Avast! .884 and .889 slows exectuable launch

[R. Hansen]

I recently updated from .667 to .884, and then to .889. I am disappointed by the new release. Both the .884 and .889 versions slow my Thunderbird Launch down to 20 seconds (!) after startup, 10 seconds (!) on subsequent launch. With .667, it launched near instantaneously. Microsoft Excel 2007 also launches in around 10 seconds, it used to launch near instantly.

When I disable AvastSvc in the services.msc, I get normal launch times again. The new version is causing this. I tracked it down using procexp, and AvastSvc is using 95-99% processor time for the whole period before the program can launch.

I launch my email a lot. Therefore, I am on the verge of uninstalling Avast! I have an older computer, and your package used to be truly excellent in performance, and now it is severely impairing my system. At the least, I would like instructions on how to revert to version .667. The new version is crippling my (admittedly old) machine.

AMD Athlon 3200+
1.5 GB RAM
ATA133 Hard Disks/NTFS filesystem
Windows XP SP3 running Limited User Account (did not check for LUA bugs)
IE 6
Thunderbird 3.1.7
Office 2007 Enterprise, fully patched

Please send me some solution, or I'm not going to be able to use your software any longer, which would be a shame, because it's otherwise great stuff. I've been recommending it a lot.

[R. Hansen]

Upon closer examination, stopping the "Behavior Shield" solves the problem entirely. That is the problem module, on my machine.

[CraigB]

You can go to add remove programs and uninstall the BhS for the time being if that is your cause of problems.

[igor]

When you switch to Real-time Shields / File System Shield and start Excel - how much does the number of scanned files grow?
Similarly, how much does the number of analyzed evens under Behavior Shield grow (if Behavior Shield is active)?

[R. Hansen]

Thanks Craig, that is just what I did. 

[R. Hansen]

4 files are scanned on launch of Excel 2007, Igor. Unfortunately, I've already uninstalled behavior shield, but I can reinstall and check if you like.