Shutting down Avast

[Shutdown]

Hello!

I've had Avast for a few weeks now, but I feel that sometimes it takes a lot of memory and a lot of cpu-power, without doing anything useful (e.g. when I'm offline, doing things which aren't "dangerous". So my questions are two:

How do I shut down Avast?

How do I set it to not start when I start Windows, but instead when I want to scan for viruses?

[Lisandro]

When I'm offline, doing things which aren't "dangerous". So my questions are two:
How do I shut down Avast?

I do not suggest this. Try to set the Standard Shield sensitibility to Normal and see if it helps.
If not, I can post more info about the balance between security and performance.

How do I set it to not start when I start Windows, but instead when I want to scan for viruses?

It's not easy and it's not recommended. It is the same as do not use an antivirus at all.
If you want to use just an non-resident antivirus, try BitDefender instead of avast.

[rayi7332]

Shutdown,
What makes you believe avast! is taking alot of memory and cpu cycles? Is the HDD constantly spinning? Are you getting out of memory errors or experiencing PC lockups? Always remember that free ram is wasted ram. If you really need to you can pause the standard shield if you need dedicated cpu and memory then resume provider after you're done with whatever project, such as burning cd's or disassembling programs, etc. Listen to Tech about disabling on Windows start, not recommended as avast! needs to load it's drivers in operating memory. Also it is a good idea to have a second opinion non resident scanner to compliment avast! because one scanner won't catch all baddies all the time. Hope this helps.