# Does free Avast slow down my PC?



## diedealan (Mar 9, 2019)

It seems, over time that the free version of Avast we use purposely slow down our PCs?


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## dlipman (Feb 14, 2013)

Purposefully ? No.

Any program that runs in the background will have an effect on all other software that is running. In the case of an anti malware/anti virus application that monitors reads and writes, they will tend to consume more resources. The consumption of resources will result in a slower or slightly less responsive system. Hopefully it will be negligible. However different anti malware/anti virus applications will have varying demands on the OS it is installed on. Therefor some are better than others in that respect.


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## smith962874 (Mar 12, 2019)

All the applications use processing power. With antivirus, CPU usage can be constant, as the programs perform ongoing, automatic scans. These can occur at scheduled time intervals, whenever you install a new app, or when you download a file from the web. Every time a scan happens, the AV software has to compare the network drive with a vast list of known malware signatures and behaviors. Understandably, these in-depth checks need the power to function.


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