avast! 5 takes ages to load on WinXP SP3

[RejZoR]

Ok, i was fixing the friends system and he was still using avast! 4.8, so i've installed avast! 5.0. However, on every system boot, it takes like 5-10 minutes for Mail Shield and/or Web Shield to start. Internet cannot be accessed in the meanwhile.
I know it's an old system with AthlonXP, 768MB of RAM and a 80GB Maxtor drive, but still, my netbook with WinXP SP3 doesn't have this problem. I've also assigned IP's to the network card so it initializes faster, but still a long loading time.
It's annoying and even though he could live without Mail SHield, i'd prefer to keep Web Shield. Otherwise i'll have to leave just File System Shield and Behavior Shield or replace it with MSE or AVG altogether...

Any suggestion is welcome, so i can try and fix this. Thx

EDIT:
As it turns out, it's not avast!'s fault as it's taking forever for network card to initialize, then Security Center pops up that there is no Firewall and after that Windows Firewall magically apears. avast! was just waiting for it to load before it could load its shields.
I know this doesn't belong in this thread anymore now, but any idea how to solve this? I don't have such problem on netbook which is also running WinXP SP3 and same version of avast! 5...

[Pondus]

you say its an old system......time for a reinstall maybe 

[RejZoR]

Well it's a fresh install, that's why it's bothering me. I guess i'll have to do it again if something stupid happened during first install...

[Lisandro]

Can you test with http://soluto.com ?

[freduser]

I have virtually the same issue on my system, fresh install (AMD phenom 2 quadcore, 4 gig ram, XP Sp3). After windows startup, the internet cannot be accessed until after avast has finished running up - everything else on the computer can be accessed but avast and the net. Right click or double click on the avast icon in the task bar and nothing happens - no dialog box or anything. Same happens when selecting avast from the start menu or desktop. You just have to wait for up to a few minutes before being able to access the net or the avast interface.

Never had this problem with 4.8, only since recently installing the current version 5.

This is unacceptable, even for a free app. Been more than happy with 4.8.

Any useful help appreciated.

[RejZoR]

It's weird. It was happening again after another re-install after i've updated all the countless .NET Framework patches from WIndows Update. Then there were another series of updates and after i've applied those, it was fixed again.
Also i've updated LAN card driver just to be sure.

[SafeSurf]

Are there any things in Start up you can disable to speed things up?

[RejZoR]

It's a fresh installed system without any unnecessary stuff. Besides, it's fixed now and boots up very fast, avast! has the yellow triangle for like 3 seconds now and then it's fully up and running. Opposed to before where it took well over 3 minutes to do the same...

[SafeSurf]

Great...so problem is resolved?

[YoKenny]

Can you test with http://soluto.com ?

Soluto brought my XP Pro system to its knees.

Thank &Deity for Acronis True Image that got rid of it.

[Lisandro]

Soluto brought my XP Pro system to its knees.

Strange... I've installed in Windows 7 and two computers with Windows XP...
Did you try troubleshooting that in their forum/email support?

[mikaelrask]

meaby to reinstall avast from scratch would work for you download the latest version of avast from there homepage avast.com or filehippo.com. uninstall avast reboot. clean your registry keys with programs like ccleaner. install the latest version of avast.

http://download.cnet.com/Avast-Free-Antivirus/3000-2239_4-10019223.html?part=dl-85737&subj=dl&tag=button download link to avast free throught avast.com

http://www.filehippo.com/download_avast_antivirus/ an alternative to the link above if the first is slow to download from

http://www.filehippo.com/download_ccleaner/ to the registry cleaner even a good tool to sweep your harddrive for more space on the harddrive.

hope this helps good luck.

[anbu]

is .net framework client 4 installed on that system ? in my system i've installed .net framework 4 client and avast started to slowdown especially webshield
solution is to rebuild the .net framework cache.

execute the following command
for 32 bits
c:\> cd c:\windows\Microsoft.net\Framework\v4.0.30319
ngen update

for 64bits
c:\> cd c:\windows\Microsoft.net\Framework64\v4.0.30319
ngen update

for 64 bit system you have to execute both of them

i've done this in my  system and now avast load quickly

thank you

[DavidR]

Surely .net framework would be inert unless a program that requires it is running and then only in activities related to that program ?

I have an absolute hatred with .net framework, without doubt the worst MS update process ever. It is an absolute nightmare trying to keep this updated, especially on dial-up neigh it's on impossible. Why the h*ll they have it like this where latest releases don't incorporate/support previous versions, etc.

[mrgigabyte]

version 5 is more powerfull i use it on my windows 7 64 bit and 4.8 on my xp system