Although it could be Avast slowing your device’s performance, your system could be bottlenecking the entire process. If you have the antivirus enabled as a startup, then it would start as soon as the computer boots, delaying other processes. Similarly, other factors relating to your hardware and software may be the reason behind your device’s slow performance.
Is Avast Actually Slowing Down Your Computer?
Before fixing the Avast antivirus, you need to ensure whether the antivirus is causing your system to slow down or is caused by other factors. To verify this, you can check how much resource Avast antivirus uses in your system through the task manager. An antivirus program requires RAM to scan and run diagnostics on your computer. If your system lacks a sufficient amount of RAM, it will affect your system’s overall performance. Ensure that you have at least 2GB of free RAM. Running multiple antivirus software severely degrades the computer’s performance. Ensure that you don’t have multiple antivirus software running simultaneously.
How to Fix Avast Slowing Down the Computer?
After you’ve determined that it is, in fact, Avast slowing your computer down, there is a range of solutions you could apply to fix this issue. In this section, we’ve mentioned everything from disabled additional features to repairing the program. Refer to the method that is most relevant to you.
Disable Unwanted Avast Features
Avast antivirus runs numerous scans in the background, some of which could be unnecessary. You can manually choose which scans to run to reduce CPU load. To disable unwanted features, follow the steps:
Disable Mail Shield
You should also disable Mail shield as this service takes up resources but is rarely functional. Follow the steps to disable it:
Enable Delayed Start
In some cases, Avast antivirus software can run before Windows services, significantly slowing down the computer’s boot time. You can delay the application’s start after the windows are completely loaded. Follow the given steps:
Free Up Storage Space
For Avast antivirus to function properly, your system needs disk space to store temporary files. When a hard drive fills up, it becomes more fragmented, slowing performance when reading data from the drive. It also prevents new data from being written, further slowing performance. You can run Disk Cleanup to remove unnecessary files from your system.
Manually Update Antivirus
Avast antivirus automatically downloads and installs the latest updates in the background. This process can use up the resources in your system, hampering its performance. Instead, you can change the option to update the antivirus manually. Follow the steps:
Repair Avast Antivirus
Avast antivirus can glitch out due to missing or corrupting crucial files. In such cases, you can manually perform a repair to ensure that all the files required by the software are still intact. To repair the software, follow the steps:
Uninstall the Antivirus
As a last resort, you can uninstall the antivirus altogether to fix your computer from slowing down. Follow the steps to uninstall the software:
