Author Topic: Unable to browse web or send email  (Read 4859 times)

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SJMead

  • Guest
Unable to browse web or send email
« on: November 11, 2010, 11:55:10 PM »
Hi,

Everything was working fine with the trial of Avast 5, but after licensing it (and running the update) I am unable to browse the internet or access my email. Disabling both the Web and Mail shields fixes the problem, but I dont want to do that.

I have no other antivirus or firewalls installed other than the ones that are installed by default on my OS.

OS is Windows 7 Home Premium 32 bit with all the latest updates installed.
Avast version is 5.0.677

Hope you can help.
Thanks

Sandra

onzey

  • Guest
Re: Unable to browse web or send email
« Reply #1 on: November 12, 2010, 10:33:02 AM »
Same problem for me at least with regard to browsing (using IE8, Windows XP and same version of avast).

Disabling Web Shield allows browsing normally.

On another laptop I have, the problem doesn't exist.



Just tried the Windows XP Winsockfix utility mentioned in another thread but it didn't help.
 
« Last Edit: November 12, 2010, 10:53:17 AM by onzey »

SafeSurf

  • Guest
Re: Unable to browse web or send email
« Reply #2 on: November 12, 2010, 11:30:09 AM »
@ SJMead,

I have no other antivirus or firewalls installed other than the ones that are installed by default on my OS.
1.   What product of Avast did you install?  Free, Pro, AIS?
2.   What other security software do you currently have or did you have in the past on this machine including antivirus (AV), firewall (FW), and other security programs including trial versions?  If they were in the past, how did you remove them (the vendor's uninstaller's tool or another way)?
3.    Have you tried an Avast Repair:
- Go to Control Panel > Add/Remove programs > Avast Antivirus.
- Scroll down and choose Repair function in the pop-up window.
- Reboot.

@ onzey,

1.   What is your OS, 32 or 64-bit?
2.   What product of Avast did you install?  Free, Pro, AIS?
3.   What other security software do you currently have or did you have in the past on this machine including antivirus (AV), firewall (FW), and other security programs?  If they were in the past, how did you remove them (the vendor's uninstaller's tool or another way)?
4.    Do you have the same problem using another browser?
5.    Have you tried an Avast Repair:
- Go to Control Panel > Add/Remove programs > Avast Antivirus.
- Scroll down and choose Repair function in the pop-up window.
- Reboot.

onzey

  • Guest
Re: Unable to browse web or send email
« Reply #3 on: November 12, 2010, 06:50:48 PM »
Hi SafeSurf

1. OS is XP Pro 32bit

2. Avast is free version

3. No other AV software that I can remember and only Windows Firewall.

4. I only have IE8 on the machine at the moment.

5. Just tried repair but no joy.


( Some background. Its an old IBM pentium 3 machine that I believe I did a clean install of XP Pro on a while back but never really used. I just fired it up again late yesterday and did a lot of Windows updates and realised I didn't have any anti-virus software on it so downloaded Avast free edition. I did this very early this morning ~1.30am and can't remember now if I tried opening IE8 directly afterwards or not. I only realised I had a problem when I booted the machine later this morning and installed a codec pack which after installation opens IE8 to go to a particular webpage and the page never appeared. Tried other pages and found nothing was working so started looking for solutions using other laptop, eventually trying disabling avast shields which was effective. Finally tried just stopping Web Shield. )

Nesivos

  • Guest
Re: Unable to browse web or send email
« Reply #4 on: November 12, 2010, 07:35:23 PM »
Just my opinion but I would use the Windows firewall at least to start.

Make sure that both the Windows and AIS firewalls are not on.

If both are on, turn off the Avast firewall to start.

You definitely don't want two Firewalls running at the same time.

Nothing against AIS, I love the product however I am just personally more comfortable with using Windows firewall.

On the other hand I use both Windows Defender and AIS on my W7 computers and have never experienced a conflict that I was aware of.

Good luck
« Last Edit: November 12, 2010, 07:38:08 PM by Nesivos »

SJMead

  • Guest
Re: Unable to browse web or send email
« Reply #5 on: November 12, 2010, 10:04:57 PM »
1.   I think I installed Free, acording to Add/Remove I now Pro AV by the look of it.
2.   No other AV or firewall has been installed other than the Windows firewall, which I have tried disabling with no effect.
3.   I have tried running the repair as an Admin user which hasnt had any effect.

Any other ideas?

Sandra

SafeSurf

  • Guest
Re: Unable to browse web or send email
« Reply #6 on: November 13, 2010, 10:00:45 AM »
@ onzey,

XP SP?
RAM: ?
Avast Free
Windows Firewall (FW)

Can you let me know the information needed in blue above?  Thanks.

1. Please make sure your Avast definitions are up to date and run an Avast Full scan, then a Boot-time scan.  If any infections come up, make sure they go into the Virus Chest and report back the exact findings (screen shot is best).

2. Also check your computer for malware with Malwarebytes’ Anti-Malware (MBAM).
·   Download free http://www.malwarebytes.org/ (the blue button) for an on-demand scanner.
·   Double Click mbam-setup.exe to install the application.
·   After install, click update so you have latest database before scanning.
·   Under Settings:
o   General: Automatically Save File After Scan Completes is checked off
o   Scanner SettingsCheck all boxes
o   Updater: Download and install update if available is checked off
·   Once the program has loaded, select "Perform FULL Scan", then click Scan.
·   The scan may take some time to finish, so please be patient.
·   When the disinfection scan is complete, a log will appear in Notepad and you may be prompted to Restart. (See Extra Note).
·   Click the “remove selected” button to quarantine anything found.  You will find the infection details under the Quarantine tab.
·   The log is automatically saved by MBAM and can be viewed by clicking the Logs tab in MBAM.
·   Copy & Paste the entire report in your next reply.

3. If no malware is found, please download the WinsockFix Utility for Windows XP – http://majorgeeks.com/WinSock_XP_Fix_d4372.html.  Reboot.

Let me know if this helps.  Thank you.


@ SJMead,

To check to see what product/version of Avast you have, right-click the orange Avast icon in your bottom tool bar > "About Avast" and it will tell you.  Please let me know what you actually have.  Thanks.

You need to keep a firewall (FW) on, even if it is the Windows FW.  You state that you are unable to disable it even as the Administrator or am I misunderstanding you?  Please clarify and/or turn ON your FW for protection. 

Please also follow Step 1 and 2 above as well.  Post your MBAM log in this thread as well (cut and paste).

If no malware is found, please install the WinsockFix Utility for Windows 7 – http://windows7themes.net/winsock-fix-for-windows-7.html.  Reboot.

Let me know if this helps.  Thank you.


@ Nesivos, Neither of the OP's are using AIS and they are both using Windows FW (one FW), but thank you for your input.





onzey

  • Guest
Re: Unable to browse web or send email
« Reply #7 on: November 14, 2010, 01:50:44 PM »
XP is on SP3

256MB of RAM


My problem is now resolved. I ran a full scan and then ran a boot-time scan and both found no threats or infected files.

Tried opening IE8 and accessed web pages straight away!   :o  (I checked that shields were not disabled)

Rebooted machine again just to check all was well after a restart without a boot-time scan and web pages still accessible with all shields enabled.

Don't understand how but problem solved.

(For completeness I didn't bother with MBAM and I had already tried the Winsockfix without success - see my first post)


Thanks for your interest SafeSurf





 

YoKenny

  • Guest
Re: Unable to browse web or send email
« Reply #8 on: November 14, 2010, 01:56:33 PM »
256MB of RAM

The best and cheapest improvement for your system is to add at least another 256MB RAM.

onzey

  • Guest
Re: Unable to browse web or send email
« Reply #9 on: November 14, 2010, 03:46:51 PM »
Thanks but probably best to stay on topic, especially as I'm not the starter of the thread.

(I do know about the benefits of more memory but I'm not concerned with improving this laptop . It's an old IBM T21 Pentium 3 machine that takes 512MB max., that I was checking out with a view to selling.)

SafeSurf

  • Guest
Re: Unable to browse web or send email
« Reply #10 on: November 15, 2010, 09:43:32 AM »
@ SJMead,

Awaiting your reply to Post #6.  Thank you.

b28rdw

  • Guest
Re: Unable to browse web or send email
« Reply #11 on: November 15, 2010, 02:22:54 PM »
Hello,

The same problem to me! I am sysadmin for 50pc network with AVAST PRO licenses. On some 15 pc (vista and xp) they cannot receive or send email. This happend from this friday. I check the SSL accounts in Expert settings from Mail shield and there were 2 account. one POP3 and SMTP. the POP3 port was 110, None encryption and SMTP was 465 with SSL activated, even though we don't use SSL encryption.

I erase this 2 accounts. I press Send/Receive to send to me an email for testing in Outlook 2007 and check back the SSL Account in Avast. The account reappeard in exact same configuration (SMTP, 465, SSL and POP3,110,None) even though I deleted them 1 minute before.

In Outlook 2007 the configuration of email account is POP3 without SSL and SMTP without SSL (110 and 25 ports). The POP3 and SMTP have the same exact address (same name).

This problem appeared from friday last week. It still persist at this moment.

The only solution was to modify manually the POP3 and SMTP in the SSL account option in Expert settings, Mail Shield. I put 110 with None and 25 with None at the encryption. This was is working the email client.

Why it keeps autocompleting this account with wrong settings. We don't use SSL.

Thank you
« Last Edit: November 15, 2010, 02:38:36 PM by b28rdw »