Avast free - Startup/ webbrowsing slowdowns

[Sode no Shirayuki]

Hi, I've been happy with Avast for a while now; it consumes little ram and CPU while providing good protect. However, the I have a feeling the File System Shield is resulting in significant slower start ups, and the Web Shield and Network Shield are resulting in significantly slower browsing. Basically, I believe Avast is doing TOO much even things which may be unnecessary to providing adequate computer security. I'm wondering what I can do to limit the impact Avast's shields have on my system to significantly increase the speed of start ups and browsing. For instance, what types of things would be safe to exclude from Avast's shields while not having a negative impact on my computer's security? 

[SafeSurf]

1.   What is your OS, 32 or 64-bit?  How much RAM do you have?
2.   What version of Avast did you install?  5.0.677 is the current version.
3.   What product of Avast did you install?  Free, Pro, AIS?
4.   What other security software do you currently have or did you have in the past on this machine including antivirus (AV), firewall (FW), and other security programs?  If they were in the past, how did you remove them (the vendor's uninstaller's tool or another way)?

Check to see what other programs you have at Start Up to see if they are all necessary or if you can disable some of them.  Most likely, not all of them are needed and this will speed up Avast at Start Up.

In addition, do you regularly clean your system?  CCleaner, a freeware system optimization, privacy and cleaning tool is something that many of us use here.  There is a Slim version available as well at http://www.piriform.com/ccleaner/builds.  It removes unused files (cache, temporary Internet files, etc.) from your system - allowing Windows to run faster and freeing up valuable hard disk space.  It also cleans traces of your online activities such as your Internet history.  Additionally it contains a fully featured registry cleaner. 

I would not recommend disabling shields from Avast, especially until I get your reply back.  Thank you.

[Sode no Shirayuki]

1) Windows XP Media Center Edition Version 2002 with SP3; 32-bit; 1.93 GB

2) 5.0.677

3) avast! Free Antivirus

4) avast! Free Antivirus, Online Armor Free, and Sandboxie make up my primary security. Malwarebytes' Anti-Malware and Super Anti-Spyware are my on-demand scanners. I use Secunia PSI and FileHippo Update Checker to keep my programs up to date. I've used add/remove programs to remove security programs; if I ran into trouble I would use the vendor's uninstall tool if available to finish the job. I use Revo Uninstaller now; if I run into trouble I'll use the vendor's uninstall tool if available. I've used Microsoft Security Essentials and Avira AntiVir in the past. They aren't recent, though.

5) At first glance, I do notice some start up objects that are likely unnecessary and I'm sure there are others. I'm going to look into this in the distant future (hopefully) when I do a complete system restore and remove all of the unnecessary programs that are pointlessly taking up hard disk space, adding the programs that are necessary to me, and work on my anime. This thread is part of the preparation for this. I would like to add avast! Free Antivirus, again, but would like to sort out the difficulty with slowdowns first as a result of its' shields.

6) I do use CCleaner regularly. I use Wise Disk Cleaner to clean up junk files over a longer period of time.
 
Despite the above information, my browsing and start up time did seem faster before using avast! Free Antivirus.

Additional Information: I think it might be worth mentioning I run the latest (non-beta) version of Mozilla Firefox with a few add-ons. The add-ons are as follows: Adblock Plus, Ghostery, BetterPrivacy, NoScript, FasterFox, CompactMenu 2.0, Download Statusbar, Keyscrambler, OpenDownload. It might be worth noting these same add-ons were used also before using avast! Free Antivirus.

[Sode no Shirayuki]

In addition to the aforementioned, it might also be worth mentioning I use Auslogics Disk Defrag and Auslogics Registry Cleaner as my defragmenting and registry cleaning programs. I use Recuva to recover files.

[YoKenny]

Did you fully remove Microsoft Security Essentials and Avira AntiVir 

They leave lots of residual stuff on your system:
How to manually uninstall Microsoft Security Essentials
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2435760
Download Avira AntiVir Removal Tool
http://www.avira.com/en/support-download-avira-antivir-removal-tool

[Sode no Shirayuki]

I'll go ahead and give it a try just to be sure. On a side note: What does the "Wipe Free Space" option in CCleaner do and should I use it? I don't quite understand it.

[Sode no Shirayuki]

I don't see anything obvious in the registry pertaining to MSE and Avira.

[SafeSurf]

What does the "Wipe Free Space" option in CCleaner do and should I use it? I don't quite understand it.

http://www.piriform.com/docs/ccleaner/using-ccleaner/wiping-free-disk-space

I would recommend running the vendor's uninstaller tools for MSE and Avira just to be sure -- run each one separately and reboot in between each uninstall.  Let us know how this works for you.  Thank you.

[Sode no Shirayuki]

I haven't been able to locate an uninstall tool for Avira Antivir Personal and Microsoft Security Essentials. Could you post a direct link if you know?

[YoKenny]

Go back and read my Reply #4 on: Yesterday at 06:50:36 PM

[Sode no Shirayuki]

The link you provided for an MSE uninstall tool does not provide an MSE uninstall tool, rather the link informs how to manually uninstall the program which I've already said I've tried. I've found no traces of the program that I can personally tell.

The link you provided for an Avira uninstall tool also does not provide an uninstall tool, rather the tools provided are specialized scanners to located and remove traces of specific malware.

[SafeSurf]

MSE Uninstaller: See 21b here -> http://uninstallers.blogspot.com/

Avira Uninstaller:
- Avira RegistryCleaner: http://www.avira.com/en/support-download-avira-registrycleaner
- How to Remove Antivir Antivirus: http://www.pchell.com/virus/uninstallantivir.shtml
- Uninstall Avira Antivir Completely:
http://www.themisteriosos.com/uninstall-avira-antivir-completely.htm

Please uninstall one at a time and reboot in between each uninstall.  Let me know if you have any additional questions.  Thank you.

[Sode no Shirayuki]

Appremover didn't seem to do anything; it didn't even locate Avast (my current antivirus).

I already have Reno Uninstaller, but I can't seem to use the program to remove any previously uninstalled programs; the programs need to be uninstalled from the list.

Avira's RegCleaner found 11 entries.

The only two entries that seem to be relevant to Avira are:

hkey_current_user\software\nvidia corporation\global\nview\windowmanagement\avira_antivir_personal_en
hkey_local_machine\software\microsoft\esent\process\avira_antivir_personal_en

Two entries do not specify the entire entry.

The rest of the entries are either associated with Avast and something called "avipbb".

[SafeSurf]

None of us recommended that you use Appremover or Revo...we suggested that you use the vendor's uninstaller's tools to remove their software.

I'm glad you were able to find remnants for avira.  The avipbb file is also related to avira, and this can be deleted.

Did you run the MSE uninstaller as well?

[Sode no Shirayuki]

The sites you recommended also recommended appremover and revo uninstaller.

That being said, the "MSE uninstaller" was useless. It didn't show any sign of progress for a while and my computer's services were using massive amount of CPU making it seem like everything froze. I'll stay away from foreign websites. If there is a legitimate uninstaller tool for MSE it should be located on Microsoft's website which I've yet to find.

It was a pain running Avira RegCleaner. It often terminated itself due to an error and often afterwords other programs I attempted to run would also terminate themselves due to an error. What in the world are all of the listed domains? Their legitimacy look questionable. The report file for the scan is attached.