Does Avast (for Mac) blcok ports (e.g., 8000)? How can I change that?

[easyeasy2009]

I am developing an application and I need to connect to localhost:8000. I am sure that something is listening at that port but it seems that firewall (Avast) prevents. Is it true? How can I change the list of open ports in Avast?

UPDATE: I removed AVAST and everything works perfectly.
Now, this is serious! I cannot have AVAST and work with ports, excepting that I find a way to manage the open ports. Any Help?

[tumic]

avast! for mac does not listen on port 8000 (unless you have changed the configuration file manually) and does not block it or redirect it in any way.