Avast 5 WebShield slowing down your web surfing?

[Gougeo]

Hi there,

I have been affected by this problem for a very long time (at least since I upgraded to 5) but I have only just recently identified that Avast is causing the problem. When browsing sometimes my web pages take a long time (if ever) to load. I'm not sure if the page content matters or not. Quite often I load up Google, search for something, click on the link (open in new tab) and the browser attempts to connect to the site. Quite often its just sits there spinning its loading graphic displaying "Waiting for [site address]" and displays a blank page (ive experienced this via IE,Chrome and Firefox).

Web speed is fine, if I go to a speed test site, it shows that I have up to 20Mbits. Its just that the pages stall while loading.

A simple test I used to diagnose this:
1. Go to Google and search for some random topic.
2. Open up the first 10 hits in new tabs (middle mouse click)
3. Wait for them to load.
4. Clear the browsing data and cache, change my config and start again.

I found a post saying that adding avast to my firewall exceptions should help. But it didn't. The only thing I have found to help is to turn off the web shield and the network shield.
By the way, I also got a BSOD (PAGE_FAULT_IN_NONPAGED_AREA) on win32k.sys while re enabling the network shield once while testing, I have never seen that before, but it could have been a coincidence.

Without the web and network shields, all pages load completely and quickly.

I don't monitor these forums, but I though't I'd let you know.

I'm using version 5.0.545 on Windows XP Pro.

[PapaSmurf]

I did see a speed difference, but I am kinda ok with it.
There is bound to be a difference when you have something
between you and the naked net, such as oh I don't know..
maybe a SHIELD?!? lol Just kidding, I know some users may not be
happy with a slow down. For the record, I do not have MBAM resident.
Here are my results:

[Dch48]

I get no difference whatsoever in the speedtest.net tests and loading times of my most intensive regular website, www.worldofwarcraft.com, are almost exactly the same with or without Avast! turned on. When I say turned on, I mean all shields on or disabled.

[zfactor]

i used to see a difference but with the newest version the download speeds are almost exactly the same the upload speed is maybe .5mb less with avast on

[Shaun985]

I have almost the same issue.  The overall speed hasn't slowed down too much (as shown by the speedtests, with intelligent stream scan set to off) but whether or not I'm using Firefox or IE, if I attempt to load multiple tabs (or even single pages sometimes) the pages will load to almost completion, but many of them will stall and the progress spinner will keep going and going.  I have to go to each stalled tab and reload them to get the page to completely finish.  I have not had this problem before installing Avast 5 Free, and I have no other security software loaded, using Windows XP SP3 with all the latest updates.  Avast has been pretty good so far except for this problem.  Quite annoying and is making me consider alternatives!

Hi there,

I have been affected by this problem for a very long time (at least since I upgraded to 5) but I have only just recently identified that Avast is causing the problem. When browsing sometimes my web pages take a long time (if ever) to load. I'm not sure if the page content matters or not. Quite often I load up Google, search for something, click on the link (open in new tab) and the browser attempts to connect to the site. Quite often its just sits there spinning its loading graphic displaying "Waiting for [site address]" and displays a blank page (ive experienced this via IE,Chrome and Firefox).

Web speed is fine, if I go to a speed test site, it shows that I have up to 20Mbits. Its just that the pages stall while loading.

A simple test I used to diagnose this:
1. Go to Google and search for some random topic.
2. Open up the first 10 hits in new tabs (middle mouse click)
3. Wait for them to load.
4. Clear the browsing data and cache, change my config and start again.

I found a post saying that adding avast to my firewall exceptions should help. But it didn't. The only thing I have found to help is to turn off the web shield and the network shield.
By the way, I also got a BSOD (PAGE_FAULT_IN_NONPAGED_AREA) on win32k.sys while re enabling the network shield once while testing, I have never seen that before, but it could have been a coincidence.

Without the web and network shields, all pages load completely and quickly.

I don't monitor these forums, but I though't I'd let you know.

I'm using version 5.0.545 on Windows XP Pro.

[bo.elam]

Shaun985, my system is same as yours and I don't feel any slow down
caused by the Web Shield. I can even say that my speed is basically
the same whether I have the Web Shield on or not. I am no expert but
when, in the past, I had issues of pages not loading completely it usually
means that there are time outs and those are caused by bad internet
connections. If I was you I would talk to my Internet provider and don't
let them BS you. Anyway that's what I think your problem is.
Bo

[Shaun985]

Hi bo.elam, thanks for the suggestion!  Unfortunately, I've tested the system with and without Avast (using the Avast removal tool) and the problem of incomplete pages only occurs with Avast installed.  Again, the Web Shield causes very little slow down if any at all, but the main problem is that for some reason it causes random pages to incompletely load and the progress spinner to keep going, with the "Waiting for ....." message in the status bar.  If I hit the reload button the page will complete most of the time.  It doesn't happen to every page, seems quite random, and happens more with opening multiple tabs.

[YoKenny]

@ Shaun985

Are you using XP Home or Pro and how much RAM does the system have?

[Shaun985]

Hi YoKenny, using Win XP Pro SP3 on an old P4 with 512mb ram.  Before I reinstalled windows, I was using Norton 2005 which is WAY MORE of a resource hog and it majorly slowed down my computer, but it NEVER caused internet browsing stalls or speed slow downs like Avast 5.

[Shaun985]

So anyone have any idea what my problem might be??  I've installed Avast on 3 other computers and 2 of them also have this issue, it is very strange.  Incompletely loading webpages, and a very slight slow down while using web shield...  All on Windows XP Pro SP3.

[YoKenny]

@ Shaun985

Download and run the Norton Removal Tool as removing Norton completely is important:
http://service1.symantec.com/SUPPORT/tsgeninfo.nsf/docid/2007080716270339?Open&docid=2005033108162039&nsf=tsgeninfo.nsf&view=docid

I upgraded my XP Pro system to 1.5GB RAM as it was starting to become so slow that it was painful especially after using Windows 7.

Hopefully you can find RAM for your systems as that is the best option available for older systems.

[Shaun985]

Hi YoKenny, I did actually use the Norton Removal tool, and one of the affected computers is actually a fresh install.  I do not believe it is a ram or processor issue because the ONE unaffected computer is the slowest of them all with the same amount of ram (512mb).

[YoKenny]

@ Shaun985

This is from my XP Pro system and I use a DSL connection.

[silviucc]

Ok, so here are my first 2 cents on this matter.

Setup:

CPU: Intel E7400
MB: Gigabyte EP31-DS3L
RAM: 4GB
HDD: 1 x 640 GB with 3 partitions (C: drive is only 80GB), 1 x 250GB for Games and Virtual machines I play with, 1 x 80GB for downloading
Video: Gigabyte Geforce 260 GTX core 216

OS: Windows 7 HP 64bit
Firewall: Windows has a capable firewall so I use it
Browser: IE8 with SmartScreen (Chrome and Opera)
On demand: MBAM and Hitman Pro
Daily C: drive snapshots with windows backup
Weekly C: drive snapshots with Macrium Reflect Free

I'm also behind a router that knows NAT and can do port forwarding and DMZ

I have freshly installed avast 5 after about 5 months of using no av and then MSE. I have disabled IM, Web, P2P and Net shields. Modified setting for both Quick Scan and Full Scan so they check against and populate the persistent cache whenever they run and ran a full system scan.

Today, reading a bit on the forum about web shields I did a small experiment. I enabled web shield and went to a few sites:

http://www.avast.com/

1st time it failed to completely load, did a refresh and it loaded fine.

http://wow-europe.com/

Loaded completely 1st time though a bit slow. Refresh was fast.

http://personalfirewall.comodo.com/free-download.html

Loaded ok. Downloaded the install file for comodo firewall. got 1,5MB speed with a 2MB peak.
I then disabled webshield and redownloaded the file. I got a steady 3.2MB download speed.

Did another thing. Deleted cache with CCleaner and then loaded the above again.

http://www.avast.com/

Loaded fine though a tad slow.

http://wow-europe.com/

Loaded completely though a bit slow. Refresh was fast.

http://personalfirewall.comodo.com/free-download.html

Loaded ok. Downloaded the install file for comodo firewall. got 1,5MB speed.


So my conclusion is that web shield will slow down browsing as long as at least part of th content is not already in system cache. During this small testing part avast never spiked my CPU, just choked web browsing a bit. But as I said, websites that you visit often should not be too affected. Just download speed for new content.

[Dch48]

My results in downloading the same Comodo file while making sure that it was coming from the same server, the us3 one. Comodo has multiple download servers and you don't always get the same one. Sometimes I get a European one and of course, it's slower.

With all 7 Avast! shields on*
1:16  752 KB/sec with a max of 874

All Avast! shields off
1:10 817 KB/sec with a max 865

The * denotes that the only thing that makes the download time longer and the average speed lower is the fact that it takes longer for the file to be copied from the temp folder to the designated download location and the average speed and total time keep running until the copy process is completed. Without Avast! running the copy goes faster because the file is not scanned. Since the max speed is essentially the same and the average speed before the copy operation was the same in both cases, my conclusion is that the web shield does not slow down downloading. I also tested load times for the site http://www.worldofwarcraft.com/index.xml  and they were the same with or without Avast! turned on. I also get no difference when testing speed at speedtest.net. As you can see, I'm running XP Pro SP3 with IE8 as the browser. Maybe Windows 7 or a different browser acts differently but with my setup Avast! does not affect my speeds at all.