Webshield prevents url loading.

[neiby]

Hmm....after further review I notice that the page does *not* completely load for me with Web Shield turned on. With it on, the page does not completely load even after waiting 10-15 seconds. With Web Shield turned off, the page loads completely in just a couple of seconds.

[neiby]

I haven't had a problem with pages not loading at all, but I've always felt that Web Shield caused a small but noticable increase in page load times. However, the additional protection makes it worth it, IMO. It would be nice if it didn't slow things down, but it certainly does appear to do so.

Well, of course it causes a slight delay. How anyone can expect that processor needs to do some additional tasks (this time invoked by webshield), and not take up some additional time. Anyway, how much protection we get, it's unnoticeable how much time it takes. I can't really see the difference on my ADSL anyway. Second thing... if we are talking about 0.123 seconds delay, then I don't see the problem. Human's brain is not capable to process those pictures that fast, so no point in trying to avoid that delay... if we are ready to have good protection, so we should be ok even with those small delays. If someone can't wait that much for pages to show up, then he can just disable Web Shield. I am not aware of any other antivirus that offers web shield alike thing with faster access to web pages...

Sure, we should expect that it causes some delay. What we really need to ask is how noticable it should be. Many people don't seem to notice the delay on their system, while others do. In my case, it is a very noticable difference. I will still leave it turned on because of the extra protection, but even my wife comments on how much longer it takes to get to her web-based email, among other things.

[szc]

It could be that some other factors as type of internet connections we use, and combination of some other security related programs are dealing with this issue...

Also, having hardware router/firewall affects the speed. I'm running my D-Link DI-604 without any problems... never ever had any problem with internet connection. I'm not saying some other, different types of routers and different router/firewall configurations can not cause some additional problems. All those factors should be checked, so Alwil can collect more useful information and work on this issue...

People, post your configurations, all other security programs installed on your system, especially those which runs in background (resident tasks), most important hardware components you have (like routers/firewalls) etc...

Then eventually, Alwil will see better what's causing those problems on certain systems...

Thanks !

[Jarmo P]

XP SP2 patched and a Sygate firewall with a cable tv modem connection.
Nothing else that I think would be affecting.
Btw, with IE that page does not download at all using ashWebSv.exe.

[lukor]

The http://web.planet.nl/planetdownload page indeed does not load completely with WebShield on. I'll investigate the communication in the morning and we'll see what we can do with this URL. Thanks for the heads up.
Lukas.

[szc]

Btw, with IE that page does not download at all using ashWebSv.exe.

Take a good look at the screenshot I posted one page back in this same thread... it's IE6, not Firefox, not Maxthon, not Opera or any other browser. It's IE... maybe you haven't noticed because it's skinned, but believe me it's IE... and all pages are loaded properly and without any visible delay...

Link for my reply with screenshot I was talking about:
http://forum.avast.com/index.php?topic=12015.msg101560#msg101560

Cheers !

[szc]

The http://web.planet.nl/planetdownload page indeed does not load completely with WebShield on. I'll investigate the communication in the morning and we'll see what we can do with this URL. Thanks for the heads up.
Lukas.

As I mentioned earlier in this thread, I don't have problems with loading that page with web shield enabled... see Screenshot... it always loads without problems... 

[DavidR]

No noticeable difference in page loads (dial-up) with 623. The web.planet.nl page seemed to load ok but the firefox throbber kept going for a considerable time but eventually stopped. There didn't appear to be any additional content other than what was originally loaded.

[The_Pro]

Howdy All
I have WinXP SP2 with IE6 (all updates installed) and using dialup on Netcomm 56k internal modem and have no probs loading the page link in the post or anything else that I have come across as yet.
No noticable slow downs either.

[neiby]

Howdy All
I have WinXP SP2 with IE6 (all updates installed) and using dialup on Netcomm 56k internal modem and have no probs loading the page link in the post or anything else that I have come across as yet.
No noticable slow downs either.

I would expect this if you have a dialup modem. After all, if a page takes 9 or 10 seconds to completely load on a dialup connection, you're probably not going to notice the additional .5 to 1 second processing required by Web Shield.

However, if you have a high speed connection and that same page would load in 1.5 to 2 seconds, you will notice the difference.

[Eddy]

It's virtually impossible that anything has changed from the 4.6.618 version to 4.6.623 version.

Here it started with the 618 version, before that all was fine.

Well, of course it causes a slight delay.

A slight delay, yes. But this I wouldn't call it a slight delay since it sometimes even takes 10-25 seconds longer than normal. And nomal with my connection is a page loading in 2 seconds tops. (and even that is already slow with my connection)

[alanrf]

Kudos to Lukas for recognizing that there is a reproducible problem with this site that will be investigated. 

It seems that a number of us can observe the fact this this site does not complete its download (on whatever speed connection we have and on multiple browsers) in minutes let alone seconds with Webshield active and yet downloads successfully with Webshield inactive. 

While I understand that some of us may not be able to see a problem it does not make the problem that others see go away. 

I have a feeling that sometimes there can be a hint of defensiveness towards Avast and the "cannot be an Avast problem" problem in the repsonses here. 

Anyway ... if Eddy says that he sees the problem then I will always assume the problem really exists!   

[fredra]

Well said alanrf......
I agree wholehearedly with your viewpoints on this one.
Cheers 

[Vlk]

OK guys, here's a patch that should resolve the issue. Verifying that it actually solves the problem at your side would be apreciated.

Please follow these steps to install the patch:

1. Stop the WebShield provider in avast
2. Download http://cat.asw.cz/misc/ashwebsv.zip and extract its contents to the avast folder. Overwrite ashWebSv.exe that's already there (it shouldn't be locked because of step 1.)
3. Start the WebShield provider

Thanks
Vlk

[Eddy]

Tried several websites that where known to give troubles. All seem to be fine now. All opened completely and no more slowdowns sofar.

I hope it also solves the problems others are having with the webshield.

Thanks Alwil.