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Consumer Products => Avast Free Antivirus / Premium Security (legacy Pro Antivirus, Internet Security, Premier) => Topic started by: propheticus on November 28, 2013, 10:25:36 PM

Title: [Warning] AV IS 2014 firewall bugged
Post by: propheticus on November 28, 2013, 10:25:36 PM
Even though some of the blocked network sharing issues have been fixed in the recent 9.0.2007 version, the firewall still appears to be riddled with bugs.
If you recently upgraded from Avast IS 8 to 9 (2014) or from Avast Free to Internet security and you are experiences strange problems, try uninstalling the firewall part. Be sure to enable Window's firewall or another 3rd party's!!

Here's a couple of the problems that people encounter:
What strikes me as perculiar is the amount of people that upgraded from free to IS that suddenly had problems. The main difference between these two? A firewall!


Before you remove the firewall, manually upgrade the Avast Program to the newest version (9.0.2011 (http://forum.avast.com/index.php?topic=142936.0)) or perform a repair to see if that fixes your issue.

Update:
Repair installation:
Only remove the firewall when this fails to solve your problem.

Steps to remove the firewall:
IF you've already removed Avast (and used aswclear) and wan't to install again, you can also choose to perform a custom installation and untick the firewall. This way you don't have to remove it afterwards.

*last edit: added more examples of problems caused by firewall
Title: Re: [Warning] AV IS 2014 (firewall) bugged
Post by: renedes on November 29, 2013, 12:59:23 PM
I have upgraded to the last AVAST version and lost my internet connection since then. It says Firewall cannot be started, but it stops all other actions as well. Can you help me returning to a state where I can at least have access again. I have submitted a ticket to AVAst support.
#ZFQ-427-82783
Title: Re: [Warning] AV IS 2014 (firewall) bugged
Post by: Pondus on November 29, 2013, 01:05:06 PM
tried avast repair and reboot?

controlpanel > ad/remove programs > avast > uninstall/change > repair option ....wait aminute and reboot

Title: Re: [Warning] AV IS 2014 (firewall) bugged
Post by: renedes on November 29, 2013, 05:30:59 PM
Thanks. The "repair" did not work. But I tried "change", which allowed me to take the firewall feature off Avast. I did get an Internet connection now, without a firewall. But now at least I can go on the Internet to check for a solution.  So long, thanks. Rene 
Title: Re: [Warning] AV IS 2014 (firewall) bugged
Post by: propheticus on November 29, 2013, 11:35:14 PM
Hey Rene,

Good to see my tip at least helped you get your internet back. It's not a pretty solution, but for now it's the best we (the user) can do. Luckily the Windows (7/8) firewall is pretty good.

More examples of the firewall being bugged:

Title: Re: [Warning] AV IS 2014 (firewall) bugged
Post by: mhajicek on November 30, 2013, 12:43:58 AM
Thanks for the tip, with avast firewall off all seems to be ok again......i hope. How could anyone released so bad code?
Title: Re: [Warning] AV IS 2014 (firewall) bugged
Post by: drake127 on November 30, 2013, 05:31:50 AM
Is somebody with this issue able to verify which aswNdis* entries are present in HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services registry key?

avast! 2014:
Windows XP and Vista should see aswNdis and aswNdis2.
Windows 7+ should have just aswNdisFlt.

Thanks.
Title: Re: [Warning] AV IS 2014 (firewall) bugged
Post by: propheticus on November 30, 2013, 08:08:02 PM
I guess this is only valid for people that have still got the Avast firewall installed? I haven't and haven't got an aswNdisFlt entry (win 8.1)

New addition to list of problems:
Vuze and/or JAVA blocked: http://forum.avast.com/index.php?topic=137309.0


edit: I installed a complete 2009r2 (all components) after removing/cleaning 2008 to see if the issue was solved. I did have an aswNdisFlt service and registry entry. The problem still existed, so I removed the firewall again.
Title: Re: [Warning] AV IS 2014 (firewall) bugged
Post by: drake127 on December 01, 2013, 02:28:26 AM
Sure, these are firewall entries (possible related to the internet connection issue). If you have none, you don't have firewall installed.
Title: Re: [Warning] AV IS 2014 (firewall) bugged
Post by: Andrey,pro on December 05, 2013, 09:36:34 PM
Hi drake127,

Some users confirmed the issue with sound crackling in AIS. How to solve this bug with firewall?
You can watch video with this issue here: http://youtu.be/1JkdnSrZqRI
Title: Re: [Warning] AV IS 2014 (firewall) bugged
Post by: propheticus on December 05, 2013, 09:58:42 PM
That's a nice example of the problem I was having and described in this (http://forum.avast.com/index.php?topic=140679.0) thread.

If updating or repairing Avast does not help, you can try following the steps I outlined in the opening post under "Steps to remove the firewall". Do this, reboot and re-enable windows firewall if it was turned off. Now check your sound again.
Title: Re: [Warning] AV IS 2014 (firewall) bugged
Post by: lexus232 on December 06, 2013, 12:08:58 AM
Quote from: Andrey,pro on December 05, 2013, 09:36:34 PM
Hi drake127,

Some users confirmed the issue with sound crackling in AIS. How to solve this bug with firewall?
You can watch video with this issue here: http://youtu.be/1JkdnSrZqRI
Hey I have this problem too! I thought it was hardware related issue because even after I turn off my avast issue still persists. This issue doesn't persist all the time, it just appears randomly throughout the day and disappears later.
I am as well having issue with avast suddenly blocking all websites except google.com that I have described in this thread http://forum.avast.com/index.php?topic=141973.0
Title: Re: [Warning] AV IS 2014 (firewall) bugged
Post by: propheticus on December 06, 2013, 12:54:58 AM
Could you try removing the Avast firewall like explained in the OP and report back if that helps? In my experience simply turning shields off does not help, removing does.
Title: Re: [Warning] AV IS 2014 (firewall) bugged
Post by: lexus232 on December 06, 2013, 07:00:31 AM
Quote from: propheticus on December 06, 2013, 12:54:58 AM
Could you try removing the Avast firewall like explained in the OP and report back if that helps? In my experience simply turning shields off does not help, removing does.
I have removed avast webshiled and avast firewall. I will let you know tomorrow whether it has fixed issues.
Meanwhile I am using built-in windows 7 firewall.
Title: Re: [Warning] AV IS 2014 (firewall) bugged
Post by: Andrey,pro on December 06, 2013, 07:30:38 AM
Quote from: propheticus on December 05, 2013, 09:58:42 PM
That's a nice example of the problem I was having and described in this (http://forum.avast.com/index.php?topic=140679.0) thread.

If updating or repairing Avast does not help, you can try following the steps I outlined in the opening post under "Steps to remove the firewall". Do this, reboot and re-enable windows firewall if it was turned off. Now check your sound again.
Hi,

I've already seen your topic and of course removing firewall will solve sound problem, we have already tried to use the latest beta but still no luck. And both users with this issue have windows 8.1 installed. 

Quote from: lexus232 on December 06, 2013, 12:08:58 AM
Hey I have this problem too! I thought it was hardware related issue because even after I turn off my avast issue still persists. This issue doesn't persist all the time, it just appears randomly throughout the day and disappears later.
Same here, users say that it appears only after 2-3 hours after turning PC on.
Title: Re: [Warning] AV IS 2014 (firewall) bugged
Post by: propheticus on January 11, 2014, 07:41:14 PM
This problem is still present.


Also, when I tried to remove and reinstall avast to enter my new 3 year free license earned with the recommendation program (entering it over the previous 2 year free license did not work and would still show 2 years): my pc would boot but would not recognize any keyboard input. This made it impossible to log in, the on-screen keyboard option would not load either as if it was blocked. After booting in safe mode, running avastclear and rebooting all was well again. Installing again after this did work properly. This is the second time this has happened (had to do the same to update 1year -> 2year license) when uninstalling and reinstalling Avast so it's not a one-time fluke.
The firewall in the latest IS version still showed the same DPC latency and music stuttering symptoms after some hours uptime... so I had to modify the installation and remove it AGAIN.
 
Title: Re: [Warning] AV IS 2014 (firewall) bugged
Post by: Magnik on January 18, 2014, 09:56:39 PM
I can confirm the sound stuttering issue (not that it needs to be confirmed). I switched to Kapersky for the time being, and I'll check if this gets fixed before my sub ends in April. Wtf guys? The sound stuttering was first reported in NOVEMBER. Get your priorities straight before you go the way of your predecessors.
Title: Re: [Warning] AV IS 2014 (firewall) bugged
Post by: propheticus on March 11, 2014, 12:11:32 AM
Bump for awareness.
Title: Re: [Warning] AV IS 2014 firewall bugged
Post by: mchain on November 04, 2014, 09:52:55 PM
@ propheticus,

Not clear if you disabled the Windows Firewall first before install of the 2014 AIS version.  I've also noted that the aswNdis, aswNdis2, and aswNdisFlt (XP/Win 7 drivers) sometimes remained after using aswclear.exe and needed to be removed manually.  To do that, open Device Manager and click View>Show hidden devices.  Then click Network Adapters.  When done, change back to 'View>Devices by type' if that's how you've set it up.

If these drivers are still present even after uninstalling AIS 2014 or 2015, then they may interfere with proper operation of avast firewall, if you choose to try again.  At least worth a check.

Also ensure Windows Firewall is not running on install of AIS.  avast firewall and windows firewall are meant to run together, but experience has shown that this does not work on all machines.
Title: Re: [Warning] AV IS 2014 firewall bugged
Post by: REDACTED on November 05, 2014, 05:05:42 PM
Thanks for the tips. However, I already found the drivers remnants and removed them. Also, I always check to make sure the Windows firewall(s) are disabled. Actually this was one of the first things I did while troubleshooting. Regretfully, both these action didn't resolve the issue.

The issue is most obvious when surfing site with many images per page like imgur or when downloading a torrent. The amount of simultaneous connections seem to be the trigger.