[Resolved] Once again, update blocks all web, need to deactivate Web Shield

[REDACTED]

I've been down for almost a day for exactly the same reason as many times in the past:
A database update (161130-x?) causes blocking of all traffic.
Was not fixed with 161201-0.
In the past it was just HTTP with a domain name. Sometimes all HTTP traffic is blocked. Yesterday and today all TCP traffic was blocked including MS Outlook access to named POP3 servers.

Solution: Turn off Web Shield!

See my prior reports : https://forum.avast.com/index.php?topic=192711.0
Today we're also seeing these notes:
https://forum.avast.com/index.php?topic=193742.0
https://forum.avast.com/index.php?topic=193461.0
https://forum.avast.com/index.php?topic=193657.0

[bob3160]

I've been down for almost a day for exactly the same reason as many times in the past:
A database update (161130-x?) causes blocking of all traffic.
Was not fixed with 161201-0.
In the past it was just HTTP with a domain name. Sometimes all HTTP traffic is blocked. Yesterday and today all TCP traffic was blocked including MS Outlook access to named POP3 servers.

Solution: Turn off Web Shield!

See my prior reports : https://forum.avast.com/index.php?topic=192711.0
Today we're also seeing these notes:
https://forum.avast.com/index.php?topic=193742.0
https://forum.avast.com/index.php?topic=193461.0
https://forum.avast.com/index.php?topic=193657.0

The last thing to do is turn of WebShield.
In many cases this is related to using preview builds of Windows 10.
Preview builds newer that 14936 are not compatible with Avast or other third party AV's. It's a Microsoft problem.
See here: https://forum.avast.com/index.php?topic=156141.msg1351154#msg1351154

[REDACTED]

"The last thing to do is turn of WebShield. "
Yes, that's true of course. And it absolutely used to be the last thing I did when I found out that this was the problem. Now it's still the last thing I do after checking network, hardware, and other local issues - but it's now also the primary recognized cause of this problem.

I'm running Windows 8.1 Pro but thanks for W10 info.

It's fascinating to see that I got another 161201-0 update today (12/2 at 7am) and now it's working.
C'mon Avast, just bump it to 161202-0, fess up, improve the QA in the future, and let's move forward, eh?

[REDACTED]

Was down most of the day today for the same reason. Turned off Web Shield, works fine. Turn on Webs Shield, connectivity fails. Turn it off, works fine... 100% repeatable
Per suggestion from @bob3160, I'm using the Avast Support Tool to generate a report ... and I had to turn off Web Shield to send the report.

Why was I down most of the day? Because once again when things fail I check the network card, my network, other devices, DNS, etc. I completely forgot that Avast auto-updates and that this problem might be the cause. I need to stick a note on my Windows desktop.     

PS: I also had to turn it off to send this update. The connection failed when I hit Post and I lost the text ... thankfully because I don't trust the connection I did a Copy of the text here before attempting to send. So now I can just paste it into a new response and click Post. Let that be a lesson to anyone else - never trust any connection or website to allow you to post that huge block of text you just carefully crafted.

[Eddy]

As other don't have a problem with the VPS (and micro) updates, your problem is system specific.
Without more information it is not possible to say much on what is happening/where it goes wrong.

[REDACTED]

And what about all of those other reports we see with exactly the same symptoms?