Serious Discussion Does Avast Free slow down the connection?

[Nunzio_77]

Hello everyone,
I would like to know the opinion of those who use Avast Free with the firewall module also active.
Do you think Avast Free slows down the web connection a little?
I have this vague feeling but I'm not sure. I notice that YouTube videos sometimes go jerky and by running the tests with speed test adsl with all the modules disabled in Avast Free it seems that the test is more performing.
Has anyone done some tests?
I have a PC that is about 15 years old so obviously it is not a latest generation PC.

 

[Bot]

Hello,
While Avast Free Antivirus should not significantly slow down your internet connection, on older PCs like yours, it might have a minor impact due to the system resources it uses. However, the jerky YouTube videos could be due to various reasons, not necessarily Avast. It's recommended to keep your antivirus enabled for security. Consider upgrading your PC or optimizing it for better performance.

 

[TairikuOkami]

Rather than a firewall, I would suspect it's web shield, which injects scripts and hijacks certificates to replace them with it's own. Try to disable it.

 

[brambedkar59]

Hello everyone,
I would like to know the opinion of those who use Avast Free with the firewall module also active.
Do you think Avast Free slows down the web connection a little?
I have this vague feeling but I'm not sure. I notice that YouTube videos sometimes go jerky and by running the tests with speed test adsl with all the modules disabled in Avast Free it seems that the test is more performing.
Has anyone done some tests?
I have a PC that is about 15 years old so obviously it is not a latest generation PC.

Any AV that scans the web traffic will slow it down no matter what. Modern CPUs are fast enough so that user doesn't notice much difference in page loading speed. In your case you have an ancient CPU. Idk which CPU model u have but it's obsolete at this point (not just the CPU but GPU will also struggle with simple video decoding task as VP9 was barely finalized by Google in 2013). You could try disabling web scanning like @TairikuOkami suggested but imo you need a new PC.

Rather than a firewall, I would suspect it's web shield, which injects scripts and hijacks certificates to replace them with it's own. Try to disable it.

Avast doesn't do MITM change certificates for Chrome, Edge and FF, read the article posted by @SeriousHoax here.

Advanced Plus Security - Brambedkar59's Security Config 2024

Why is this setup considered insecure? I guess the setup status is automatically determined based on certain parameters. A setup that appears insecure may not actually be insecure in practice. For instance, I rely on Comodo Firewall, customized and without an antivirus. An antivirus wouldn't...

malwaretips.com

 

[SeriousHoax]

Avast doesn't do MITM for Chrome, Edge and FF, read the article posted by @SeriousHoax here.

Advanced Plus Security - Brambedkar59's Security Config 2024

Why is this setup considered insecure? I guess the setup status is automatically determined based on certain parameters. A setup that appears insecure may not actually be insecure in practice. For instance, I rely on Comodo Firewall, customized and without an antivirus. An antivirus wouldn't...

malwaretips.com

Technically speaking Avast still kind of do MITM but the method is slightly different. Instead of being the security guard at the gate who inspects every person and their belongings that enters your home (BD, ESET, Kaspersky, etc) and stopping them at the gate, Avast has the key to our house and can inspect who just got inside and stops them right before they attempt do any harm inside (browser in this case). Maybe that's why the initial connection between the browser and the server could be faster with Avast giving us the faster browsing impression. But the task of scanning could slow things on older PCs. Mostly I have seen people complaining about Avast's slowdown are using older PCs with older CPUs with HDD. I don't know at which space Avast does the scanning. Is it on the physical memory (probably) or on the hard drive? Only Avast would know and maybe I'm not fully correct about it as well as my analogy. But anyway, slow CPU, slow memory, slow HDD all are going to have an impact.

 

[brambedkar59]

Technically speaking Avast still kind of do MITM but the method is slightly different. Instead of being the security guard at the gate who inspects every person and their belongings that enters your home (BD, ESET, Kaspersky, etc) and stopping them at the gate, Avast has the key to our house and can inspect who just got inside and stops them right before they attempt do any harm inside (browser in this case). Maybe that's why the initial connection between the browser and the server could be faster with Avast giving us the faster browsing impression.

Yeah, I meant to say it doesn't change certificates lol.

But the task of scanning could slow things on older PCs. Mostly I have seen people complaining about Avast's slowdown are using older PCs with older CPUs with HDD. I don't know at which space Avast does the scanning. Is it on the physical memory (probably) or on the hard drive? Only Avast would know and maybe I'm not fully correct about it as well as my analogy. But anyway, slow CPU, slow memory, slow HDD all are going to have an impact.

And that is on top of decoding video which is not supported in hardware by the GPU of that age so done by a weak CPU.

 

[zidong]

Any AV that scans the web traffic will slow it down no matter what. Modern CPUs are fast enough so that user doesn't notice much difference in page loading speed.

I have Ryzen 7700, 64 gb cl30 6000mhz ram and RTX 4070 S, but I feel a little delay when browsing. No 3rd party antivirus - no problems.
Tested almost any popular antivirus. With MD and maybe F-Secure everything is snappier - installing and loading apps, games, browsing.
Try clean Windows installation without 3rd party antivirus. Everything is smoother and snappier. 3rd party antiviruses integrates deeply and it is impossible to remove them completely. Worse than malwares.

 

[Nunzio_77]

However, I would like to point out that the slowdown is not much, it is barely noticeable when surfing the internet (YouTube sometimes goes haywire, but it is bearable) and only doing the ADSL speed test comparing the values it oscillates with a difference of about 30 Mbps. It is certainly due to the WEB module in fact by disabling and enabling only that module I notice the difference.
Probably like all AVs the WEB module for the checks it performs slows down the connection slightly and this is evident especially with old CPUs like mine.
Here are the characteristics of my CPU:
Intel(R) Core(TM)2 Duo - T7500 - 2.20GHz
I use an SSD.
Obviously with Windows 10 it would be necessary to change PC but for now the one I have is fine, I will change it when I can and I am also evaluating the Linux alternative.

 

[Nunzio_77]

Data la spiegazione dettagliata sulla differenza della protezione WEB di Avast rispetto ad altri AV (Bitdefender, Kaspersky, ecc ...).
Se invece di usare Avast usassi Bitdefender la navigazione web sarebbe più veloce?
Anche se Bitdefender usa più RAM e CPU (durante le scansioni) di Avast?

 

[SeriousHoax]

However, I would like to point out that the slowdown is not much, it is barely noticeable when surfing the internet (YouTube sometimes goes haywire, but it is bearable) and only doing the ADSL speed test comparing the values it oscillates with a difference of about 30 Mbps. It is certainly due to the WEB module in fact by disabling and enabling only that module I notice the difference.

Yeah, the speed difference on speed test is probably true for all AV products with HTTPS scanning. Avast has an explanation here:

Troubleshooting connection speed issues with Web Shield in Avast Antivirus | Official Avast Support

Learn more about Web Shield in Avast Antivirus and its impact on connection speed of your PC running Microsoft Windows.

support.avast.com

Data la spiegazione dettagliata sulla differenza della protezione WEB di Avast rispetto ad altri AV (Bitdefender, Kaspersky, ecc ...).
Se invece di usare Avast usassi Bitdefender la navigazione web sarebbe più veloce?
Anche se Bitdefender usa più RAM e CPU (durante le scansioni) di Avast?

Please write in English. I cannot say for sure if browsing with Bitdefender will be faster on your system. BD doesn't do HTTPS scanning by default on many trusted websites, so on some websites BD could be faster but not all. You'll have to check that by yourself on your system.

 

[Nunzio_77]

Sorry...I'll write in English...I made a mistake in copying/pasting from the translator.

 

[Marko :)]

HTTPS scanning should really be disabled in any antivirus software because it breaks the encryption and makes browsing the web slower. I only use HTTPS filtering in AdGuard for Android. And that's only because they are open about it and described everything in detail how it works. Antivirus companies never say anything about HTTPS filtering and hide every single bit of information about it. What's worse, they enable it without user's consent.

 

[lokamoka820]

According to AV-TEST website, here are the performance results for some antivirus vendors:
Avast

Bitdefender

Kaspersky

Microsoft Defender

Microsoft Defender does not scan the web traffic, it is why when you use any other antivirus you will notice some slowdowns.

 

[brambedkar59]

HTTPS scanning should really be disabled in any antivirus software because it breaks the encryption and makes browsing the web slower. I only use HTTPS filtering in AdGuard for Android. And that's only because they are open about it and described everything in detail how it works. Antivirus companies never say anything about HTTPS filtering and hide every single bit of information about it. What's worse, they enable it without user's consent.

My argument would be if you don't trust your AV to scan your web traffic then you shouldn't use that AV in the first place. Personally, I disable web scanning when it makes browsing slower.

According to AV-TEST website, here are the performance results for some antivirus vendors:
Avast
View attachment 284584
Bitdefender
View attachment 284585
Kaspersky
View attachment 284586
Microsoft Defender
View attachment 284587
Microsoft Defender does not scan the web traffic, it is why when you use any other antivirus you will notice some slowdowns.

Always take those results with a massive grain of salt, always test products on your own system. On my system AV-test performance results never made sense (I am not talking in general but just for my system alone), AV-comparative seems more realistic to me.

 

[Behold Eck]

I would give K7 Total Security a go as I`ve never found anything lighter that works well on older pc`s.. They have a free trial.

Regards Eck

 

[Marko :)]

My argument would be if you don't trust your AV to scan your web traffic then you shouldn't use that AV in the first place. Personally, I disable web scanning when it makes browsing slower.

I used Avast in the past, it was my favorite antivirus software. As Windows 10 came, I just stopped using it because Defender is now more than enough for 99% people. Considering I'm an advanced user, I could get by without any antivirus software, but I keep Defender on at minimum settings just so it doesn't nag me constantly how it's turned off. I'd probably continue to use Avast if they haven't turn the antivirus into spyware and adware. And all the controversy with Jumpshot... and CCleaner and... being acquired by Norton... no thanks!

 

[lokamoka820]

On my system AV-test performance results never made sense (I am not talking in general but just for my system alone), AV-comparative seems more realistic to me.

Thanks for the information, I was wondering about these two sites which one is better, now I know.

 

[likeastar20]

HTTPS scanning should really be disabled in any antivirus software because it breaks the encryption and makes browsing the web slower. I only use HTTPS filtering in AdGuard for Android. And that's only because they are open about it and described everything in detail how it works. Antivirus companies never say anything about HTTPS filtering and hide every single bit of information about it. What's worse, they enable it without user's consent.

True, I know for some people the first thing they do is disable HTTPS scanning because it's a security risk.

 

[Nunzio_77]

I would not disable HTTPS scanning...it reduces the security of the WEB protection module. In any case the slowdown is not very significant and for me who have an old laptop. For new laptops I would say it is almost imperceptible.

 

[Marko :)]

I would not disable HTTPS scanning...it reduces the security of the WEB protection module. In any case the slowdown is not very significant and for me who have an old laptop. For new laptops I would say it is almost imperceptible.

Have you ever wondered, why do all antivirus vendors have their own browser extension which they force install to all installed browsers? Even though their software already has a web protection module?

A simple browser extension has better ability to protect you from malicious websites because it protects you from inside the browser, where antivirus software doesn't have access. It's better to just use browser extension than to use HTTPS scanning. In fact, all HTTPS scanning does is slowing down your browsing and reduces your security. Seriously, your antivirus software has to decrypt every single connection to a website you visit and then scan it; that takes time. Try surfing with and without, you'll see what I'm talking about.

Regarding security; HTTPS means connection between you and the website is secure, and that no one can see what you visited on that website except you and the website. For example; your ISP nor anyone else except you and the MalwareTips can't see that you're now here in this topic. To all listening parties, it's only visible that you're on malwaretips.com and that's it.

When you enable HTTPS scanning, your antivirus software becomes a middle man between you and the MalwareTips and not only they know which topic you're in, but they can also see all the information you enter (e.g. passwords), I'm not exaggerating. Same like hackers on public Wi-Fi networks when you're surfing on HTTP websites. The only difference is hackers can't see HTTPS traffic (they see just a domain, nothing else). By using HTTPS scanning, you literally allowed antivirus company to spy on you, where you surf and what are you doing on every single website you visit.

And what's worse? Antivirus software should, after scanning HTTPS traffic, immediately encrypt the connection back. But it's been proven before that only small number of them do. So not only they decrypt traffic just for themselves, they do it for everyone who's listening on the network. And you as the user don't have any way to check what antivirus does with the decrypted certificate, if it actually encrypts the connection again when it finishes scanning. All you see is green lock in the browser, that the certificate was issued by Avast and you can only believe you're secure.