Author Topic: Programs start noticeably slower with Avast  (Read 9740 times)

0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.

prr

  • Guest
Programs start noticeably slower with Avast
« on: September 24, 2008, 02:23:15 AM »
I have used AVG and F-Secure on my desktop and laptop for the last few years, and after switching both over to Avast a few months ago, I've noticed that programs take a lot longer to load than they did before.  This happens for web browsers, MS Office programs, pretty much anything that I try to run. I can see the A-ball in the system tray spinning, so I'm assuming that it is scanning the program to see if it is malware or not.  This is a good idea in theory, but I'm wondering if there isn't a more efficient way to do this, as this never seemed to be a problem before.  I'm assumign that these other av programs either didn't scan these other programs, or did it much more quickly.  Is there something I can safely do, to mimimize the startup time--please note that I am not talking about Windows startup, but the startup of pretty much any program on the computer. I'm noticing it on both, so I don't think its just one setting on one computer that is causing this.

CharleyO

  • Guest
Re: Programs start noticeably slower with Avast
« Reply #1 on: September 24, 2008, 08:54:39 PM »
***

Did you remove AVG & F-secure from your compiter?

If so, how did you remove them?


***

prr

  • Guest
Re: Programs start noticeably slower with Avast
« Reply #2 on: September 25, 2008, 03:56:15 AM »
Yes I removed them both. I believe it was through Control Panel for F-Secure, most likely for AVG as well. 

Kilia

  • Guest
Re: Programs start noticeably slower with Avast
« Reply #3 on: September 25, 2008, 08:15:36 AM »
On a related note, how does one shut off program scanning.
I don't really need it and it is an imposition.

Thanks,
Kilia

Offline alanrf

  • Avast Evangelist
  • Massive Poster
  • ***
  • Posts: 3870
  • Just an avast user
Re: Programs start noticeably slower with Avast
« Reply #4 on: September 25, 2008, 08:21:54 AM »
Kilia

avast is not designed to be an on demand scanner - so the simplest way is to uninstall avast and find an on-demand scanner better suited to your needs.

Alternatively you can look at the options provided in "Customize" option of the Standard Shield and de-select the recommended option to "Scan executed programs".

Offline alanrf

  • Avast Evangelist
  • Massive Poster
  • ***
  • Posts: 3870
  • Just an avast user
Re: Programs start noticeably slower with Avast
« Reply #5 on: September 25, 2008, 08:29:02 AM »
prr

In an attempt to see the problem you are reporting I just uninstalled avast on my system (Win XP SP3).  Were we experiencing the same issue with avast I would expect to see a noticeable improvement in the start of programs on my system.

I must be honest and say that I do notice a very slight improvement in the start time of programs but it that is really is only just about discernible - it is very far from anything dramatic.  If your situation demonstrates a significant difference, as your post suggests, then I think another contributor may well be in play.

CharleyO

  • Guest
Re: Programs start noticeably slower with Avast
« Reply #6 on: September 25, 2008, 09:22:42 AM »
***

Which us why I asked how he removed the other av's.
Most likely, there are remains of the other 2 av's that are causing interference.
Using the Control Panel Add/remove programs function is not enough.

AVG removal tool ... http://www.avg.com/download-tools

F-secure removal tool ... http://support.f-secure.com/enu/corporate/downloads/removeav.shtml

Use these tools and the post back to let us know the results.


***

olddog

  • Guest
Re: Programs start noticeably slower with Avast
« Reply #7 on: September 25, 2008, 10:26:31 AM »
...I must be honest and say that I do notice a very slight improvement in the start time of programs but it that is really is only just about discernible - it is very far from anything dramatic.

alanrf,
I would expect start up time to increase slightly when any AV is monitoring file opening, because you can't get something (in this case protection) for nothing, but I personally have never considered Avast to be at all slow in this regard. I have done some experiments using Process Monitor to see whether it could be quantatised at all. For the experiment I chose to monitor the start up of Notepad. It's start up time on my particular PC with no AV present averaged over a number of tests was 143.3 milliseconds. With Avast present and it's standard shield on Normal the average startup time increased to 168.0 milliseconds. OK, on paper this is around a 17% increase, but I would have a hard time noticing the difference of 24.7 milliseconds. Results will be affected by lots of factors and I guess if a platform is slow or memory starved in the first place it might become more noticable.

YoKenny

  • Guest
Re: Programs start noticeably slower with Avast
« Reply #8 on: September 25, 2008, 11:32:04 AM »
Yes I removed them both. I believe it was through Control Panel for F-Secure, most likely for AVG as well. 
After you have totally removed AVG and F-Secure do you still notice program loading delays?

What is the operating system and Service pack level and have you done a defrag lately?

What are the CPU type, speed and RAM amounts?

YoKenny

  • Guest
Re: Programs start noticeably slower with Avast
« Reply #9 on: September 25, 2008, 11:44:10 AM »
***

Which us why I asked how he removed the other av's.
Most likely, there are remains of the other 2 av's that are causing interference.
Using the Control Panel Add/remove programs function is not enough.

AVG removal tool ... http://www.avg.com/download-tools

F-secure removal tool ... http://support.f-secure.com/enu/corporate/downloads/removeav.shtml

Use these tools and the post back to let us know the results.
***
Maybe this should become a sticky as this seems to be a common problem?

ProgrammerGuy

  • Guest
Re: Programs start noticeably slower with Avast
« Reply #10 on: September 25, 2008, 03:23:02 PM »
Just my opinion; but I agree whole-heartedly with "YoKenny"; this would make an excellent subject for a 'sticky'...

People need to know BEFORE they install Avast! that if they have another AV installed they're most likely gonna have conflicts...

Whether they read it or not is another story but at least there'd be a place to refer new users... 8)

prr

  • Guest
Re: Programs start noticeably slower with Avast
« Reply #11 on: September 25, 2008, 04:58:46 PM »
I am running XP SP3, with an AMD Turion 64 dual-core 1.6 GHz processor; a gig of RAM. I do monthly defrags with Contig.

For what its worth, this morning I logged out and logged back in, and noticed that all programs load up very quickly after logging in (at least they did today). After surfing for an hour, however, things were slow again after shutting these programs (Word, Firefox, and Foxit) down.  When I tried to load FF again, I saw the A-ball rotate two or three times TWICE before the browser actually loaded--it took a good 10 seconds to open up, and a couple more (which Avast can't be blamed for) to finish loading.

Anyways, I used the avg uninstaller and I'll report back after rebooting.

I do appreciate the support here.  The AVG support forums (not official support, I know) are worse than worthless....

Offline Lisandro

  • Avast team
  • Certainly Bot
  • *
  • Posts: 67195
Re: Programs start noticeably slower with Avast
« Reply #12 on: September 25, 2008, 05:11:19 PM »
Anyways, I used the avg uninstaller and I'll report back after rebooting.
Are you using avast now?

I do appreciate the support here.  The AVG support forums (not official support, I know) are worse than worthless....
Well... there are a lot of ex-AVG users here (including myself) that share this opinion with you.
The best things in life are free.

Kilia

  • Guest
Re: Programs start noticeably slower with Avast
« Reply #13 on: September 25, 2008, 06:06:52 PM »
Kilia

avast is not designed to be an on demand scanner - so the simplest way is to uninstall avast and find an on-demand scanner better suited to your needs.

Alternatively you can look at the options provided in "Customize" option of the Standard Shield and de-select the recommended option to "Scan executed programs".

Now now...I'm not gonna be uninstalling my Avast!.


Carry on now...;D

YoKenny

  • Guest
Re: Programs start noticeably slower with Avast
« Reply #14 on: September 26, 2008, 02:15:30 AM »
I am running XP SP3, with an AMD Turion 64 dual-core 1.6 GHz processor; a gig of RAM. I do monthly defrags with Contig.

For what its worth, this morning I logged out and logged back in, and noticed that all programs load up very quickly after logging in (at least they did today). After surfing for an hour, however, things were slow again after shutting these programs (Word, Firefox, and Foxit) down.  When I tried to load FF again, I saw the A-ball rotate two or three times TWICE before the browser actually loaded--it took a good 10 seconds to open up, and a couple more (which Avast can't be blamed for) to finish loading.

Anyways, I used the avg uninstaller and I'll report back after rebooting.

I do appreciate the support here.  The AVG support forums (not official support, I know) are worse than worthless....
What amount of RAM is FF gobbling up and what version of FF are you running?

I'm an AVG defector  :)