AvastUI.exe and Ashdisp.exe extremely high load - 50 percent

[SillyWalks]

I was running Avast 4.8 and Ashdisp.exe was at 50% load. Since i have a dual-core cpu, maybe it was at 100% load on one core, but i'm not sure.

In the regular Task Manager processes list i could only see that svchost was at 50% load, but using Process Explorer from Sysinternals i found out the problem was Ashdisp.exe.

I couldn't find a way to fix it, so i decided it was a good time to just switch to Avast 5.

However, now the same problem still exists, but with AvastUI.exe!
Keep in mind that this is while my computer is fully booted up, and not doing much of anything in particular. No programs are running, just an svchost process (AvastUI.exe) at 50% exactly, constantly.


Can anyone tell me what is going on, and how to fix it?

[SillyWalks]

I seem to have it resolved.

Apparently i received a very genuine looking "would you like to install an update for so-and-so?" message for a program (i guess something like Flash, but i'm not sure), which was in fact infected with a virus. THis must have been causing the high load on Avast.
That's my theory at least, i have no other.
Anyway, Avast never noticed the virus (a generic trojan of some sort), but the newest version of Adaware did, and cleaned it up.

[Tarq57]

I suggest an additional check with MBAM http://www.malwarebytes.org/ . Free version available. Similar in operation to AdAware, but considerably better and lighter.

I've read about that rogue flash update. I also suggest (for prevention) that you disable scripts in the browser, for scripts not marked as safe. Or use Firefox with the NoScript add-on.