machine on.  On a machine with Under 2MB usable, Avast is consuming
1/6, so comments like '84KB's not all that much...' make me laugh.

  Too bad I haven't figured out how to use another PC as a front-end, or perhaps some
sort of parallel processor.  Old machines & OS's won't die from disrepair or age, they're
just being strangled by the ever-increasing wonderfully expanded functionality (read:
glitz) we've come to expect.

  I've read you can use an Android phone as a straight computer, but how would I connect
it up to my router? Hmm.

  Thanks for REPLYng, mate, and a word of advice: stick with the version you've got, eh?!

  pssst...DavidR... windows explorer on my machine uses 38K. the good thing is you can trim
services in XP to the bone, which I've pretty much done.  Not so in Win7, too many interdependencies.  I tells ya.. Ubuntu's lookin' better all the time...or even Slacko Puppy.



  [suggestion re this editor...it's great (where's it from?), except when you want to tweak (bold, italicize, etc) text that's waaay down the page, you've got to bounce back up to the tippity-top. darn darn darn.

do there happen to be... hotkeys/shortcuts?! so you can just highlight and hit ctl+b and bold stuff, f'rinstance? food for thought.]

[bob3160]