Upgraded to Avast 5 (free) and boot-up process time increased by 500%

[adifrank]

I recently upgraded to Avast v5.0.507 (free version).
Since doing so I've been experiencing a very slow booting process every time I boot my computer. It used to take a bit more than half a minute. Now it takes between around 3 minutes, which is not the end of the world, but it shouldn't be like that. I've been using previous versions of Avast and have had no problems like this before.

I am pretty sure this lag in the start up process has to do with the installation of this new version of Avast Antivirus for two reasons: Fist of all this started to happen after upgrading to version 5. Secondly, during this slow boot-up I've noticed that the Avast icon in the system tray has a yellow exclamation mark on it. Opening the Avast user interface I saw that all Real-time Shields (meaning the Mail Shield and the Web Shield) were OFF. After 2-3 minutes both Real-time Shields suddenly switch on, the yellow exclamation mark disappears from the Avast system tray icon and the computer boot-up process is finished immediately following this.

I'm running Windows XP.
Other processes set for boot-up time (besides the normal Windows stuff) are:
Lingoes.exe
MeeboNotifier.exe (Chat service)
AiNap.exe (motherboard software)
QFanHelp.exe (motherboard software)
CpuLevelUpHelp.exe (motherboard software)
googletalk.exe (googleTalk)
SixEngine.exe (motherboard software)
sfp.exe (Comodo Firewall)
KHALMNPR.EXE (Logitech mouse utility)
nwiz.exe (nVidia software)
NvCpl.dll (nVidia software)
NvMcTray.dll (nVidia software)
DeltaIITray.exe (M-Audio soundcard software)
jusched.exe (Java Update Schedule)
Launchy.exe (starts Launchy)
SetPoint.exe (Logitch mouse software)
OSA.exe (Microsoft Office)

I saw a couple of post in this forum with a similar problem, but different in some ways... So I thought I'd post my version.

Will appreciate any help on this. Thanks!
 

[Lisandro]

The interaction between avast and Comodo could be the problem... I mean, could increase the boot time.
The status of the icon on system tray is the normal behavior if the shields take a little more to load.
Change into Troubleshooting tab of settings the option to delay avast services at startup and test.

[doktornotor]

Haven't touched Comodo for a while... but two things:

You did disable the installation of the AV part of CIS, didn't you?
Is avast on trusted applications list?

Beyond that, there's always a possibility of some low-level conflict there, plus Comodo leave quite a lot to be desired in the QA dept. when it comes to releases.  :'(

[sephira_01]

Haven't touched Comodo for a while... but two things:

You did disable the installation of the AV part of CIS, didn't you?
Is avast on trusted applications list?

Beyond that, there's always a possibility of some low-level conflict there, plus Comodo leave quite a lot to be desired in the QA dept. when it comes to releases.  :'(

I'm using Avast and COMODO (only installed firewall, optimum defense) altogether but there's no conflict in my PC, perhaps adifrank has installed it with COMODO AV activated

[Dch48]

I tried Avast5 with Comodo and there was a problem with the the AV updates not being recognized as safe and giving warnings or getting sandboxed (before I disabled the sandboxing). There also was a noticeable increase in startup time with the Avast/Comodo combination vs the full Comodo package. I also noticed a slowdown in browsing. I don't think Comodo's v4 and Avast5 work together that well yet.

I used Comodo for almost a year but I uninstalled it two days ago because I got tired of the constant nagging and alerts about perfectly safe actions being taken by safe apps. This was mostly with game programs and Comodo has been clear that will not whitelist any games or even game vendors. That became unacceptable to me after numerous problems getting World of Warcraft to update and Steam games to even work at all. I am currently using Avast!5 free and the XP Firewall. I feel reasonably safe since I have never been hit by any zero day stuff or anything bad at all. My startup time is very fast now and I do see that yellow ! on the Avast icon for a few seconds but it quickly disappears.

[Vlk]

adifrank, was it just the first boot after installing avast, or all subsequent boots as well?
During the first boot, avast builds its "persistent cache" of files that won't be scanned during the next access.. and this may take some time (it involves checking of digital signatures and other rather costly operations).

Thanks
Vlk