Windows Explorer Slowed to Crawl after avast 4.8 Pro Install - Help!

[chuckomoss]

Greetings,

I am running a MacBook Pro, 2.2 Ghz, 4MG RAM, Host: OS X - 10.5.5; Guest: OS XP Pro. VMFusion 2.01 with the latest install of VM Tools;  Also using NAT as my network setting.

After restoring my VMFusion file because of a nasty virus (see link) http://communities.vmware.com/thread/183764?tstart=0 , I installed Avast 4.8 Pro using the "typical installation." Immediately after the installation of Avast, Windows Explorer has slowed to a crawl. I Keep 99% of my files on the MAC environment and when I click on a Windows Explorer folder pointed to a folder in the MAC environment, it takes 4-6 seconds to load the folder & contents. Before installing Avast, it took 0-2 seconds to load the same folders.

I do not think I need Fort Knox security, which settings do I absolutelty need and which settings can I turn off in Avast or Windows Firewall to give me faster performance?

Thanks in advance,

Charlie

P.S. I tested AVG 8.0 Free over the weekend on this machine and it worked fine with no recognizable slowdown. In the AVG forum they were raving about Avast and how it does not take over or slow a machine so I am surprised to see this happening...

[Lisandro]

I think this post will be better in the Mac forum...
http://forum.avast.com/index.php?board=5.0

Sorry, I'm not a Mac user. Hope someone else could help.

[chuckomoss]

Thanks for your response.

I am running Avast on Windows XP Pro and it is in the XP Windows environment where Avast has significantly slowed Windows Explorer. If anyone knows the Avast settings that I could turn off or test their non-use to improve Windows Explorer I would be grateful.

All the best,

Charlie

[DavidR]

What sensitivity do you have the Standard Shield set to (Normal is the default) ?

[chuckomoss]

I have the Network Shield at Normal and originally the Standard Shield and Web Shield were both at Normal but I have been playing with the custom settings and turning off functionality to see if speed improves.

At times on certain folders the windows explorer is taking 10 seconds to load the contents and I am seriously considering uninstalling Avast and going in a different direction.

[Lisandro]

If you change the avast settings, uncheck for scanning files on open/create/modify. It will decrease your protection level but will keep it in an acceptable level, increasing performance a bit.

[DavidR]

The Network Shield shouldn't have any impact on windows explorer as it is talking really about the internet and not any local intranet/network, nor should the web shield.

I don't know if there is any impact on looking at mac folders (e.g. the format they are in), not being like the standard windows file formats, fat32 or ntfs. So I don't know if Tech suggestion about the other forum would hold any water since the file format differences might be better understood

Though I doubt this would be an issue (especially if you first tried avast before AVG but it may be worth running this tool to make sure all remnants are gone and there is no possibility for conflict. AVG Remover, download tool from here, http://www.grisoft.com/ww.download-tools there is a 32bit and 64 bit windows version, ensure you use the correct one (this is a windows application).