4.8.1351.0, RAM and slow Apps.

[Giraffe]

This has been going on for a few months now, so I can't remember when it started.

Boot system, RAM left ~560MB (from 1GB)
as everything loads, RAM drops to ~420MB
over the course of about 15 minutes, RAM climbs back to ~570MB

During this time, apps are slow to open and R-click menus can take a few seconds to appear.

So, stop everything from starting, including Avast Services, then enable things one at a time and reboot. Very little difference in booting time, but the RAM stays high and apps. open faster.
Enable Avast and back to delays.
Try with everything except Avast off, in case of conflict - still slow(er).

<unfaithful> completely disable Avast, install AntiVir with Guard  and read/write enabled.

RAM still drops but rises to ~510MB in a few seconds; apps. etc. open fast.

Not really liking AntiVir but am liking responsiveness - waiting for Avast 5 to be useable so that I can become ...</unfaithful> 

[YoKenny]

It would be good if you posted the CPU type and speed, operating system with SP level and other applications that auto-start.

You could even put that in your signature so that it is readily available.

[Giraffe]

Yes, sorry:

XP SP3
Comodo CIS -AV
a few utilities but no apps. None of the utilities affect start, RAM or responsiveness.

AMD Brisbane dual core, 1900MHz
2x512MB RAM

[YoKenny]

Get rid of Comodo.

See:
http://forum.avast.com/index.php?topic=46737.0

My old XP Home system with 2.4GHZ P4 and 512MB RAM is very slow but it works but sadly nobody want to buy it.

I don't run a software firewall because I use Layered Protection of MBAM, Microsoft Security Essentials and WinPatrol plus with avast! they are an excellent combination.

[Giraffe]

Yes, I know about all that - no problem for me; also, I prefer to have a firewall.

With CIS and AntiVir the computer works well; with CIS and Avast it's not so good; with Avast and no CIS it's not so good, so simple substitution shows that the problem seems to be with Avast.

[V_RocKs]

Current version of Avast seems to be causing me headaches too..

Huge memory consumption.

Annoying notes telling me it is checking ICQ scripts, blah blah scripts, that script, this script... I don't care!

Did I mention huge memory consumption?

[Tarq57]

Giraffe, if you have installed any other AV (including Avira or CIS) then whether they are disabled or not, while installed, conflictions are likely, and could easily point to the trouble you are experiencing.
Your troubleshoot seems conclusive on the face of it (by selectively disabling the AV's to see which one causes the problem) but is not. Disabling an AV does not remove the low level drivers, which will cause a problem, sooner or later. The only way to find out for sure is to completely remove them, and run the appropriate uninstall utility.

I'm using the current Avast 4.8, updated the program when it was released a week or so ago, and am having none of the memory issues you're posting about.

I do agree with using a software firewall myself, unless you are behind a hardware firewall, and/or know how to set up a protection policy as YoKenny appears to have done.

[Giraffe]

Tarq57,

Yes, I know about conflicts between AVs but I don't want to uninstall an AV just to try another! Actually, that would be easier than uninstalling CIS and re-installing it minus AV!
I set all of the services to Manual and check that there are no components running, so there shouldn't be much interference.
The memory problem started before CIS, when it was CFP, so there was no other AV on the system.

I don't have a hardware firewall and the layered protection seems to be like CIS' Defence+ and FW.

V_RocKs,

Avast doesn't seem to take a lot of RAM, ultimately, just on start up and then gradually releases it; it's during this period when apps. are slow to start - just when I'm starting them!
I haven't had lots of notes from Avast; this might be something to do with your settings.

[Giraffe]

Well, I've been having a clearout:

Removed Avast with the removal tool
Removed AntiVir
Ran CIS setup and uninstalled the AV (didn't really want to remove CIS!)
Cleaned the Registry of everything that I could find re. Avast and AntiVir

all of the above with reboots as appropriate

Installed latest version of Avast.

Now setting up and checking to see if it's any better.
Nice to have Avast back, anyway 

[Tarq57]

You might also want to run the Avira registry cleaner (#6 on that page) to remove orphaned AV entries.
Be careful; it will find AV entries for more than just Avira products. Don't delete any of the Avast ones.

[Giraffe]

Thank you for the link.

It came up with 960 entries! Most were zonemap, so don't need removing; I tried to exclude zonemap but couldn't (only used -zonemap, so probably not valid).

For the first clearout I used Registrar Lite, as that allows the deletion of Legacy items; I'll have another go with the keywords in Avira's utility.

Things in general seem a little better than before. This might be due to re-installing Avast or possibly as a result of removing CAV from CIS. Still not as good as with Avira but at least web activity is monitored with Avast.