Avast WEBforum

Consumer Products => Avast Free Antivirus / Premium Security (legacy Pro Antivirus, Internet Security, Premier) => Topic started by: crawler30 on November 30, 2010, 02:10:48 AM

Title: avast! free web shield blocking internet connection.
Post by: crawler30 on November 30, 2010, 02:10:48 AM
I have been using avast! for the last four years and have had no problems whatsoever but today I tried to access the internet and my homepage would not load. It just continuously says "loading" and nothing happens. First I tried to just reboot but still nothing. I tried to diagnose the connection and nothing. turned off my firewall (windows firewall) and nothing. searched some forums and tried to diagnose lan nothing positive. I turned off all avast! shields and it worked fine. I then turned them off one by one and found webshield to be the problem. I also had tried adding avast! to the exclusion list on my firewall but it did not help. I am currently running without the webshield until I get this figured out. Please help. I am running vista home premium 64 bit. I also run iobit security 360 but I do not believe it to be a problem as I have been running it with avast! for a couple years now and no problems, also turning it off does not change the issue.
Title: Re: avast! free web shield blocking internet connection.
Post by: ziucqea on November 30, 2010, 04:30:56 AM
Try resetting winsocks.
-Click 'Start', type in 'cmd' in the searching tab, press enter
-Type in: 'netsh winsock reset'(without quotation marks), press 'enter'
-Restart your machine to see whether it's been fixed.
Title: Re: avast! free web shield blocking internet connection.
Post by: crawler30 on November 30, 2010, 06:27:06 AM
Try resetting winsocks.
-Click 'Start', type in 'cmd' in the searching tab, press enter
-Type in: 'netsh winsock reset'(without quotation marks), press 'enter'
-Restart your machine to see whether it's been fixed.

I run a dsl modem, would doing this change settings that my router may have changed when installed? Also, is it possible to connect to the internet at all (even with the webshield turned off) if the winsocks are corrupted? Also, if they are corrupted Should I be getting error messages? As I have not gotten any error messages at all. Sorry for all the questions, I am definately not an IT proffessional. Thanx.
Title: Re: avast! free web shield blocking internet connection.
Post by: ziucqea on November 30, 2010, 07:40:23 AM
1)No, it won't
2)Not necessary. Also, I think you can log in to your msn,QQ, Yahoo! Messenger or whatever currently, even with Webshield on, right?
3)I don't think you will get error messages at all....
Anyway, try it and see what happens...
Title: Re: avast! free web shield blocking internet connection.
Post by: CraigB on November 30, 2010, 07:41:13 AM
Hi crawler30, You think you have no problem running iobit, maybe this is one of them.
Even with one of your av's turned off it will not solve your problem as there are low level driver's that are still running and will cause issue's and two av's will lesson your security, you need to choose which av you want and get rid of one and with iobit's untrustworthy history this would not have been on my system in the fist place.
Title: Re: avast! free web shield blocking internet connection.
Post by: SafeSurf on November 30, 2010, 08:34:17 AM
Hello crawler30 and welcome to the forum.

Craigb is correct in that we have seen MANY problems with users using iobit and having conflicts with other security software including Avast.  The only way to resolve this issue was to uninstall iobit per the vendor's uninstaller's tool or directions (NOT by a third-party uninstaller).

After you uninstall iobit, you will then need to reboot your machine.  There are other free security software that you can use in place of this that we can recommend that will not conflict with Avast to help you layer your protection.

Since you now have 2 AV software in your system, it is possible that Avast will not work correctly after you uninstall iobit even after rebooting.  Should this happen, do an Avast Repair:
- Go to Control Panel > Add/Remove programs > Avast Antivirus.
- Scroll down and choose Repair function in the pop-up window.
- Reboot.

If you still have problems with Avast, please post back and we will instruct you further.

Let us know if you have any questions.  Thank you. :)
Title: Re: avast! free web shield blocking internet connection.
Post by: Jab13 on December 01, 2010, 12:51:16 AM
Hello crawler30 and welcome to the forum.

Craigb is correct in that we have seen MANY problems with users using iobit and having conflicts with other security software including Avast.  The only way to resolve this issue was to uninstall iobit per the vendor's uninstaller's tool or directions (NOT by a third-party uninstaller).

After you uninstall iobit, you will then need to reboot your machine.  There are other free security software that you can use in place of this that we can recommend that will not conflict with Avast to help you layer your protection.

Since you now have 2 AV software in your system, it is possible that Avast will not work correctly after you uninstall iobit even after rebooting.  Should this happen, do an Avast Repair:
- Go to Control Panel > Add/Remove programs > Avast Antivirus.
- Scroll down and choose Repair function in the pop-up window.
- Reboot.

If you still have problems with Avast, please post back and we will instruct you further.

Let us know if you have any questions.  Thank you. :)

I don't mean to hijack this thread, but I thought it might be relevant.  I too have been unable to access the internet with the web shield running.  I was running iobit's Advanced System Care, along with Comodo firewall.  Initially I thought the problem was within Avast, because when I used system processes to disable all processes belonging to Comodo and iobit the problem persisted, and the only way to resolve the issue was to stop the web shield.  I have tried various suggestions on other threads and none of them have worked, that is until I came across this thread.  Not sure if this will fix Crawler30's problem, but his sounded very similar to mine, so I thought I would post.  Thank you for the suggestions made here.  :)
Title: Re: avast! free web shield blocking internet connection.
Post by: inkcaj on December 01, 2010, 03:40:05 AM
I've had the same internet blocking problem since a reload last week.  After reading about the iobit security software issue, I turned off the generic Windows firewall, and connection restored.  Looks like the current version doesn't play well with firewalls.
Title: Re: avast! free web shield blocking internet connection.
Post by: CraigB on December 01, 2010, 06:24:35 AM
I've had the same internet blocking problem since a reload last week.  After reading about the iobit security software issue, I turned off the generic Windows firewall, and connection restored.  Looks like the current version doesn't play well with firewalls.
You should not have to turn off the windows firewall or change any setting's with it or add exclusions for avast, your problem's must lie elsewhere.
Title: Re: avast! free web shield blocking internet connection.
Post by: SafeSurf on December 01, 2010, 09:10:50 AM
I've had the same internet blocking problem since a reload last week.  After reading about the iobit security software issue, I turned off the generic Windows firewall, and connection restored.  Looks like the current version doesn't play well with firewalls.
You should not have to turn off the windows firewall or change any setting's with it or add exclusions for avast, your problem's must lie elsewhere.
I agree with craigb on this.  Again, iobit has a known history of conflicting with other security software, and those using Avast have needed to uninstall iobit and ASC for Avast to work properly.  As a former user of ASC years ago, it offers very little, so I would not waste my memory or HDD on it, not to mention the headaches it seems to be giving everyone these days.

@ inkcaj, Follow the instructions above in my post regarding uninstalling it.  With Avast, a good FW, and MBAM, you will be well protected.  Let us know if you have any questions.  Thank you.
Title: Re: avast! free web shield blocking internet connection.
Post by: inkcaj on December 02, 2010, 12:29:08 PM
@ inkcaj, Follow the instructions above in my post regarding uninstalling it.  With Avast, a good FW, and MBAM, you will be well protected.  Let us know if you have any questions.  Thank you.

But I don't have iobit, or any other firewall, except what's running in my router.  My problems started after a clean XP install.  Meaning, an install from a Microsoft XP CD, then fully patched, and installed Avast only.  Locked my internet connection up.  Turn off Active shield, internet connection back.  Turn Active shield back on, lose internet.  Turn off Windows firewall, connection back.

Like I said, looks like current version of Active Shield is a bit picky about firewalls.
Title: Re: avast! free web shield blocking internet connection.
Post by: SafeSurf on December 04, 2010, 12:08:24 AM
@ inkcaj,

I think everyone here got confused by your first post, so let's start from the beginning.
1.   What is your OS, 32 or 64-bit?  XP SP?
2.   What version of Avast did you install?  5.0.677 is the latest version.
3.   What product of Avast did you install?  Free, Pro, AIS?
4.   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)?
5.   Are your MS Updates (if you have Windows) current?
6.   Are your software updates current?
7.   Are the Avast definitions (updates) current?
8.   When was the last time you did any kind of scan in Avast, and if so what kind of scan was it?
9.   Why did you have to reinstall your OS from a CD?

Please try an Avast Repair:
- Go to Control Panel > Add/Remove programs > Avast Antivirus.
- Scroll down and choose Repair function in the pop-up window.
- Reboot.

In your next post, please answer the above questions and let me know if the Repair fixes your problems.  Thank you.

Title: Re: avast! free web shield blocking internet connection.
Post by: mshoward82 on December 04, 2010, 03:05:42 AM
I just wanted to add that I was experiencing the same issues. My browsers would just hang and not load pages. Though i was connected. My updates still worked, my email program sent and received messages, and Zune software still downloaded music. It was just my browsers having the problem.

And like everyone else, they would work when I disabled the Avast Web Shield. I spent much time reading forums and found nothing good until I got here.

I found out the problem was with IObit. I had Advanced System Care installed.

I uninstalled IObit ASC, ran SuperAntispyware, and ran Malwarebyte's. Then restarted.
Reset my Avast settings to all Active and now my browsers work just fine.

I'm just glad that i finally found a forum that actually had the right solution.

Thank you for your guys help. :)

System:
Asus EeePC
Windows XP 32bit
Firefox 3.6
IE8
Avast! 5.0.677
SAS & MBAM
And IObit is history ;)
Title: Re: avast! free web shield blocking internet connection.
Post by: SafeSurf on December 04, 2010, 10:31:25 AM
Again, iobit has a known history of conflicting with other security software, and those using Avast have needed to uninstall iobit and ASC for Avast to work properly.

@ mshoward82,
I just wanted to add that I was experiencing the same issues. <snip> And like everyone else, they would work when I disabled the Avast Web Shield. 

I found out the problem was with IObit.  I had Advanced System Care installed.
I uninstalled IObit ASC, ran SuperAntispyware, and ran Malwarebyte's.  Then restarted.  Reset my Avast settings to all Active and now my browsers work just fine.

I'm just glad that i finally found a forum that actually had the right solution.
Thank you for your kind input.  I'm glad you are happy with our suggestions and the forum.  Most importantly, I'm glad your machine is working for you now!  :D

@ inkcaj,

I'm still waiting on your reply to my previous post to you.  Thank you.
Title: Re: avast! free web shield blocking internet connection.
Post by: Lisandro on December 04, 2010, 12:35:49 PM
The company IObit can not be trusted. They're thieves.

http://www.malwarebytes.org/forums/index.php?showtopic=29681
http://www.malwarebytes.org/forums/index.php?showtopic=30989
http://www.malwarebytes.org/forums/index.php?showtopic=33217
Title: Re: avast! free web shield blocking internet connection.
Post by: Jbav2010 on December 04, 2010, 04:02:27 PM
Hi, Just installed Avast 5.00 and I am also having the problem connecting to the internet to brows using Opera 11 Beta Chrome and IE8 have the same problem when I have web shield activated. I did have Iobit installed and I removed this when I read posts made before mine, however, unless I disable Web Shield I am unable to go to any web page.

I am also seeing the same problem with the Mail Shield.

Whats going on ? any recomendations other than the one before this post ? because I have tried all of them and still have this problem! will I end up uninstalling Avast??

Regards
John.
Title: Re: avast! free web shield blocking internet connection.
Post by: essexboy on December 04, 2010, 04:04:57 PM
What firewall do you have ? and is Avast webshield allowed through it ?
Title: Re: avast! free web shield blocking internet connection.
Post by: Jbav2010 on December 04, 2010, 04:09:35 PM
Hi, I have windows firewall and every time I turn it on the next time I boot it is turned off. Could this be an other avast problem ?

John.
Title: Re: avast! free web shield blocking internet connection.
Post by: essexboy on December 04, 2010, 04:11:32 PM
First run the fixit on this page (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/299357)

If that fails then try the following

Title: Re: avast! free web shield blocking internet connection.
Post by: Jbav2010 on December 04, 2010, 04:31:03 PM
Hi, Thanks for your reply, I found a fix for the problem in this forum at this post http://forum.avast.com/index.php?topic=65843.msg556012#msg556012

It's the same fix as you have suggested.

Thanks for your time.
Regards
John.
Title: Re: avast! free web shield blocking internet connection.
Post by: essexboy on December 04, 2010, 04:41:19 PM
No problem IOBit messes the tcpip and winsock
Title: Re: avast! free web shield blocking internet connection.
Post by: Lisandro on December 04, 2010, 05:40:05 PM
No problem IOBit messes the tcpip and winsock
Another bad service of IObit to the humanity? :'(
Title: Re: avast! free web shield blocking internet connection.
Post by: artnesten on December 04, 2010, 09:51:08 PM
Hmm.  Nothing seems to be working for me except disabling the Web Shield.

Here's what I've done so far.

Uninstalled IOBit Advanced Windows Care.  Rebooted.  No fix.
Ran Repair function on AVAST Free.  Rebooted.  No fix.
Ran Winsock/TCPIP repair tool found in this thread: http://forum.avast.com/index.php?topic=65843.msg556012#msg556012 and then rebooted.  No fix.
Ran Winsock/TCPIP repair tool found in this thread: http://forum.avast.com/index.php?topic=65054.0 and then rebooted.  No fix.

I am running only Avast Free and Comodo.

Any ideas? 
Title: Re: avast! free web shield blocking internet connection.
Post by: essexboy on December 04, 2010, 10:24:49 PM
Did you try this ms fixit plus the ones I posted two posts up ?
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/811259
Title: Re: avast! free web shield blocking internet connection.
Post by: Jbav2010 on December 05, 2010, 12:17:15 PM
Did you try this ms fixit plus the ones I posted two posts up ?
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/811259

Hi, I have performed both your fixit suggestions and the am now able to surf the internet,however, my windows firewall keeps being turned off and when I turn it back on again I am unable to surf the internet.

Do you have any suggestions please

Regards
John.
Title: Re: avast! free web shield blocking internet connection.
Post by: essexboy on December 05, 2010, 01:08:36 PM
Do you have a third party firewall ?

Did you have another antivirus previous to Avast ?
If so what was it ?
Title: Re: avast! free web shield blocking internet connection.
Post by: Jbav2010 on December 05, 2010, 01:45:58 PM
Do you have a third party firewall ?

No I don't have a third party firwall.

Did you have another antivirus previous to Avast ?
If so what was it ?

I used microsoft Essentials before installing Avast but that was removed after I installed Avast.

John.
Title: Re: avast! free web shield blocking internet connection.
Post by: YoKenny on December 05, 2010, 01:53:08 PM
You should remove microsoft Essentials before installing avast!

I would do a clean install of avast!

How to install avast! Free Antivirus 5.x?
https://support.avast.com/index.php?_m=knowledgebase&_a=viewarticle&kbarticleid=564&nav=0,1
Title: Re: avast! free web shield blocking internet connection.
Post by: Jbav2010 on December 05, 2010, 02:56:14 PM
You should remove microsoft Essentials before installing avast!

I would do a clean install of avast!

How to install avast! Free Antivirus 5.x?
https://support.avast.com/index.php?_m=knowledgebase&_a=viewarticle&kbarticleid=564&nav=0,1

Hi, I have done as you suggest and still have the same problem with the windows firewall. Should I install an alternative firewall ??

I also disable windows defender in case this was causing a problem.

Regards
John.
Title: Re: avast! free web shield blocking internet connection.
Post by: artnesten on December 06, 2010, 03:44:15 AM
Did you try this ms fixit plus the ones I posted two posts up ?
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/811259
Hi essexboy.  Thanks for your help.  I tried that ms fixit plus the ones you posted two posts up, and no change.

I also tried the manual netsh winsock reset c:\resetlog.txt command after running command prompt as admin.  Oddly, though the command seemed to process, no c:\resetlog.txt was generated that I could find in c:\ after rebooting.  I'm running Windows XP Pro (in case that is relevant).

Any ideas?
Title: Re: avast! free web shield blocking internet connection.
Post by: DavidR on December 06, 2010, 04:11:25 AM
<snip>
I also tried the manual netsh winsock reset c:\resetlog.txt command after running command prompt as admin.  Oddly, though the command seemed to process, no c:\resetlog.txt was generated that I could find in c:\ after rebooting.  I'm running Windows XP Pro (in case that is relevant).
Any ideas?

I too wondered about that run command. I'm used to seeing a > used to indicate an output file.

Try this command and see if it generates the file:
netsh winsock reset > c:\resetlog.txt.
Title: Re: avast! free web shield blocking internet connection.
Post by: artnesten on December 06, 2010, 05:11:49 AM
<snip>
I also tried the manual netsh winsock reset c:\resetlog.txt command after running command prompt as admin.  Oddly, though the command seemed to process, no c:\resetlog.txt was generated that I could find in c:\ after rebooting.  I'm running Windows XP Pro (in case that is relevant).
Any ideas?

I too wondered about that run command. I'm used to seeing a > used to indicate an output file.

Try this command and see if it generates the file:
netsh winsock reset > c:\resetlog.txt.

Yep that worked; it generated the file.  I'm going to restart before I post the contents.

edit: okay, here's the contents:
-------------
Sucessfully reset the Winsock Catalog.
You must restart the machine in order to complete the reset.
-------------

There it is; complete with the misspelled "successfully."  No change...  Still blocking http. 

I still don't understand why, if it were a problem with Winsock/TCPIP, then why would https work?  e.g. http://www.google.com fails but https://www.google.com works.  It's not my firewall; everything worked fine before, and https is still unblocked by the firewall.  After so many Winsock fixes, it seems like it has to be something different...
Title: Re: avast! free web shield blocking internet connection.
Post by: DavidR on December 06, 2010, 04:16:11 PM
Https content isn't monitored by the web shield, where http port 80 content is.
Title: Re: avast! free web shield blocking internet connection.
Post by: tharonin on December 08, 2010, 12:37:09 AM
Let me hop on this thread as well :D

I just installed a fresh copy of Windows XP SP3 with ALL current Windows Update content.
Got the Avast! Free from Download.com and installed. PC has currently NO other programs or content installed.

Still, I do have the same problem as discussed in this thread. The moment I turn Web Shield OFF, all traffic is restored, turn it back ON, nothing whatsoever.

Also, running a second machine here, same engine/updates but on Windows 7 64bit, that one had no problem (posting from it atm...)

Tried a lot, if not all tips I have found here, all the way up to disabling the MS Firewall, but until now, the only working solution is running without Web Shield...

[EDIT]

I now have the system up and running WITH Web Shield turned on, however, I had to uncheck the "Scan Web (HTTP) Traffic" part.

[/EDIT]
Title: Re: avast! free web shield blocking internet connection.
Post by: DavidR on December 08, 2010, 12:19:02 PM
That is the same as effectively disabling the web shield as it only scans http traffic.
Title: Re: avast! free web shield blocking internet connection.
Post by: darth on December 20, 2010, 06:55:19 PM
To original poster.  I note you are using Vista.

Vista does from time to time have problems with TCP Auto Tuning.

I had the exact same problems as you.  Solved(very simple to do) by following instructions  at http://www.mydigitallife.info/2007/03/22/disable-tcp-auto-tuning-to-solve-slow-network-cannot-load-web-page-or-download-email-problems-in-vista/
Title: Re: avast! free web shield blocking internet connection.
Post by: artnesten on December 22, 2010, 07:55:20 PM
Https content isn't monitored by the web shield, where http port 80 content is.
Yes, I know.  My point was simply that the fact that http apart from the Web Shield and https in general are both functioning is evidence the problem is located in the Web Shield rather than with Winsock/TCPIP as for some others, especially since the Winsock/TCPIP fixes did not resolve the problem on my computer.  Hopefully, this issue will be fixed in the future.  Until then, the only recourse appears to be to turn off the Web Shield while leaving the other fully functioning shields on.