Avast 4.7 free edition for home

[24giovanni]

When my system is booting up, I have Firefox preloader load 1st, then avast, which once in my system tray after about 20 seconds spins for a good minute or 2. When it is done spinning, my sygate firewall finally loads. What is happening with avast spinning for all that time? If it's an error, what could be causing it? I appreciate any help.

TIA

[DavidR]

It would help to know a little about your system spec, e.g. OS, CPU, RAM, etc.

avast scan files that are being loaded to provide protection, firefox loads lots of files and I personally can't see why you would want a browser to load before your AV. Check the programs that load on boot and prune those not essential, such as media players, etc. that aren't required until media files are played.

How many files are reported as being scanned (standard shield, Scanned count:) once avast's icon stops rotating ?
What is standard shield's sensitivity set to ? The default is Normal  higher than that and more files are scanned.
Do you have any other security software running on boot ?

[24giovanni]

It would help to know a little about your system spec, e.g. OS, CPU, RAM, etc.

avast scan files that are being loaded to provide protection, firefox loads lots of files and I personally can't see why you would want a browser to load before your AV. Check the programs that load on boot and prune those not essential, such as media players, etc. that aren't required until media files are played.

How many files are reported as being scanned (standard shield, Scanned count:) once avast's icon stops rotating ?
What is standard shield's sensitivity set to ? The default is Normal  higher than that and more files are scanned.
Do you have any other security software running on boot ?

XP, HP vectra vli8 450 processor P3, 96 MB of ram. Scanned items at startup are 116, severity level is normal. FF browser isn't being loaded, it is a FF preloader which helps speed up the loading of FF once it is launched.

I am new to avast so when it spins at startup it is scanning for virus? Didn't know that. How do I know the non essential items other than media players? Can you clue me in on them please. I greatly appreciate it. No other security software at boot. I do have sygate firewall.

[DavidR]

I would say you are seriously short on RAM especially as you are running XP, that is likely to be the real issue. Whilst the processor is a little underpowered, it is well up to the job. 115 files at startup is fine, mine is just below 100.

These are the minimum specs for an XP system:
http://www.avast.com/eng/system-requirements-avast-home.html

For a computer running Windows® 2000/XP® Workstation (Not Server):
Pentium class Processor, 64MB RAM (128MB recommended) and 50 MB of free hard disk space

WinXP itself has a minimum of 64KB just to run (and many recommend 128-256MB is better), so the 128MB recommendation for avast should really be added to the XP minimum to give a more reasonable workable recommended figure. The more programs that you have running at boot and after the more are sharing your 96MB RAM.
So it looks like you need to get some more RAM either that or start your system and go for a coffee

Windows Start button, Run, Type 'msconfig' without the quotes and enter, when the screen pops-up check the Startup section to see what is being run at startup. You can list the items we can have a look and see if there is any non-essential items.

I think that based on your specifications your system is running correctly if a little slow.

[24giovanni]

Ram is already ordered. 256 stick should be here by weeks end. I thought something else might be an issue.

[DavidR]

Hopefully you should notice an improvement across the whole system with the additional RAM.

Welcome to the forums.

[Negeltu]

Yeah... in my opinion 256MB should be the minimum for running XP with good speed.    I have 384MB of DDR RAM.  My boot wasn't fast enough for me even with 256MB.  Made a world of difference.

[ardvark]

Yeah... in my opinion 256MB should be the minimum for running XP with good speed.    I have 384MB of DDR RAM.  My boot wasn't fast enough for me even with 256MB.  Made a world of difference.

I had/have exactly the same RAM amount and I completely concur XP should technically have at least 512 MB's to run optimally, in my opinion.

Best Regards...