AvastSvc high disc useage on XP SP3 in 2021!

[awze14]

Hello, happy people. I installed Avast free on my laptop, having tried TotalAV, which turned out to be a trial version. Neither program discovered any malware, but I am persevering with Avast.

It hogs the HDD like mad. It tops the list for I/O Other and I/O Other Bytes every time. So far today, it has I/O'd about 0.5GB of data, and all I've done is <^this>.

Over the past couple of days, I have disabled all the Shields, uninstalled all the Components, disabled the rootkit/boot scans and set the updates to Manual. Still, AvastSvc hogs the HDD. Nothing will run until it has finished its boot routine- the HDD light is on solid and, when it eventually goes out and I can use the machine, the I/O data shows Avast SVC to be the culprit. It's better since I disabled the above bits- the HDD light used to illuminate every time I went on a website, but I want to reinstate them, obviously.

Is there some setting I have missed, that causes Avast to cripple my machine? 

[awze14]

Can't find my post, for somereason,so I've bumped it. I thnk.

[DavidR]

What Avast Version including build number do you have installed ?

Considering there have been no program updates for XP/Vista for some considerable time (Avast 18.8 being the last supported version), nothing should have changed.  https://forum.avast.com/index.php?topic=220639.msg1490445#msg1490445
So it is strange to see something suddenly happen.

Has anything else changed in the last few days ?

[awze14]

What Avast Version including build number do you have installed ?

Considering there have been no program updates for XP/Vista for some considerable time (Avast 18.8 being the last supported version), nothing should have changed.  https://forum.avast.com/index.php?topic=220639.msg1490445#msg1490445
So it is strange to see something suddenly happen.

Has anything else changed in the last few days ?

Hi, Thanks for trying to help. I can't find the code anywhere. The file that I used to install it is

Avast Free Installer. exe

The code for that is 2.1.45.0. I got that from the file properties dialog box.

I only installed it the other day, and it has been HDD-addicted from the start. I've got it all switched Off at the moment. That has helped, but AvastSVC is still chuntering away on the I/O columns.

I tried to upload a screen grab, but the Insert Picture button just obliterates the screen. Grr.. I'm having another one of these days. LOL

[DavidR]

Sorry that file properties code doesn't mean anything to me. 
Were you not able to right click the avast tray icon and select About Avast that would give the avast version ?

Where did you source this download ?

The link I in my post would allow you to download the last supported version for avast free "avast_free_antivirus_setup_offline.exe" and the File properties for that reveals the version number in the Details section.  See my attached image and also the one on how to attach an image (rather than try to insert).

[rocksteady]

Some of us incurred CPU hogging problems with Avast 18.8.2356 on WinXP SP3. I for one rolled back to 18.5.2342 to overcome that. I don't know if rolling back to 18.5 may also help with Avast hogging your HDD.
https://forum.avast.com/index.php?topic=220639.msg1551510#msg1551510

Old Avast versions e.g 18.5.2342 can be downloaded from filepuma:
https://www.filepuma.com/download/avast_free_antivirus-2/versions/

[DavidR]

Problem being at the moment we don't know what avast version 'awze14' has yet.

[awze14]

Problem being at the moment we don't know what avast version 'awze14' has yet.

Thanks for your patience, and the instruction to hit about Avast!
It says 18.82356 (build 18.8.4084.409)

I've also noticed that it only temporarily free. There is a panel which says, 11 days remaining. Is that normal? Is there a "proper" free version?

The disc-killing behaviour seems to have abated a bit, so I've switche dthe shields back on. I think it is checking for updates- even though I've disabled the auto update function, it still goes and checks if the virus definitions I have are up-to-date. That's my deduction- not fact LOL.

Thanks again.

[DavidR]

1. That is the last supported version for XP.
So if you are having issues with that version (although different from those mentioned by rocksteady) you could try going back to 18.5 using the 18.5 version on Filepuma as mentioned (with a link).

That said I never experienced this problem with 18.8, mine was CPU activity and that started from 18.6 onwards.

2.  You have to effectively register your free installation (have you done that ?), linking your avast installation with your avast.account.com

3.  If they have abated a little it may be worth trying 18.8 for a bit longer.
Program Updates should be set to manual, then it shouldn't be a hassle.  Virus Definitions need to be set on Automatic, these aren't downloading huge file sizes and the Streaming Updates (every few minutes are measured in KB and not MBs. So they shouldn't really have an impact.