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Consumer Products => Avast SecureLine VPN => Avast SecureLine VPN for Windows => Topic started by: 1eyedjack on April 03, 2014, 08:01:53 AM
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Hi, I am running Avast Premier on a Windows 8.1 pro 64 bit hybrid laptop/tablet.
When I run SecureLine it claims to connect successfully to Secureline, but then when I try to connect to ANY web page through secureline it reports
"This page can't be displayed.
Make sure the web address http://www.whatever is correct
Look for the page with your search engine.
Refresh the page in a few minutes.
<Fix connection problems>" (button)
It then every few minutes disconnects and then reconnects to secureline.
If I click on Fix Connection problems it hunts around futilely and then eventually says
"Troubleshoorter couldn't identify the problem."
I also have an old Windows Vista 32 bit machine, which I am trying to ditch in favour of the above new model. The Vista machine works smoothly, through the same wireless router, with no problems in running secureline.
Help??
Thanks
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I'm not sure obviously, but I might check the wireless network settings on the new laptop as well as make sure the Firewall isn't stopping the connections.
Just thoughts as I am just a user as well. :)
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Hi
Thanks for the thoughts.
I have tried disabling the firewall altogether and it made no difference.
I would not know how to interpret what I saw in the wireless internet settings that might indicate the source of the problem, let alone know how to change them or what to. Perfectly happy to post details of settings here if it would help. I was sort of hoping that hundreds of others had the same experience and that there was a known workaround.
It occurs to me that it just might be a setting in the router that is causing the grief. But again, if that were the case I don't understand why the Vista machine works OK.
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Problem half solved, so thought I would give all y'all the heads up.
I tried out a short term subscription to ExpressVPN as an alternative to Secureline, just to see if it made any difference. It didn't ExpressVPN displayed exactly the same symptoms. BUT, with ExpressVPN you do get options to tweak some settings. It defaults to UDP, but if I change it to TCP then everything works smoothly.
I cannot see any way to adjust the configuration of Secureline. The options seem to be limited to "Connect" or "don't connect". End of.
So I still can't get Secureline to work, but at least I have an inkling of what is required.
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Well I'm no expert, but I believe UDP and TCP connections are determined by your Firewall settings for each application.
You might find more info and possible direction to your specific issue :)
https://www.google.ca/?gfe_rd=cr&ei=ApxAU7XcF5SzsAet64CwDA#q=what+determines+udp+and+tcp+protocol (https://www.google.ca/?gfe_rd=cr&ei=ApxAU7XcF5SzsAet64CwDA#q=what+determines+udp+and+tcp+protocol)
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Hi
It is all a black art to me, and the acronyms mean nothing to me, but I will add this for clarity and the benefit of others (I have no reason to disagree with you).
ExressVPN has within its own software an "Options" configuration button that allows you to choose radio buttons between
"Automatic", "UDP", "TCP", "L2TP/IPsec", "SSTP", and "PPTP"
It defaulted to UDP on installation and didn't work. After changing to "TCP" it worked. I confess that I am surprised that it did not either default to "Automatic" or otherwise auto-detect the setting that worked, but that is by the bye.
I disabled the firewall before resorting to trying for outside assistance. I had already disabled Windows firewall because I gather that running multiple firewalls is superfluous and degrades performance, and Avast has its own. (As an aside, if you recommend that I enable Windows firewall as well I would be interested to know). Anyway, for this purpose I also disabled Avast firewall and ignored the dire warning messages. This made no difference to the fact that neither Secureline worked nor did ExpressVPN under its default (UDP) setting.
That left the wireless router, a Netgear R6250, one of their top of the range (at least when it was released, pre R7000). I am told by the old and the wise that a wireless router acts as a firewall of sorts. I wouldn't know about that, but it certainly wouldn't surprise me if some of the settings in the router were contributing to the problem.
I have just logged into the router as admin and gone through every page available, and no-where is the acronym UDP mentioned in either basic or advanced settings. I have found a single reference to "LAN TCP/IP Setup", which includes an IP address, an IP subnet mask, a RIP direction (set to both) and a RIP Version (set to Disabled). I have no idea what all these mean, and there were no options to disable these settings (other than RIP version). The IP address and subnet mask are greyed out and uneditable. There is a reference to an internet connection port described as DHCP whatever that is (not editable).
Anyway, to cut to the chase
1) there are some indications that the problems that I have with Secureline are the same as those which until now I had with ExpressVPN. They certainly presented identical symptoms.
2) I have no problems if I don't use any VPN
3) I can find nowhere that I can change Secureline's settings as I can with ExpressVPN, which corrected the problem in the latter.
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Ah, a minor correction to the above.
In the wireless router settings there is one described as "UPnP". This was set as turned off.
I tried the effect of turning it on. It did not solve the problems experienced with the VPN, but it did then (and not before) display a "UPnP Portmap Table" wherein the "Protocal" was described as "UDP" (nb not TCP).
Anyway I have turned it off again.
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Unfortunately, I am at a loss.
If you are unable to find a solution from user input, you could try PM this avast team member for other suggestions. :)
http://forum.avast.com/index.php?topic=145144.0 (http://forum.avast.com/index.php?topic=145144.0) (POST# 7)
Edit
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OK, I have raised a support ticket with Avast about it, #LHF-622-58474. I shall see how that pans out before resorting to any further alternatives. I raised the ticket on 04 April, and so far not a squeak. Well, maybe no-one works weekend shifts these days, or perhaps I should not expect a 3 day turnaround anyway. Except for their competition, of course.