Author Topic: avast and filemon  (Read 11336 times)

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ziffete

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avast and filemon
« on: October 26, 2004, 10:03:51 PM »
after installing avast I launched filemon ( http://www.sysinternals.com )
and I've seen that some avast processes keep accessing the disk
forever, even if there is no activity.

as an example the process ashDisp.exe or ashServ.exe keeps reading
avast4.ini forever, for no apparent reason...

isn't this affecting performance of the computer ?
is it possible to stop avast doing this ? (I've tried stopping avast
using "stop on-access protection" but didn't help at all).

thanks.

Offline Eddy

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Re:avast and filemon
« Reply #1 on: October 26, 2004, 10:15:27 PM »
The answer already has been given in several other threads.

Disk access is because ashServ.exe is a On-Access module.
This is perfectly normal behaviour.

Quote
is it possible to stop avast doing this ?
Yes it is possible, but you will be without protection from Avast ;D

ziffete

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Re:avast and filemon
« Reply #2 on: October 26, 2004, 10:43:13 PM »
didn't search before posting... sorry  :-[
I've found this thread:
http://forum.avast.com/index.php?board=2;action=display;threadid=6215;start=msg47679#msg47679

the comments posted there are valid: why not checking avast.ini
less frequently, or using ReadDirectoryChangesW ?
or maybe they can use SQL Lite (http://www.hwaci.com/sw/sqlite)
or similar (instead of ms jet drivers), with possibly reducing
the size of the setup too.

thanks.

Offline Lisandro

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Re:avast and filemon
« Reply #3 on: October 27, 2004, 12:25:09 AM »
Why not checking avast.ini
less frequently, or using ReadDirectoryChangesW ?
or maybe they can use SQL Lite (http://www.hwaci.com/sw/sqlite)
or similar (instead of ms jet drivers), with possibly reducing
the size of the setup too. thanks.

Can you try changing the storage method from ODBC to XML?
You can download 'Control' in my signature or directly edit avast4.ini file following the instructions of 'Settings'  ;)
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ziffete

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Re:avast and filemon
« Reply #4 on: October 27, 2004, 12:04:40 PM »
please can you tell me what is different when using xml for the database ?
thanks.

Offline Lisandro

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Re:avast and filemon
« Reply #5 on: October 27, 2004, 02:01:40 PM »
please can you tell me what is different when using xml for the database ?
thanks.


Browse at 'FAQ' on my signature  ;)
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ziffete

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Re:avast and filemon
« Reply #6 on: October 27, 2004, 02:24:23 PM »
ok, thank you.
I manually changed from odbc to xml, and (obviously) the .mdb isn't
accessed anymore, but this doesn't solve the continuos access to
avast.ini

Offline igor

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Re:avast and filemon
« Reply #7 on: October 27, 2004, 02:25:09 PM »
It really shouldn't affect the performance (that's why the Windows cache is there) - but I have reduced the access a little.

ziffete

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Re:avast and filemon
« Reply #8 on: October 27, 2004, 02:39:27 PM »
thanks

OisteinR

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Re:avast and filemon
« Reply #9 on: October 27, 2004, 11:09:35 PM »
It really shouldn't affect the performance (that's why the Windows cache is there)

...but it does on my computer..
Without the ashServ process running, the CPU usage is ~0,13%
When the process is running: ~0,8%

That means that this process eats a lot.....

Offline Vlk

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Re:avast and filemon
« Reply #10 on: October 27, 2004, 11:44:10 PM »
Quote
That means that this process eats a lot.....



Sorry but the numbers you quoted are IMHO actually well below statistical error. I mean, Windows system is inherently doing many things on the background (even if you don't see them in FileMon output) - like paging, compacting etc. that take nonzero CPU resources.

Aside from that, the access to the INI file of course virtually never touches the disk - it always comes from the cache (which is a very fast operation).


Cheers
Vlk
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Offline Lisandro

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Re:avast and filemon
« Reply #11 on: October 28, 2004, 12:10:03 AM »
It really shouldn't affect the performance

Igor, my RAM problems were not solved with 4.5  :'(
Specially after a long time of inactivity (1 - 2 hours), when I resume the computer, bang, cpu usage goes between 90% - 95%... I must boot to use the computer with confort again...

RejZor's 'restart' option for avast! does not work for me with 4.5 version... just 'disable' avast but cannot start it again  :'(
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Offline Vlk

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Re:avast and filemon
« Reply #12 on: October 28, 2004, 12:11:28 AM »
Quote
when I resume the computer, bang, cpu usage goes between 90% - 95%...


And which process is taking up the CPU? ashServ.exe??
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OisteinR

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Re:avast and filemon
« Reply #13 on: October 28, 2004, 12:16:50 AM »
Quote
That means that this process eats a lot.....



Sorry but the numbers you quoted are IMHO actually well below statistical error. I mean, Windows system is inherently doing many things on the background (even if you don't see them in FileMon output) - like paging, compacting etc. that take nonzero CPU resources.

Aside from that, the access to the INI file of course virtually never touches the disk - it always comes from the cache (which is a very fast operation).


Cheers
Vlk

Yes, you're right, it's no big problem.
I just have to remember to  stop the On-Access Protection when working with heavy audio projects.
....or switch to Database=XML.....which can't manage to keep the settings.....

Cheers
OisteinR

Offline Lisandro

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Re:avast and filemon
« Reply #14 on: October 28, 2004, 12:19:18 AM »
And which process is taking up the CPU? ashServ.exe??

Sure  :-\
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