avast blocks my audio mixer

[emanuel_mocean]

Hi .I am using the lastest updated free version of Avast and it stops my audio mixer from loading .If I pause avast it loads instantly . I added mixer's directory to exceptions , still isn't working .
Any ideas ?
Thanks
Edit. I forgot ... its an EMU 0404 , the mixer is PatchMixDsp

[DavidR]

avast doesn't block, but scans and alerts to infection, presumably this isn't what is happening ?

If there is an apparent blocking it is usually an indication of conflict between two security applications or remnants of one.

Have (or did) you another Anti-Virus installed in this system, if so what was it and how did you get rid of it ?

What other security based software do you have installed ?

[emanuel_mocean]

I have spybot but I stopped it and its the same thing .But when I stop avast the mixer imediately loads.
I don't think there is a virus because Avast doesn't alert me about it . Simply the mixers stands for minutes (I didn't have patience to wait more) at "loading effects presets" phase .
EDIT: the CPU stands at 0% so its clear something is stopping the mixer from loading the SMALL presets

[DavidR]

You haven't answered possibly the most important question "
Have (or did) you another Anti-Virus installed in this system, if so what was it and how did you get rid of it ?" as this is the most common conflict related issue.

[emanuel_mocean]

No , didn't have anything installed before . I have just installed windows and installed only Avast and Spybot Search&Destroy. I will try to deactive Spybot Teatimer resident protection .
EDIT : I deactivated bothe Spybot resident services , still not starting

[DavidR]

I'm at a loss as to what to suggest.

I take it that this audio mixer used a standard .exe file to launch it and it isn't a file associations issue ?

Try a repair of avast. Add Remove programs, select 'avast! Anti-Virus,' click the Change/Remove button and scroll down to Repair, click next and follow. Though I don't think this should impact that problem.

[emanuel_mocean]

yes its an exe , EmuPMixDSP.exe . The part of avast that I need to stop from Avast in order to get it started is Behavior Shield .
Edit : its strange Behaviour shield only shows yellow "Events analysed" and no red "Events blocked"
Is this Behaviour Shield component important , or I can just stop it ?

[emanuel_mocean]

It's not actually blocking the mixer , but analising it veeeeeeeeeeeerrrry slow with Behavior Shield . That means 10 minutes with no application loaded - yes I had that kind of patience . Without BS it would start in less then 3-5 seconds . I guess it has something to do with those effects the mixer is loading (there are about 100 of them - reverbs and stuff) , but why doesn't BS at least use the free CPU ? It's constantly 0-4% usage.

[DavidR]

What are your system specifications, CPU, RAM, etc. ?

Though, your comment about not using the other CPU (core) leads me to believe that your system is more than powerful. But at least we/you have pinned it down. Certainly strange the Behaviour Shield is mixed up in this (excuse the pun).

What is your operating system ?

Hopefully one of the Alwil team will latch on to this topic.

[emanuel_mocean]

Fujitsu-Siemens Scenic W600 , P4 2.6GHz with Hyper Threading , 2GB Ddram 400 , XP Professional SP3  . 20GB free on system partition .

[Sm3K3R]

Avast 5 free works perfectly fine ,without the behavioural module installed/enabled ,on 2 machines that i have XP SP 3/W7 64 bit.This module functions can be replaced by using a proper free firewall with XP ,firewalls that usually come with a (better) behavioural module by themselves .If you search a little the forum you will observe that this module doesnt do too much for the moment.Stay with it disabled ,nothing wrong will happen to you.The other shields work perfectly fine.
So keep that module disabled combine Avast 5 free with a good firewall and get over with it.
Aditionally ,if you want more start up speed you can disable the boot-up rootkit scanner via Settings ->Troubleshooting section.

[emanuel_mocean]

Thanks (mersi ) I guess I will just turn it off for the moment .

[DavidR]

Yes a short term work around until someone who knows more about the Behaviour Shield functionality, one of the developers.

[avastblast]

i confirm the exact same problem with the mixer aka "emu patch mix dsp".  i have an EMU1830m/1010 pci card. While creative is for gamers, EMU is for audio professionals ( managed by creative )

i followed the advice to turn off the behavior shield and the "emu patch mix dsp" now loads.

heuristic was some how reporting  in system32/drivers/cthwiut.sys to be suspicious or something, which is infact used by my audio card driver.

[DavidR]

There is a pre-release version of avast 5.0.533 and that has a Behaviour Shield improvement, see http://forum.avast.com/index.php?topic=59223.0.

I don't know if that addresses this problem, possibly not, but if any of you wish to try it, the instructions are on that first post.