AVG Free killing my CPU

Hello Per,

I understand the inconvenience.
Let us investigate why this is happening.
Provide the (screenshot) of AVG service running in task manager window and the AVG version to assist further.
To check AVG version, open AVG Antivirus free window.
Click on "Menu-->About".
You can post the screenshot here in your topic. Click on 'Answer' & then click on the 'Image' [mountain symbol] & follow the instructions.
Per;
I've got exactly the same problem on two of my machines. It started when I updated to 18.4.3056. I complained to AVG about the situation but they say they can't figure out what is causing the high CPU usage and say there is nothing more they can do for me. They are suggesting I upgrade to a new computer and O/S. The only way I have been able to use my computers for the last few weeks is to go into the Task Manager and shut down the AVGUI.EXE process. Once I do that, the CPU usage goes to 0.

Jim Brown
See https://support.avg.com/answers?dt=login#!/feedtype=RECENT_REPLY&dc=AVG_Performance_v2&criteria=ALLQUESTIONS
Same problem but on a computer far from mine regarding performance.

Still waiting for an answer from you. I can't dare to turn off my computer because it took about 10 hours before the CPU was idling normally last time I did.

I will leave this computer running until midnight between Friday and Saturday when it is going to be turned off until Sunday the 3rd of june.
If the problem still exists on the 4th I will go ahead and do what I wrote on May 15th.
I'm seeing exactly the same behaviour since the AVG Free update yesterday (on Windows XP SP3). Process Explorer tells me the CPU is being hogged by one thread (out of 55) that starts up 3 minutes after AVGui.exe boots. The thread doesn't seem to be doing any disc or network access. After about 3 hours (!) that thread is gone and my CPU is back to normal. So, that's sort of good news, if you can accept your machine being sluggish for the first 3 hours after booting.

Per,

I am very sorry for such destabilizing encounters you have been faced with. To analyze the issue further, I need to submit your concern to our senior technicians along with other diagnostic logs. I have sent you an email with steps on how to collect and upload the data required for analyzing your issue. Please check your inbox and spam/junk folder as well.

Hi Per
I am having exactly the same thing on my xp machine with AVGUI.EXE.
I've tried installing another package PCProtect and guess what? It does the same thing only worse! Task manager could not even get to update to show which program was holding all the capacity.
This does seem to be related to the latest update rather than the actual software package - is this possible? I am also a retired software engineer but I've never delved into virus software (or antivirus software for that matter). If you find a solution I'd love to hear it please. At the moment the only way I can run anything is without any protection at all - not a good situation!
Kind regards
Paul
I installed AVG Free after using Avast Free for many years but when my 3,4 GHz Intel XEON 12GB RAM HP xw6200 Workstation running Windows XP Pro started to lag heavily after installing an Avast software update i changed to AVG.
I noticed that the Avast UI was responsible for the lagging. It had hijacked 99% of the processor power when I looked at Processes in the Windows Task Manager.
I checked my newer computers but they still worked as before the software update. Two (one Lenovo aptop, Celeron N2840 2,16 GHz 4GB RAM) and one HP Z220 Workstation, ZEON QUAD 16 GB ECC RAM) are running Windows 10 Pro and one Compaq laptop (AMD V140 2,3 GHz 2GB RAM) running Windows 7 Home but they were all fine.
Before I changed to AVG Free I tried to uninstall Avast using their own uninstall tool i.e. not using the standard uninstall trough the "Windows Control Panel".
I analyzed the Windows Registry and cleaned out everything that the "Avast Total Uninstaller" didn't manage to correct. As you might have noticed by now I know a thing or two about this and the reason is that I used to work as a computer technician building, installing and managing computer networks before i retired a few years back.  
The change to AVG was at first a complete success. It worked very well. I could hardly notice any performance loss even at virus list updates. Avast has become a real pain, in you know where, as it over time has become close to bloatware with all extras you haven't asked for.
As a bonus AVG didn't have nearly as much promo related interference stuff popping up all the time.

But, Now it's the same with the AVGUI.exe on the 3,4 GHz Intel XEON 12GB RAM HP xw6200 Workstation running Windows XP Pro.
After the last software update AVGUI.exe does the same as the Avast UI. It uses 99% of the processor power when the normal thing is 99%  "System Idle Process".

I have never, at nay time, had any error messages and the log files have been and are still clean of anything regarding AVG or anything that even remotely could be an issue regarding the above described problem.

I'm seeing exactly the same behaviour since the AVG Free update yesterday (on Windows XP SP3). Process Explorer tells me the CPU is being hogged by one thread (out of 55) that starts up 3 minutes after AVGui.exe boots. The thread doesn't seem to be doing any disc or network access. After about 3 hours (!) that thread is gone and my CPU is back to normal. So, that's sort of good news, if you can accept your machine being sluggish for the first 3 hours after booting.

Per,
I completely understand your situation. Your case has been escalated to level 3 senior team and they are working on it. They will contact you via email once they find a resolution for you. I appreciate your patience in this matter.

I turned the computer off for about 2½ hours and when I started it again the problem seems to be gone. The "System Idle Process" is at 99% and I've tried all I could think of to provoke the problem to start again but it still works ok. During these simple "tests" I've checked the Event logs but I can't see anything out of the ordinary. 

I was curious what could have changed since last and the first thing that came to mind was the virus defs or maybe the program version but that should have alerted me to restart but it hadn't. 
I was curious what could have changed since last and the first thing that came to mind was the virus defs or maybe the program version but that should have alerted me to restart but it hadn't. 

The virus defs had been updated from 180514-2 to 180514-4. The program version still has the same number but I don't have any record of if the build is the same but it's dated 2018-05-10 so it's probably the same since the 10th was 4 days ago but a different program version or build could without a doubt have been the cause of the problem. 

So maybe there's a lesson for you in this.
Instead of asking the customer to send a screendump of "About" you should ask for "Menu - Setting - Update". According to my experience the same program version can very well have different builds if the update just contains error corrections that most users didn't have had a clue that they ever existed.
However, I understand It's your call to decide so I'll leave it at that.

So let's hope the processor overload was due to a faulty virus def pack that has now been updated.
Rest assure I will be back if the problem returns.
Regards Per Wellton AVG Free CPU overload fixed

I've noticed that the CPU load drops after about 6 hours. The computer starts to idle 99% as it should when nothing is going on. I've noticed this 2 times. After the first time I checked how well the Avast un-install tool had worked but there was a major amount of junk left to clean manually. After that turned off the computer for 2 minutes, i.e. nor a restart/reboot, but the CPU overload was still the same.
The second time I noticed the CPU load dropped was today. You don't have to check because you can both hear the CPU cooling fans going silent and the computer stopps lagging in an instant.
You can see the CPU load today after about 6 hours in the attached screen dumps.
The heat a ZEON CPU produces during 6 hours of full load is immense so after a while the room temperature starts to drop in a big way.Idle 99%

Thank you for understanding.
It is necessary for us to check the status after performing re-installation using our removal tools.
This would help us to proceed further.

Before I do that I'd like to inform you of two things:
1. After cleaning out all the junk Avast left after using their special un-install software I re-installed Avast Free again but the problem was the same som I went through the exact same un-install routine again before installing AVG.
2. After I sent the above screenshots I tried to deactivate all shields but nothing changed. See attached new screenshot. After I got some kind of responce on this I will go ahead re-installing as you describe above.
Regards Per Wellton
All sheilds off

Hello Roger,
I really appreciate your effort in trying to fix this issue. Did you uninstall AVG using Clear tool to remove the traces completely and reinstalled AVG Free Antivirus. If you have not, please click on this link for steps to download and run AVG Clear tool.
Then refer to steps in this link for instructions to download and install AVG.
Best regards,
Alok.

See AVG Support Community | User Forum for All AVG products
Same problem but on a computer far from mine regarding performance.

Still waiting for an answer from you. I can't dare to turn off my computer because it took about 10 hours before the CPU was idling normally last time I did.

I will leave this computer running until midnight between Friday and Saturday when it is going to be turned off until Sunday the 3rd of june.
If the problem still exists on the 4th I will go ahead and do what I wrote on May 15th.

Yes, I saw the chat transcript and this should not be done. We will make sure to escalate your case to the senior team.

We have sent you an email to collect error logs from your computer. Please send us the log files to escalate this case to the concerned team.

Per,

I am very sorry for such destabilizing encounters you have been faced with. To analyze the issue further, I need to submit your concern to our senior technicians along with other diagnostic logs. I have sent you an email with steps on how to collect and upload the data required for analyzing your issue. Please check your inbox and spam/junk folder as well.

Per;
I've got exactly the same problem on two of my machines. It started when I updated to 18.4.3056. I complained to AVG about the situation but they say they can't figure out what is causing the high CPU usage and say there is nothing more they can do for me. They are suggesting I upgrade to a new computer and O/S. The only way I have been able to use my computers for the last few weeks is to go into the Task Manager and shut down the AVGUI.EXE process. Once I do that, the CPU usage goes to 0.

Jim Brown

Hi Per
I am having exactly the same thing on my xp machine with AVGUI.EXE.
I've tried installing another package PCProtect and guess what? It does the same thing only worse! Task manager could not even get to update to show which program was holding all the capacity.
This does seem to be related to the latest update rather than the actual software package - is this possible? I am also a retired software engineer but I've never delved into virus software (or antivirus software for that matter). If you find a solution I'd love to hear it please. At the moment the only way I can run anything is without any protection at all - not a good situation!
Kind regards
Paul

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