High RAM usage with latest version of Avast Free

[gsupeene]

I have an old Centrino Duo laptop with 2 GB of RAM.  I'm running Windows 7.

After 3 weeks of uptime, my computer was getting rather clogged, with over 5 GB commit charge.  I assumed it was all the stuff I had open, with perhaps some memory leaks thrown in.  A day or two ago, Avast started misbehaving worse than usual - very often it will panic when I attempt to open, say, google.com in Brave, and I can't use my computer for several minutes due to hard drive thrash, but this time it seemingly decided to load the entire 1.6 GB of virtual memory footprint it had accumulated, in what appeared to be increasingly large chunks starting from nothing each time, with the result that I basically couldn't use my computer for about an hour.

Time for a reboot, right?

Well, I rebooted, and was met with the attached.

It seems that Avast now wishes to use ~600 MB of physical RAM (with large but momentary periodic dips) fresh off a reboot.  I tried checking for updates, and it said that I needed to update so I did, and same deal.  Rebooted again, same deal.  Repaired app, rebooted, same deal.  Just opening a browser puts me very near full RAM usage, which makes it very difficult to get anything done with any real speed.

Surely this can't be the same program everyone praises for its low memory footprint?  What's going on here?

[Asyn]

- Which version/build of Avast Free..?
- OS..? (32/64 Bit..? - which SP/Build..?)
- Other security related software installed..?
- Which AV(s) did you use before Avast..?

[gsupeene]

I'm not using any other antivirus or related software as far as I know.  Windows Firewall is on, but Defender is off.

I did mention that I'm using Windows 7 (it's SP1, 64-bit), and that I updated Avast (I believe it's on auto-update as well) so it should be 20.5.

I've been using Avast for several years; before that I think it was AVG Free.  IIRC I've reinstalled Windows since the last time I ran any other antivirus.

...I should probably mention that I've had Windows Update turned off for a long time.  Blasted thing has some weird behaviour where every time it updates it takes longer, and I couldn't just sit there letting it hog resources for days or weeks accomplishing nothing (I'm not joking; I actually tried it once).  Maybe I should reinstall Windows, but since the problem with Avast using tons of RAM seems to have cropped up abruptly I figured I'd check here first.

[Asyn]

1. Download Avast Free Antivirus: https://files.avast.com/iavs9x/avast_free_antivirus_setup_offline.exe
2. Follow instructions: https://www.avast.com/uninstall-utility (Run this tool for all prior installed Avast versions..!!)
3. Reinstall Avast with the downloaded installer from point 1.
4. Reboot.

[gsupeene]

Well, I followed the steps, and the new install certainly isn't using as much RAM, but now it says it's expired.  I click on one of the buttons it gives me, and it offers me a choice of free or premium.  I click on free.  I then get a popunder (!) that offers me a free trial of the premium version.  I say no thanks.

Nothing happens.  I'm stuck with an inactive antivirus.

I had the radio off during the reinstall and through the reboot afterwards (which interrupted what appeared to be a full system scan).  As soon as I turned it on, Avast updated itself, and when I checked in the system tray it had a little warning on it.  Bringing up the GUI showed the expiry notice.

...

Also, that installer is some bullshit.  It requested so much RAM that Task Manager stalled.  I've never seen Windows 7 running on just 345 MB of physical memory before today...

Anyway, I'd much rather not go through all this again just to get the same result.  Any advice?

EDIT: Never mind; another reboot solved it.  But wasn't I supposed to provide an e-mail address or something?  Oh well...

Thanks for the help!

[Asyn]

You're welcome.