Avast shields make games run slowly

[wes5]

Recently I did an avast update and I noticed that when I play games they stutter and play slowly.

Then I tried listing the games under 'Exceptions' in avast so that it will not scan them, but I am unclear how exceptions work and so I just browsed and selected the whole folder that contained the games that had lag. This did not work.

As a test I turned off my internet connection so I could disable avast's shields, and the games ran smoothly.

Is there a better solution than turning off the internet and avast so that I can use these applications? Aside from getting a different antivirus program?

avast version: 19.6.2383 (build 19.6.4546.494)
Windows 7
Service pack 1
64 bit o/s

[christianflapton]

Hi, wes5!
Exceptions might not work since antivirus constantly runs in the background scanning and checking network traffic and local files, which is very taxing on machines.
Have a look at Win task manager whilst gaming with and without Avast disabled and see what it's showing.
Also - are you running Avast while gaming or is it idle? If it's idle and not doing a virus scan yet still causing problems then that's definitely an issue.

[rocksteady]

You may be interested in this thread also.
https://forum.avast.com/index.php?topic=228154.0

[wes5]

Hi  christianflapton,

Thank you for your response.

I have been trying to figure out what is running in task manager when I play with avast on versus when it is shut off. There does not seem to be any process hogging the resources either way. These are not cpu intensive games. It is a smart tip, though. I will keep the task manager under surveillance.

Regarding your comment about avast running while gaming, I certainly am not running an actual virus scan when gaming. I assumed avast is idle when it is running, maybe you can clarify.

[Tomáš Vybíral]

Hi wes5,

Avast shouldn't start any scans while you are gaming (unless you have uninstalled Do Not Disturb module). Can you tell me what games are affected, so I can try to debug this. Also you shouldn't need to disable your internet connection to disable shields (maybe try to repair avast).

[kwiq]

Hi wes5,
we would need to capture xperf logs and upload it to analysis. One run with enabled av and next with disabled !

Here are step by step instructions :

1) Download xperf or wpa package it is win dependent so if you have win 7 download xperf for win 7 !

2) Start cmd as admin and type to start profiling:
xperf.exe -on DiagEasy+DISPATCHER+Profile -stackwalk profile+CSwitch+ReadyThread -start user -on 72AA3505-D4D6-4527-A088-92534DA1082C

3) Stop profiling
xperf.exe -stop user -stop -d merged.etl

4) Zip merged.etl into wes5_7_2019.zip and upload it  to ftp://ftp.avast.com/incoming  (https://support.avast.com/en-eu/article/FTP-file-upload)

Thank you for report.

[juicermachineshop]

Hi, i had this issue too. I successfully solved it by upgrading my Avast version. Which Avast version are you currently running ?

[bob3160]

Hi, i had this issue too. I successfully solved it by upgrading my Avast version. Which Avast version are you currently running ?

Try reading his first post.

[nowenture]

Hi, i had this issue too. I successfully solved it by upgrading my Avast version. Which Avast version are you currently running ?

I think this appear when you use old Windows version (Windows Seven is not supported by Microsoft).

Do you have the possibility to upgrade to Windows 10 for exemple ?

[bob3160]

Hi, i had this issue too. I successfully solved it by upgrading my Avast version. Which Avast version are you currently running ?

I think this appear when you use old Windows version (Windows Seven is not supported by Microsoft).

Do you have the possibility to upgrade to Windows 10 for exemple ?

Wrong.  Windows 7 is supported by Microsoft until end of Jan 2020.

This is the total answer which makes both of you either right or wrong.
Microsoft ended mainstream support for Windows 7 on January 13, 2015,
but extended support won't end until January 14, 2020