Avastsvc slowing system down too much CPU 100%

[Morpheus666]

I have just put a fresh install of XPsp3X86 on an older Dell Dimension 2400. It has 1GB ram and a 2.4GHZ Celeron Processor. When trying to use either IE or Mozilla for simple Facebook chat sessions there is 10-20 seconds lags and I can see that Avastsvc is at the top of CPU usage and the CPU shows 100%. As soon as I stop the Avast Service, the CPU usage drops to like 2% and web browser usage is just fine. A quick google search did not yield anything. Are there any performance tweeks to make it a little less aggressive?

TIA!

[CraigB]

Try a repair of avast first through add remove program to make sure there are no avast fault's,then you can check your startup's to see what you dont need starting every time you start your system, type msconfig in the run bar then go to startup's, more than likely there are a stack of thing's running automatically that dont need to and are using up your 1gig of ram.

[YoKenny]

I do not like msconfig as a start up manager:
Why can't I use msconfig to change my services?
http://www.blackviper.com/AskBV/XP25.htm

It is much better to use a safe start up manager like Startup Control Panel:
http://www.mlin.net/StartupCPL.shtml 

[CraigB]

I think msconfig does a good job and it's (safe)and simple without having to add more junk onto the system, if you wanted even easyer then you can turn off startup's through ccleaner.

[YoKenny]

I think msconfig does a good job and it's (safe)and simple without having to add more junk onto the system, if you wanted even easyer then you can turn off startup's through ccleaner.

There are many ways to skin the cat
http://www.usingenglish.com/reference/idioms/there+are+many+ways+to+skin+a+cat.html

[Morpheus666]

Thanks for the advice everyone, but it's not a RAM issue, Memory usage is nominal, around 340/1024 MB. It is processor.

[CraigB]

Have you tweeked any of the setting's in avast? if not then it is already set for the best balance between performance and safety, there has to be some other issue with your system if it is constantly on 100% cpu usage as avast is very light on resources, and your cpu is 2.4 ghz so that is the same as mine and im only using about 2-3% cpu.

[schmidthouse]

Have you tweaked any of the setting's in avast? if not then it is already set for the best balance between performance and safety, there has to be some other issue with your system if it is constantly on 100% cpu usage as avast is very light on resources, and your cpu is 2.4 ghz so that is the same as mine and im only using about 2-3% cpu.

Hi Craigb: Was the OP saying CPU was 100% constantly or just when iniating IE? My CPU does spike to close to 100% when IE is first inniated(obviously due to Web Shield) however does drop after Avast has done its thing. Also I have seen Avast spike in CPU use due to conflict/interaction with other software install (For example: Winpatrol+) but again does drop after abit..never more then a minute at most during unusual situations...new software install etc. I don't believe the OP stated for how long he has left the situation before intervening.
Just some thoughts.

[CraigB]

Have you tweaked any of the setting's in avast? if not then it is already set for the best balance between performance and safety, there has to be some other issue with your system if it is constantly on 100% cpu usage as avast is very light on resources, and your cpu is 2.4 ghz so that is the same as mine and im only using about 2-3% cpu.

Hi Craigb: Was the OP saying CPU was 100% constantly or just when iniating IE? My CPU does spike to close to 100% when IE is first inniated(obviously due to Web Shield) however does drop after Avast has done its thing. Also I have seen Avast spike in CPU use due to conflict/interaction with other software install (For example: Winpatrol+) but again does drop after abit..never more then a minute at most during unusual situations...new software install etc. I don't believe the OP stated for how long he has left the situation before intervening.
Just some thoughts.

Might not be all the time, im just going on the fact that the op mentioned that when avast was on the avastsvc was high and then droped of when he stoped it

[schmidthouse]

Have you tweaked any of the setting's in avast? if not then it is already set for the best balance between performance and safety, there has to be some other issue with your system if it is constantly on 100% cpu usage as avast is very light on resources, and your cpu is 2.4 ghz so that is the same as mine and im only using about 2-3% cpu.

Hi Craigb: Was the OP saying CPU was 100% constantly or just when iniating IE? My CPU does spike to close to 100% when IE is first inniated(obviously due to Web Shield) however does drop after Avast has done its thing. Also I have seen Avast spike in CPU use due to conflict/interaction with other software install (For example: Winpatrol+) but again does drop after abit..never more then a minute at most during unusual situations...new software install etc. I don't believe the OP stated for how long he has left the situation before intervening.
Just some thoughts.

Might not be all the time, im just going on the fact that the op mentioned that when avast was on the avastsvc was high and then droped of when he stoped it

Oh, OK I think I see what he was saying. Just wasn't sure

[SafeSurf]

When trying to use either IE or Mozilla for simple Facebook chat sessions there is 10-20 seconds lags and I can see that Avastsvc is at the top of CPU usage and the CPU shows 100%. As soon as I stop the Avast Service, the CPU usage drops to like 2% and web browser usage is just fine.

It sounds like Avast is scanning multiple things and therefore bringing your CPU usage up.  I don't know how many browsers you may have open, browser(s) with chat, social media sites, email, etc., but this would all cause Avast to scan.  You mention that as soon you you stop these services, the CPU usage drops...this is to be expected.  And yes, I would leave your Avast settings at default for now.

[Yanto.Chiang]

Hi All,

This problem also happened with my system till today,

Avastsvc.exe processes sometimes hit until 20K something, and also caused my system become stuck and slowly.

I set on my vmware to using Windows XP SP3 with hardware specification :
RAM 256MB
HDD 8 GB
Processor following my notebook is Intel Core 2 Duo CPU T5900 2.20GHz

For each i turn on this vmware file, then i always need to restart. As you see at my attached picture, the AvastSvc.exe required around 18K after reboot.

Previously this vmware i installed with ADNM and avast client, but the performance was not became slowly like recently performance

[Asyn]

Avastsvc.exe processes sometimes hit until 20K something, and also caused my system become stuck and slowly.

Well, 20k isn't really high, if you're on XP...
asyn

[-Genesis-]

My other desktop comp which is AMD Sempron 1.6 GHZ and 1 Gig ram uses around 38k on XP but its running well.

[DavidR]

Guys you are talking KBs here when in fact it is MBs e.g. 18,352K is 18,352,000 or roughly 18MB.

The other aspect is that this avastSvc.exe is the control for all shields so it is likely to spike/fluctuate depending on what you are doing at the time. Not to mention RAM use is not related to CPU activity which the OP is asking about.

@ Morpheus666
When the CPU spikes to 100% is the avast icon actually rotating, indicating that it is scanned ?

What other security software do you have installed, firewall, anti-spyware, etc. ?

By a fresh install of XP SP3 on an old Dell, was this the dell recovery disk that came with the old dell (as they often come pre-installed all sorts of junk including another AV) ?