A good antivirus protects your system from malware and threats.
A good antivirus protects your system from malware and threats.
Hi there. I've been facing black screens and crashes when my PC starts up, especially with Avast Antivirus installed. It seems the issue might be related to the antivirus itself. Even after a clean install, the problem persisted, and disabling it reduced the startup time from about 70 seconds to around 40 seconds on a HDD. Have others encountered similar issues? Any suggestions for alternative antivirus solutions that don't cause these problems? I'm using the free version, but I'm not overly concerned about security. Thanks!
Interesting, I've relied on Avast for a long time and haven't encountered any issues like this.
I haven’t noticed anything similar. I spent about two hours right now turning off each startup service and program individually, and it looks like Avast was the cause. Now everything is back on, except Avast, and the issue hasn’t happened since at least four restarts (it used to occur every time).
I use Malwarebytes for regular scans rather than keeping it running continuously. It’s set to check periodically, usually every couple of weeks, and it doesn’t stay active in the background.
That's the issue—you must use the pro version to keep it active. Their new software has an anti-exploit feature that’s always enabled, preventing unwanted downloads. For instance, some sites attempt to install well-crafted malware, but bad malware is usually only obvious to those who know about it. Often the developers intentionally make it hard to detect because they want you to find and remove it yourself. Anyway, install the anti-exploit.
I work at AVG and recently discovered that the free edition is a solid choice for top-rated free antivirus. It includes application control, an embedded emulator, and a behavior blocker. If you prefer a paid option, Kaspersky is popular; some colleagues use Avast, though it doesn’t compare well to Kaspersky.
Consider having the machine rest, run a trusted antivirus, or switch to an SSD.
I rely on Microsoft Security Essentials or, when using Windows 8, Windows Defender is included.