Avast causing an unknown lag in online games!

[flagstar]

Well, recently I got pissed off with Avira pushing me into installing update in order for me to allow ask.com toolbar to be installed. I hate toolbar because it eat up the browser page and bog down processing speed.

And afterwards, I switched to Avast! which most people recommend it after AVG11. I installed it and I have to say I like it but somehow, after I installed Avast!, one of my MMORPG start to get this unknown lag where i'll always get left behind after a quick arena battle but in my screen, the battle is still ongoing.

Frankly, I'm not sure if Avast! is the culprit for that kind of lagging in CosmicBreak MMORPG but certainly after I installed Avast!, the next day, I get that kind of lag everytime i'm inside arena. It doesn't happen other than arena, just in 'Arena' battle.

My best bet is not joining arena till next maintenance update which is Thursday but I think I'll try again just to be sure. If I got the same problem again, maybe I should disable Avast and try again.

p/s: does avast also have issue with zonealarm firewall?

[jingda]

As you have said you can try uninstalling Avast first and see whether that cure your problem.

Your last sentence is true.
Avast are known to have conflicts with ZoneAlarm Firewall. See this. Many people around the world have problem with their computers or laptop when Avast and ZoneAlarm are together. I don't use ZoneAlarm firewall because i don't find it very good.

[flagstar]

Owh, didn't notice that avast and zonealarm can conflict with each other. I've been long wanted to remove Zonealarm because it's been hogging on my netbook too much and slow down startup tremendously... sometimes it can't even stuck at initialize state which is, no firewall is on till I shut down...

Any recommendation which firewall I should use to replace zonealarm? I'm on XP so I'm sure I need a free firewall at least to protect my own computer...

Here are my security specs currently...
- Avast! Free AV (just switched from Avira)
- MBAM (done quick scan at least 1 month or so)
- Spyware Blaster (updated every 2 weeks)
- ZoneAlarm (6 month ago ?maybe?)

[flagstar]

I did remove Zonealarm now and putting in new Comodo firewall which hope to be better in it's performance and it did. Luckily I ask that.

But that didn't solve the main problem until I try to disable Avast! and it's working again (no lag whatsoever). When I switch AV on again, same issue occur...

Did Avast! do something in background when I play MMO? It seems like it's scanning every move other player had and once it's done, it let go of the frame and scan another frame.

How I should correct this? What should I suppose to set on Avast! in order to let me play MMO without any problem?

[jingda]

I stop using avast a few weeks ago and switch to panda cloud antivirus. But when i use avast before, it did not slow down my game. I am still to play without lag. You can try disabling avast first and see whether the problem occur. How many antivirus software you have? How many security software you have?

For firewall you can try Online Armour. I don't use firewall on my windows laptop because i use the built in firewall provided by microsoft and the anti virus firewall but i will help you search for free firewall.

[flagstar]

Well that's what happen to me is I have to disable Avast in order to play MMO smoothly but I'm afraid if I do that too often, my computer might get infected during that time. Free firewall isn't going to block all of them but at least keep me safe somehow...

I wanted to use built-in windows firewall but I found too many loophole in it and decide to use third-party software.

Maybe I should switch AV again... Thought about using MSE next but I want to hear others opinion about this aside from Avast and Avira.

[jingda]

You cam use Microsoft Security Essentials or Panda Cloud AntiVirus. Have you tried online armour firewall?

[flagstar]

Well not yet. I just switched to Comodo and use it's firewall only... It was good and doesn't have conflict with Avast for now. I want to give it a try for at least a month and if it's good, might using it for a couple more months... ^^

[jingda]

Hope you solve your problem Flagstar. i am always willing to help you.

[gerbil]

Avast has a gaming mode. Are you using that?
It's the job of an AV to examine every new or changed file that is loaded to mem, or downloaded...
As far as Avast and ZA conflicting, the linked post above is TEN years old!! One would hope that two majors would have sorted it out by now.

[jingda]

Have to depend on the Avast version. For newer version of Avast the problem have been already solved. See this

[flagstar]

Well, I had to switch zonealarm sooner or later since it won't work sometimes, leaving my firewall off till i logoff or shutdown my computer.

I've used Avast gaming option which silent the notification and/or alarm but it won't solve the problem...

I've just looked around the net for now and found out i need to deactivate one of the shield to play any MMO smoothly... Hopefully it'll correct the problem but I can't test it yet since I'm away from my laptop right now.

[jingda]

Test it and tell us whether it helps. Good luck, Flagstar

[flagstar]

I've tested out all shield included in Avast! (8 in total) and I found out the Behavior Shield that causes the problem. I had also other shield to be enable and confirmed it was BS that causing the problem...

If it's not shield for normal av, I don't mind much about it. I'll just have to disable it in order for me to play without any problem and let other shield run as normal.

[gerbil]

Interesting re Avast BS. You might play with it by leaving it on, and going into Expert Settings there and adding a trusted process for your game; leave it checking for low-level rootkits etc.

[flagstar]

Hrmm... never thought of that. I might try it too and see if it can work if I add an exception for the MMO to run. Unfortunately, I can only done this in next 12 hours or so since I'm working right now and kinda away from my laptop...

Will post here if it's succeed or fail... Thanks gerbil...

[PcTestCard.com]

disable Avast or try reinstall the latest video card driver may help.

Cheers!
Bill
Tech Manager

[flagstar]

PcTestCard.com, I've no problem with graphic card or whatsoever. I just had problem with Avast for making MMO game slow.

I just had to disable one shield but trying Gerbil's solution if I can still use that shield while playing MMO.

But thanks for replying anyway, cheers!

[jingda]

Maybe there is some setting for the shield like Gerbil said. YOu can add a trusted software or process. It has been quite some time i last you Avast, I now using Microsoft Security Essentials.

[flagstar]

I just checked the Behavior shield setting and yes, it have an exception list which lets certain process to run without doing any behavior scan (I also used Avast in my office so I can check the setting...)

the MMO process was cosmic.exe and the execute program is cosmicbreakEN.exe but just in case i'll put them both into trusted process list. If it's not working, I'll just have to disable it when I play MMO and enable it again afterwards. I don't see any problem with little quick setting. I've got used to it when playing other MMO also...

[jingda]

Hope you solve it. Nice thinking Gerbil

[flagstar]

Owh, it worked... I can enable the shield back without messing up MMO battle. Well, it's slower rather than get more smoother with disable that shield but I don't mind. At least I don't have to open and close Avast and just straight playing to it...

Thanks again for helping... You guys really help me out and solve my issue.

And no issue with Avast conflicting with comodo either, it actually help me more. I'm just use it's plain firewall but eat up very low memory without bogging down other program but still protecting my computer from malicious threat...

[gerbil]

Cool; thanks for that testing, flagstar. I don't play online, so it's nice to have your feedback.
I have a few files in that trusted status setting. And no conflicts with Comodo.
Apologies, Jingda, i didn't realise that Avast was still having issues with ZA up until so recently as shown in your last posted link on that matter..

[jingda]

You are welcome Gerbil, see you around.:)