I use older hardware and in so doing makes me aware of performance hits that users of recent fast hardware would not notice. On doing a version update from Avast Free 22.4 to 22.5 in May 2022, there was an instant and noticeable performance hit. I like to use a Toshiba P200 Satellite Pro with Intel Core Duo 1.8GHz CPU, 4GB RAM and SSD. It was instantly transformed from a decently performing device into a sluggish one. Reverting to version 22.4 restored performance to its previous decent level. Every version of Avast from version 22.5 and later has exhibited the performance hit on this hardware
Does Avast test its software on older hardware or is it content to be blissfully unaware of the issues which cause this and so be unaware of possible problems for high performing systems?
I found Windows Defender an acceptable successor to Avast in this Toshiba laptop. It is not quite as nimble as Avast 22.4 but it does perform acceptably.
The Tosh has a beautiful display screen which incentivises me to use it (and it's paid for). Recent Windows 10 updates have also taken the edge off performance so Ubuntu now also looks more attractive on that hardware.
N.B. I changed the subject line because the first attempt did not express the effects of update history properly.
