Sophos Anti-Virus for Windows 2000+: the system is slow and SavService.exe is using an excessive amount of memory
Issue
One of your networked computers is running very slowly. When you use Task Manager to check which processes are running, you see that SavService.exe is using a large amount of memory and the CPU usage is nearly 100%.
Sophos product and version
Sophos Anti-Virus for Windows 2000+
Operating system
Windows XP Professional SP2
What to do
This problem is likely caused by the on-access scan settings configured in Sophos Anti-Virus. Follow the instructions below to restore the default settings on the affected computer. If the affected computer is a standalone installation of Sophos Anti-Virus, make a note of the current settings before changing anything.
- On the affected computer, log in as an Administrator.
- Right-click the Sophos Shield and select 'Open Sophos Anti-Virus'
- Select 'Configure Sophos Anti-Virus' and then click 'On-access scanning'.
- On the 'Scanning' tab click the 'Restore defaults' button. Click OK.
- From the Control Center or Enterprise Console, reapply the appropriate policy to the affected computer. If the affected computer was not managed from the Control Center or Enterprise Console, read the information below before restoring the original settings.
Technical Information
SavService may use a lot of system resources when one or more of the following scanning options is set up:
- 'Scan inside archive files' is selected
- 'Extensive' scan level is selected
- 'Remote files' are not excluded from scans
- Scan 'on-write' is selected.
- 'All' file extensions are selected for scanning
If you need more information or guidance, then please contact technical support.
- Article ID: 27213
- Created: 6 Feb 2008
- Last updated: 6 Oct 2008
