Avast 4.8 very slow full system "Quick scan"

[Lisandro]

What is "ashquick.exe"?

Check your avast folder and it will be there.
It is the quick scanner of avast.

[MarshallO]

Thanks!

[DavidR]

We aren't referring to the Thorough scan which takes a very long time as it is at the opposite side of the scale to Quick.

The ashQuick.exe is in all versions of avast it is normally used to scan downloaded files or single files, etc. but some avast 4 Home users like Alan use it to scan their system in conjunction with windows task scheduler. The Home version doesn't have a scheduled scan function, so they use this as a workaround to do scheduled scans.

Check this work around out for general information - HOWTO: Scheduled Automatic Scans avast! Home Version!

There are some pros and cons and you shouldn't use this without knowing them.

[alanrf]

MarshallO,

I am not only not a member of the avast team I am cheap too.  avast does not provide the ability to schedule a scan in the Home version.  So some of us use the features of the ashquick module to run a scheduled task to scan.

ashquick is the program that runs when you right click on a file in the explorer file listing and allows you the option to scan the file with avast.  It is also the program that is often used in conjunction with downloaders to immediately scan a newly downloaded file.   

[MarshallO]

Thanks again, guys!

TAO

[rdmaloyjr]

49 mins 18 secs for a quick scan of 15.5 gig of files with avast! 4.8 on my XP SP2 laptop.  That's slow!

Today I did a Standard scan on the same laptop.  I got strange results.  It took only 38 mins 13 secs and only scanned 10.6gb files.  Figure that out!  I haven't removed any programs or files except for cache cleaning with CCleaner.

[DavidR]

Interesting, I have never tried a quick scan, only using the standard without archives, I will fire one off and see what that gives.

[rdmaloyjr]

I just rescanned with quickscan, 41min 13sec, 15.6 gb of files scanned.  Strange that a quick scan scans more files that standard scans   Maybe that explains why quick scans take longer than standard scans

Maybe the ALWIL team mislabeled the scans

Why the inconsistant results

[DavidR]

Interesting Just ran two scans, a Quick and a Standard, both without archives.

Quick Scan
Total Files/Folders scanned  39,632/3871
Scan duration                    16min 11sec
Total scanned file size         7.3GB


Standard Scan
Total Files/Folders scanned  39,671/3872
Scan duration                    15min 51sec
Total scanned file size         7.3GB

So they were almost identical, the Quick scan was 20sec slower, but the Standard scan only scanned 39 more files and 1 more folder. So to me it would appear it is a waste of time using the Quick scan when the Standard one is quicker and scans marginally more files.

Compare that with my previous Standard scans (pre 4. where the total scanned size was the same, but the duration was only just over 11mins, so an increase in my scan duration of about 41% on the Standard scan. I didn't take detailed files/folder counts, but the 39,000+ would also be correct.

[alanrf]

What a case of tortoise (4. and hare (4.7)!

You only have to watch the scans to see something very wrong - a bit like watching paint dry.

I just ran Standard and Quick scans on the same system without archive scanning. One set with avast 4.8 and one set with avast 4.7

Standard 4.8_______________Standard 4.7_______________

42768/4978   7.8Gb  17:33    42031/4975   8.5Gb  11:25

Quick 4.8__________________Quick 4.7__________________

42099/4977   7.7Gb  17:28    16904/4975  5.5Gb   7:30

Observation:  The avast 4.8 scans sit for a long period at folders that are very large and full of files in the exclusion list (Standard and  Quick).  The 4.7 scans zip right through those same folders.                     

[onlysomeone]

but you shouldn't forget that there's also the rootkit scan which is done in 4.8

[alanrf]

onlysomeone,

you may have missed this quote from Vlk in another thread:

However, the rootkit scan should not take place if you're performing a "Quick" scan.

From monitoring the file activity it appears that neither standard scan nor quick scan is handling excluded files as efficiently as 4.7.

[onlysomeone]

oh, sorry - i was too lazy to read... 

[Vlk]

From monitoring the file activity it appears that neither standard scan nor quick scan is handling excluded files as efficiently as 4.7.

Well, is it only exception handling?
People are reporting slower scans even with no exceptions defined, aren't they?

[alanrf]

but you shouldn't forget that there's also the rootkit scan which is done in 4.8

That does not really add up either - the avast standalone rootkit scan of my system only takes 70 seconds to complete.

I just did an ashquick scan of one of my disk drives (where almost every file on the drive is in the exclusion list)

ashquick (which is actually a thorough scan - but without rootkit scanning)  took 00:03

an avast on demand Quick scan of exactly the same drive took 01:44 (considerably longer than the rootkit standalone complete run)

I think there is enough indication that a little problem exists here that I am confident the avast team will take care of quickly.