pc slowed down by avast??

[cpkphil]

I removed  the old virus programs with the software somebody suggested. My pc works great without avast. I use the MS firewall. Thanx pG

[cpkphil]

I downloaded MS Essentials and PC works perfectly! Thanx for the tip PG

[Hiballer]

My PC has begun to be horribly slow also.  This continues until I finally get the Update notification.  Avast! gets really upset if you push any radio button except the "automatic update" for databases.  I tried editing the INI files, but that didn't seem to help.  Running Vista Home Premium on a fairly new Compaq Presario.  Avast version 6.0.1289.

[SHARKY7SHARKY]

I suppose you could try a repair add remove programs click avast change/uninstall scroll down to repair.

Or a fresh install of Avast.

[Lisandro]

I suggest an installation from scratch:

1. Download the latest version of avast! Uninstall Utility and save it.
2. Download the latest avast! version and save it.
3. Uninstall avast from Control Panel (if possible). If, for any reason, you can't run it, try booting in Safe Mode and doing it from there. Anyway, boot after that.
4. Run the avast! Uninstall Utility saved on 1. If, for any reason, you can't run it, try booting in Safe Mode and doing it from there. Anyway, boot after you've run it.
5. Install avast! using the setup saved on 2. Boot.
6. Register your free copy or add the license key for Pro. Or even upgrade your key from old versions.
7. Check and post the results. If, for any reason, you did not solve, try doing the step 3 in Safe Mode anyway.

[Hiballer]

@Sharky7Sharky: Repair operation failed - actually gave me a BSOD.

@Tech:  Avast! uninstalled from Control Panel, but (in safe mode) I also ran the uninstaller.  Despite that, directories still remained from the Avast! installation.  I manually had to remove them.

The computer I am on is a bit problematic as it will occasionally simply freeze in place.  I have to power down to recover.  I've been troubleshooting it for the last three weeks and have found nothing as of yet.  In order to eliminate Avast! as the source of trouble, I installed MSE on just this computer.  As  result of this, the computer boots up in a record 30 seconds from cold-start to desktop.  Previously (with Avast! installed) it could take up to four to six minutes before I was able to begin operations.

[SHARKY7SHARKY]

This is for Hiballer & Hiballer only, OK kids so don’t come in here with guns blazing.
But you can correct any mistakes.


If you manually uninstalled, then you must know how to run the Registry right?
Uninstall Avast, go into the registry---- go to Edit---Find Type Avast delete what shows if you are 100% sure it’s Avast---- go to Edit Find next do this until all avast as been deleted.
Also do this for any other old Antivirus or old programs etc you may have had.

I know a lot of Registry cleaners can rip your system apart, but I do use Eusing & have tested this over 7 years without any conflicts.
It’s easy to backup the Registry & also Eusing backs up what’s been deleted.

After cleaning up come out of Registry, Go into vista search & type for any left over crap Avast etc

You can try running sfc /scannow in command prompt let it run when finished you can try
Right click C drive properties tool check now--- the first box will check for errors on reboot,
The second box will check in windows but is a full scan & can take 1 hour +

Even new computers need defragging so I would in the next week or two do a defrag, but first would turn off system restore, defrag turn restore back on.
I use a program called Defraggler, but you don’t need too.

Ccleaner is a good program to have, also Malwarebytes, check them out.

[Hiballer]

  I poke around in the Registry whenever I feel it is necessary.  Earlier on in this repair story I did exactly as you suggest - cleaned the registry of all A/V entries.  I'd had AVG, Kaspersky, and Avast! on the machine.  Every one of them left tracks; which I cleaned.

Since I look for left-over directories and files after an uninstall (of any program) each time I uninstall, the only ones I found were Avast5 entries.  So I deleted them.

The System File Checker has been run several times but in a couple of cases it found items that it "couldn't fix due to ..."  The '...' means (I think) that it should have been run in Safe Mode (my mistake).  I did this and they were repaired.

My defrag program of choice is Smart Defrag.  Vista has its own version of defrag, but occasionally I run SD just to touch up things.  My HDD is a 180G drive and is approximately 42% full.  I have two batch files I use to either turn the hibernation file on or off.

I also know that System restore can get out of hand so I occasionally (when the computer is running okay) turn it off, do a HDD Cleanup, and turn it back on.

At the moment, my first priority is trying to find out why my system takes around 4 to 8 minutes to become fully operational.  In a lot of cases, the desktop will appear, my icons will refresh, and then I get the whirling circle mouse pointer.  It will stay that way for around two minutes.  If I try to bring up the task bar (I have it auto-hidden), it will appear, and I get tool tips over all notification area icons except the network icon.  If I try to launch ANY program, I get a whirling circle over the task bar that lasts for minutes while the HDD gets banged hard the whole time.  It takes (if I don't do ANYTHING at all) around the aforementioned 8 minutes before the network icon will finally show the "blue ball' of Internet connectivity.  I've replaced the drivers for the networking system a couple of times to no avail.

I realize this points to a whole lot more going on than just an A/V trying to update BUT before I took Avast! off the machine, everything would work perfectly just as soon as the Avast! pop-up informed me I was updated.  Now, the system boots up quickly but will still occasionally hang as I've described.  Once it gave me spinning circles for around 5 minutes and then the whole screen went opaque (greyed out) and the HDD LED stayed on.  Something is definitely wrong here but I haven't laid my finger on it yet.

[SHARKY7SHARKY]

What about your start up programs? Have you disabled any unnecessary programs from starting up?
Also you can configure Avast to load after other services, by settings trouble shooting
to see if that helps.

[Hiballer]

Sorry.  I should have mentioned them also.  I've done a complete clean boot and had the system "rediscover" most of my hardware.  New drivers have been installed wherever possible.  MSCONFIG was used to shut down pretty much every start-up program.  Then, I re-enabled them one at a time.  Still no change from the long start-up period.  I know now that Avast! isn't the problem. It MAY have started it, but now that Avast! is off my system, and I am still having boot problems, I have to look elsewhere.

This chain of posts by me is now OT for the original poster.  My apologies if I've stepped over the boundaries of Forum rules.