How Avast can be Temporarily Disabled

[Ildamos]

Hello.

I am a PC first-person shooter gamer (well actually, I am an RPG nut who really likes games that have great interactivity with the NPCs like Golden Sun and Zelda but all that went out the window ever since office work became hectic) and as such, do not like any AV to be running in the background/consuming memory when I play my games for optimal performance.

I've been using AVG 7.5 for years now as it was simple to disable/enable when I play games. However, with AVG 8.0, that feature was eliminated, AVG now is a resource hog according to various forum posts and reviews. It also cannot be easily disabled.

I did some research and opted for Avast! instead of AVG 8.0 and so far it's good. I haven't any problems with my rig. The question is, how Avast can be temporarily disabled since simply pushing "Terminate" leaves several processes still running, particularly "ashServ.exe," which consumes an average of 18-22Mb of memory.

This is how Avast! can be temporarily disabled in my system:

1. I click on "Less Details" on the "Resident Protection" interface. (Accessible by left-clicking on the blue Avast! ball in the system tray.)

2. With the Avast! Resident Protection interface fused into one, I click on "Terminate." This shuts down the resident shield activities of Avast! However...

3. When you check "Processes" in the Windows Task Manager (accessible by pressing Ctrl-Alt-Del), you will still see Avast! processes still running. While the other ones are negligible, the 18-22Mb consumed by "ashServ.exe" bothers me.

4. To disable this, I go right-click on the blue Avast! ball again, click "Program Settings" and then in the interface that pops up, click on "Troubleshooting."

5. Under "Troubleshooting," I check "Disable Avast! self-defense module" and click "OK."

6. A window will pop up to confirm your action. I simply click "Yes."

7. I go back to the Windows Task Manager and terminate the "ashServ.exe" process.

8. I game.

(Note: After gaming, I restart my PC, which will cause Avast! to run again. I then go back to Avast!'s Program Settings and uncheck "Disable Avast! self-defense module." I never forget to do this as it's dangerous to leave it checked. Also, I do not surf the Net if Avast! is in any way disabled.)

How Avast! is disabled/enabled may not be as easy as that of AVG 7.5 but it can be done without the various registry hacks that AVG 8.0 requires.

So far I have no problems with my system. I've also installed various on-demand anti-spyware software.

Any constructive thoughts/improvements/suggestions on the above procedure will be greatly appreciated.

More power to this great software and its developers!

[Vladimyr]

Hi Ildamos

I've been using AVG 7.5 for years now as it was simple to disable/enable when I play games.

I did some research and opted for Avast! instead of AVG 8.0 and so far it's good. I haven't any problems with my rig. The question is, how Avast can be temporarily disabled since simply pushing "Terminate" leaves several processes still running, particularly "ashServ.exe," which consumes an average of 18-22Mb of memory.

Things are not always as they seem! 

Quote from Randy Stafford (rdsok) Moderator of AVG Free Forum: "7.5 had many process's that you never saw the actual memory usage of..."
Disabling the Resident Shield in AVG 7.5 also leaves the 18-22MB AVG services (mainly 'avgcore.sys') in memory. You don't "see" them because they're inside the Windows kernel and their memory allocation & use is attributed to Windows. 

This is how Avast! can be temporarily disabled in my system:

1. I click on "Less Details" on the "Resident Protection" interface. (Accessible by left-clicking on the blue Avast! ball in the system tray.)

2. With the Avast! Resident Protection interface fused into one, I click on "Terminate." This shuts down the resident shield activities of Avast!

So if your aim is to have the disabled avast! 4.8 resident services use as little RAM as the AVG 7.5 resident services, you've already achieved it at this point.
However there is an easier way. Right-click on the blue Avast! ball in the system tray, and click "Stop on-access protection".

cheers.

[Hermite15]

Any constructive thoughts ?

yeah, this thread should be deleted, as well as the other one that you just started on the same topic

http://forum.avast.com/index.php?topic=64164

[nweissma]

So if your aim is to have the disabled avast! 4.8 resident services use as little RAM as the AVG 7.5 resident services, you've already achieved it at this point.
However there is an easier way. Right-click on the blue Avast! ball in the system tray, and click "Stop on-access protection".

but what is the maximum amount of memory that i can induce avast to surrender so that a memory-intensive program can utilize as much memory as possible?  [i am using avast pro 6.0.1289 on 32 xp pro]

[JRM75]

Just put Avast! and its' related processes in a lower CPU priority (if possible, depending on Admin rights), and your game in a higher one (not the highest though), so your system will have the low priority apps be paged in the pagefile, and leave more RAM available for your game. You see Avast! is considered a background program, and if it's not in use most of it will be loaded into your swap file - but this depends if your windows is tweaked to give full priority (with foreground boost) to foreground applications (You can google this for the registry tweaks/values that allows this).

[Lisandro]

Just put Avast! and its' related processes in a lower CPU priority (if possible, depending on Admin rights), and your game in a higher one (not the highest though), so your system will have the low priority apps be paged in the pagefile, and leave more RAM available for your game.

The effect will be exactly the opposite. With lower priority (if it works...), avast will "retain" the file even more to scan and then "release" it.

[nweissma]

The effect will be exactly the opposite. With lower priority (if it works...), avast will "retain" the file even more to scan and then "release" it.

@JRM75 -- hang in there, dude -- one day you'll get something right (even a clock that doesn't work at all is right twice a day), and your mom will be so proud!
 
and remember: a little knowledge is a dangerous thing!

@TECH: so what is the answer to my question?

[JRM75]

The effect will be exactly the opposite. With lower priority (if it works...), avast will "retain" the file even more to scan and then "release" it.

@JRM75 -- hang in there, dude -- one day you'll get something right (even a clock that doesn't work at all is right twice a day), and your mom will be so proud!
 
and remember: a little knowledge is a dangerous thing!

@TECH: so what is the answer to my question?

I see that many members are rude. SO, Dont say things like that without knowing who you are speaking to. I have well more knowledge than most members on this site. I'm a certified tech, and have been dealing with computer problems all my life. Assigning a low priority to applications, makes then use less RAM. Obviously the Avast! Tech probably meant it works the opposite for Avast! Antivirus. So I would take back what you said and do a little reading on the web, because clearly it seems everyone here doesn't like finding evidence to support another's suggestion (they enjoy being rude, and brag that they don't know what they are talking about).