Only 1 problem with v.6 free

[MikeBCda]

I installed v.6 yesterday, when I learned that the final release was out ... so far no problems, but my clock-sync application (WebTime, from Gregory Braun) then refused to connect to any of the remote servers, giving me a "non-existent socket" error message each time I tried.  I'd been using it for years (no updates available for ages now, so quite possibly some of the servers' addys are out of date, but I wouldn't have thought NBS in Gaithersburg would have changed their IPs).

Uninstalled that one and replaced it with SP TimeSync, which works just fine.  I'm guessing that v.6 made some changes to how its proxy works ... even my PCTools firewall warned that the avast service "seems to be acting as a local proxy" and ask me to OK that, something I'd never run into with previous versions.

[ky331]

Can't say this definitively is your problem... but I'll mention it as a possibility for you (and/or others) to consider:

How have you set the behavior shield?

Real-time shields / behavior shield / expert setting / actions to take

the reason I mention this, I have mine set to ASK... and it so it inquired about the D4.com clock-Synch program I'm using (on bootup).   I told avast to allow this, and to remember this decision in the future (i.e., place it on the list of trusted processes), and my clock-synch works, and i'm no longer prompted about it.

If you have the "action" set to BLOCK (or maybe even "auto-decide") that could explain what happened.

P.S.   The behavior shield also prompted me about my wireless intel driver (on bootup) and upon running HiJackThis.   we'll see what else it might find in the future.

[MikeBCda]

Good tip, thanks.  I'd left advanced settings for all shields to defaults (typically "chest"), but have now changed most of them to ask as the first choice per your suggestion.  Guess the two clock-sync apps work just enough differently from each other that one triggers avast but the other doesn't.

I'll go back and reinstall WebTime and try again; I prefer that one (they're both freeware) since it gives you a good built-in menu-selection of remote time servers whereas the other one defaults to using a random server.  I'm certainly not concerned with an error of (typically) microseconds ... mostly it lets me use the computer's clock as a reference for the odd time when we lose power and all other clocks in the house need reset.

(Edit/update) Nope, no luck with WebTime even with the changed shield settings.  Since nothing else on my system has changed in quite a while, other than updating avast, and I don't believe in coincidences of timing (at least not on computers), it seems like a fair guess that it's somehow tied in to the changes from 5.1 to 6.

[Joe S]

Mike
Did you just update from the existing edition or uninstall and install clean? I had network problems with the upgrade but a clean install fixed it.
Joe

[MikeBCda]

I did a clean uninstall-new install ... didn't even have to use the uninstaller tool, although I'd downloaded that anyway just in case.  The few odds & ends of leftover files & folders came out manually with no hassle ... might be some junk still in the registry, I'll check there over the weekend.

[doktornotor]

Using NTP for Windows for keeping proper time - which is the reference NTP implementation and has had zero issues w/ Avast anywhere I tried (XP, Vista, 7).