I have 10 WinXP PC network with files on a Win2003 SBS server. Just done some changes over the last few weeks, which involved replacing some PCs with new Win7 PCs, upgrading from Avast 4 to 5, upgrading switch and NICs so all on gigabit and replacing server with a high-spec NAS box (Linux) with RAID and dual LAN ports (802.3ad link aggregation, so 2GB). All PCs are now running Avast 5 Pro.
Since putting in the new Win7 PCs and Avast 5 (put on the new PCs at the same time), there has been some big problems with the performance of Sage Accounting 2008 on the Windows 7 PCs. I've done loads of tests with the network, servers and PCs and been through loads of Sage diagnostics etc and have now found the culprit to be Avast 5 - but only when on Windows 7.
Here's an example - Two similar spec PCs, one running XP and one running Win7. Everything else is identical on both (Sage 2008, Avast 5, same data source, both on Gigabit LAN etc etc). Sage performs fine on the XP PC, but on the Win7 PC Sage is slow, so slow that it freezes for 5 seconds and displays "not responding" while it tries to access the data. One particular task on the XP PC takes 1 second and then takes 8 seconds on the Win7 PC! I then stopped Avast scanning the Sage program files and data locations on both PCs, but this made no difference. I then uninstalled Avast from the Win7 PC and Sage now works fine and is now performs at the same speed as the XP PC (that still has Avast running)! Obviously, excluding locations from Avast scanning doesn't work.
So why does Avast 5 cause such noticeable performance differences on Win7 (32-bit)?
It is only Sage which is obviously slow. But that is what the users use most of the time anyway. Other applications seem fine. However, it is probably that Sage is just highlighting an underlying performance issue with Avast on Win7 (and when Win7 is accessing network data), as the XP PCs are fine.
I've been spending hours on this trying to find the causes of why Sage is so slow, as I changed many things at the same time. At the end of my tests, I've found this isn't a Sage issue. It is a Avast 5 on Windows 7. Can anyone help? At the moment, Sage is almost unusable on Win7 PCs with Avast 5.
