Latest update slowed down Vista 32x

[essexboy]

No problems here with Vista

[Vlk]

Guys,

you're mixing two separate issues together.

The original poster (plus nick.walters, for example) is having problems related to the Standard Shield provider (intermittent hangs of the machine etc).

jc3131's problem, on the other hand, is related to slow browsing with avast under Vista.


Let's start with jc3131's problem. That's the easier one. Simply put, there's a bug in the Vista version of ZoneAlarm that is preventing the avast webshield provider from working properly. That is, it IS working properly, but the connections are really slow (for each new connection, there's roughly a 2 second delay). The only workaround I have at this time is to replace ZoneAlarm with something else(sorry). Hopefully, this issue in ZA will be fixed soon (avast is not the only application that is affected by this).

As about the Standard Shield problem. Well, indeed, there have been some changes in the Vista Standard Shield driver in avast build 4.7.1074. Unfortunately, we don't seem able to simulate the problem on any of our machines. To analyse the problem properly, it would be really useful to have a memory dump of the machine at the moment the problem is taking place (i.e. the machine is "stuck"). This basically means manually blue-screening the machine (forcing it to write out the memory dump file) and then submitting it to our ftp site. Would any of you guys be willing to do this? Detailed instructions can be found in our knowledge base: http://support.avast.com/index.php?_m=knowledgebase&_a=viewarticle&kbarticleid=71

Thanks
Vlk

[insider]

VLK as stated before : I use xp pro and I am experiencing the same slow down. In my humble opinion I assume the changes made in the shield are responsable for this loading delay...

[Vlk]

VLK as stated before : I use xp pro and I am experiencing the same slow down. In my humble opinion I assume the changes made in the shield are responsable for this loading delay...

There have been no changes in the Shield for XP in this version.
Anyway, you may follow the same procedure (create a dump as described in my previous post) and we'll try to find out what's going on...

Thanks
Vlk

[insider]

There have been no changes in the Shield for XP in this version.
Anyway, you may follow the same procedure (create a dump as described in my previous post) and we'll try to find out what's going on...

VLK thx for the offer but this 'dump thing' is way out of my league ...
I'm a layman who uses Avast! who noticed a possible problem, reported it, and hoped to find a cure for it .... but nothing more. Although I will stay in touch with this board and see if someone, with more knowledge of computers, has the same experience; 

[James W.]

Ok, let's see if I can help. I'm not so sure this is a Zone Alarm problem. I did some simple tests on my Sony Vaio w/Intel Duo Core T7100 2Gb ram using IE7 and DSL 6000 thru a D-Link DIR 635 wireless router. I always used the same website to load---http://hughhewitt.townhall.com/blog (sorry, to those who politically disagree ). I always have all the recent updates.

Here are my results:

Avast and Zone Alarm running---34 to 36 seconds to load site.

Avast without Zone Alarm running (checked task manager to make sure nothing is running in background like zlclient.exe)---34 to 36 seconds.

Avast terminated and Zone Alarm is running---4 seconds.

Both programs terminated---about 2 seconds.

I have also had some unexplained crashes that may or may not be related. I will send an email of my memory dump to you.

Another thing, my daughter's computer using the same router, Zone Alarm, and Avast...but with XP and Firefox installed loads the site in about 7 seconds.

I hope this helps.

[James W.]

The memory dump is too big to send as an email even as a zip...63mb!

[James W.]

Ok everybody...first my apologies to vlk and others who work on Avast.

Please ignore the following post I made:
Posted on: Today at 12:57:15 PMPosted by: James W.

Turning Zone Alarm off is not enough to solve the problem...you need to uninstall it, or maybe keeping it from loading into memory works, to correct the problem. I can now surf with blinding speed...with Avast running.

[sded]

I am not having any problems with slowdowns using the latest Avast! and Vista Ultimate 32.  As far as firewalls, I tried Zone Alarm previously and discarded it immediately because of the slowdown.  Just started using the latest Beta of Comodo 3.0.10 and it is very stable, no slowdown.   Just about ready for RCs and release, but so far Comodo is excellent and works well with Avast! once you have given the proper permissions to the popups.

[duude]

@ jc3131

Whilst there shouldn't have been any difference between two versions of avast and having had Norton previously, NAV is notorious for remnants even after an uninstall, so it might be best to try a removal tool.

A link worth looking at, which is a program removal tool that can remove the remnants of a number of different Norton Programs:
Removing your Norton program using SymNRT
You can also download SymNRT, a Norton uninstall tool that uninstalls all Norton 2004/2005/2006 products.

Unfortunately, I do not remember what version I had before (It came with the computer) but you did prompt me to go into the control panel and remove the remaining two obvious Norton products (Notifier and LiveUpdate) I hope it fixes the issue of a slow computer on down the road! (I had the same isue and was currently discussing this on this board.

[dex]

I also have the same problem since the last version of the Avast program: slow to start all programs & slow browsing. I am running Vista Home Premium on a 2-months old Dell 9200 Core 2 Duo E6600, 4GHz RAM, 500 GB Hard Drive. I use Zone Alarm free for firewall.

From Vik's posting, it appears there are 2 problems: a) compatibility with Zone Alarm, and b) Avast's own Standard Shield problem. Obviously, the problem lies with Avast, not with Zone Alarm, since both software were working fine together previously. I hope Avast will take its responsibilities and solve its own problems instead of asking customers to switch firewall, which is a big task for the users, considering we need to learn a new interface and re-build the firewall permissions. If you need some time to resolve the problem, could we go back to the last version of Avast that worked well?

[madoverclocker]

I to am having issues since I upgraded. My raid controller gives constant critical error messages for both drives in my array with standard shield enabled. When I pause standard shield, no more issues. I am running Vista Ultimate 32bit on an AMD Opty 180, Asus A8N32-SLi Deluxe Mb, 2GB Crucial Ballistix Ram and two 500GB Western Digital Caviar SE16 drives on the Nvidia Raid controller as a striped array. This problem only occured with build 1074 of Avast.

Dave

[igor]

Obviously, the problem lies with Avast, not with Zone Alarm, since both software were working fine together previously.

Well, that's not true, of course (that it's obvious). An improvement, or even a fix in one program may cause a bug in another program to manifest itself - but it's still a bug in that program, even if it was somehow hidden previously.

I hope Avast will take its responsibilities and solve its own problems instead of asking customers to switch firewall, which is a big task for the users, considering we need to learn a new interface and re-build the firewall permissions.

I'm afraid we can't fix ZoneAlarm's bugs... that are reproducible even with other software (i.e. without avast! present).

[igor]

I to am having issues since I upgraded. My raid controller gives constant critical error messages for both drives in my array with standard shield enabled. When I pause standard shield, no more issues. I am running Vista Ultimate 32bit on an AMD Opty 180, Asus A8N32-SLi Deluxe Mb, 2GB Crucial Ballistix Ram and two 500GB Western Digital Caviar SE16 drives on the Nvidia Raid controller as a striped array. This problem only occured with build 1074 of Avast.

This seems to be a completely unrelated problem (i.e. it would be best to post it in a new topic, not in this thread).
Any more details about the critical errors? I mean, does it say anything specific? When do you get these errors?

[Lisandro]

Obviously, the problem lies with Avast, not with Zone Alarm

If you know ZoneLabs, the manufacturer of ZA, you won't think that...

Solve its own problems instead of asking customers to switch firewall

ZA problems make me give up on it a long time ago...

Could we go back to the last version of Avast that worked well?

Yes, but it's not advisable.
http://www.filehippo.com/download_avast_antivirus/