Issue with opening pictures Avast Scans it for no reason

[JimDirt]

I am having issues that i can't find a setting for , i am using the Free Avast and i am having a issue with my pictures  , every time i open a folder i have pictures in  Avast seems to scan it , so it takes forever for the pictures to show up as it has to finish the scan , i can not find any setting to stop it from scanning My Pictures EVERY TIME i open a folder , this is not a scheduled scan or a manual scan  , it decides on its own to scan the folder EVERY time i open it to view my pictures (the orange/white icon in the taskbar spins every time i open a picture folder) , when it scans the contents of the folder shows blank till it finishes the scan then the pitures load so i can view them , this takes several seconds to a minute to do this depending on how many pictures are in the folder , it is very annoying

Is there any way to stop it from scanning a folder EVERY time it is opened ??

Any help would be appreciated !

[DavidR]

What avast version are you using 4.8 or 5.0 ?

This doesn't happen by default on my system and I'm working in image folders lots for the forum.

Have you been tweaking the avast settings ?

[Hermite15]

@ the OP: weird...even if scanning when opening (the pics), it shouldn't slow down. You should do a scan of this folder where your pics are with "persistence cache" enabled (storing and using >>> go to the expert settings of "folder scan" or explorer scan). This will cache the signatures of those files (the pics) and they won't be scanned again unless modified.

edit: if you're using Avast 4, ignore this post.

[JimDirt]

I am using version 5.0545

and NO i have not adjusted ANY settings  , i left everything default

The exact issue is when i go to My Documents , and ANY folder that has pictures in them , it seems to scan the folder on its own , the icon in the taskbar spins , then when it stops spinning the pictures finally load , this can take a while depending on how many pics are in the folder , in the case where there are 50 or more pics , it takes close to a minute before i can see any contents of the folder , and again , this happens EVERY time i open a folder with pictures , even if i open a folder  , close it , then open it again right away , it does the exact same thing

[JimDirt]

I just looked at the Advanced Settings you spoke of and the Persistance Cache thing is already checked !

[Hermite15]

I just looked at the Advanced Settings you spoke of and the Persistance thing is already checked !

okay sorry this seems to be on your system only, I've never observed such a behavior...you might want to reinstall Avast?

[JimDirt]

OK i tried to Uninstall using Add and Remove Programs and i keep getting a error saying there was a Error trying to uninstall from the Avast panel that shows when un-installing  , if i close Add and Remove Programs then re-open it , Avast is still there  , i try to un-install again and get the same error

so do i try to Re-install while it is still there ??

[Hermite15]

no, just close the interface if you can. If you can't use the normal uninstall procedure (which is always preferable when accessible), use this now:
http://www.avast.com/uninstall-utility

then reboot, then check that the alwil folders in program files and in document and settings\all users\application data\alwil...have been completely deleted, then reinstall.

[JimDirt]

OK i un-installed in Safe Mode , then deleted the folders , then re-installed , Updated , Re-booted , then tried to open my picture folders and it STILL scans the folder before i can view anything  , it took about 53 seconds to be able to view any pictures in that folder with 202 pictures in it  , before the icon in my taskbar stopped spinning  it showed blank just like before the un-install/re-install

so what can i do to correct this ??

Or am i stuck with this issue  , as it gets real annoying when it takes almost a minute for a folder to open

[Hermite15]

I have really no idea sorry...not even sure the scanning is responsible for the folders opening slowly. You're sure everything is back to normal if you stop Avast? you can try that by stopping the services (in computer management)...

[JimDirt]

OK i just tried to open the same folder again and it seems to be opening fine now  , it seems that once the folder finally opens , the next time i open it , it seems to open like it should , i tried another folder with pictures and it did the same thing  , the first time i open it  , it takes forever , then if i close it  , and either open another folder then go back or just try to open it again  , it opens fine  , so hopefully the re-install fixed    

Thank you for your help !!

[Hermite15]

you're welcome. If that happens again don't hesitate to try stopping avast services to make sure if it's it or not

[DavidR]

It is probably worth running a Full System Scan a couple of times as this also builds/populates the persistent cache. Once built/populated it speeds on-demand scans also in subsequent scans.

See avast blog article - http://blog.avast.com/2010/04/25/how-to-make-the-full-system-scan-6x-faster-in-10-days/

[JimDirt]

OK i will do a Full System Scan right now  , i did have to go to EVERY folder i had with pictures and let them load then i could click on any one of them and they open fine now  , so whatever it was , it seemed to be the re-installation that fixed the issue

Again  , thank you  !

[DavidR]

You're welcome.