Should I allow avast web scanner?

[RV01]

My query is the following: I don't know if I should allow avast web scanner. I have sygate personal firewall,  my OS is millennium and I don't know if allowing this application I would run any risk. I am a home user .What should I do
Thanks for the help in advance

[essexboy]

The simple answer is yes.  However if you experience any problems search the forum for sygate firewall.  There are a few threads on it..

[Lisandro]

My query is the following: I don't know if I should allow avast web scanner. I have sygate personal firewall,  my OS is millennium and I don't know if allowing this application I would run any risk. I am a home user. What should I do.

Disabling the provider you're not solving the problem... just pretending it does not exist.
A lot of nowadays malwares take advantage of various exploits and bugs of the browsers, especially Internet Explorer.
Letting avast scanning the HTTP streams through WebShield is the only way to prevent the infection.
Just setting the Standard Shield to High sensitivity (resident filesystem scanner) won't solve... It will be too late.

[RV01]

Hence what should I do? Should I change browser? 

[Lisandro]

Hence what should I do? Should I change browser? 

Why?
WebShield works with any browser...
Which one do you use?

[RV01]

Internet Explorer 6

[Lisandro]

What I see is that if you want to change anything is your firewall...
Sygate has a problem/bug with local proxies (like WebShield of avast and any other local proxy, like Proxomitron or any anonymizer program).
I suggest you test ZoneAlarm (free) or Kerio (free). 

With Millenium, to use WebShield you must set your browser to use a proxy:
server: localhost
port number: 12080

Can you try?

[RV01]

Could you please tell me how to set my browser to use a proxy:
server: localhost
port number: 12080

Or is it easier and safer to change my firewall?

[Jarmo P]

I would use Sygate firewall. It is a great one and works also well with the WebShield. No problems like ZA user's are having. Kerio might be a memory hog on Me.

Firewalls are stuff that need really some learning, before they give optimum performance. Some users are as ignorant as Technical was, and then just rant what ever comes in their mind. Needs to do some research first.

[szc]

Technical knows exactly what he si talking about. Sygate gave all kind of problems and many avast! users already reported them... use search function in these forums. On the other hand, ZoneAlarm never ever gave me any single problem you are talking about. Also, the other one that Technical mentioned, Kerio firewall, is a way better solution than Sygate, even Outpost Freeware...

By the way, RV01, if you wanna be real protected, buy yourself a real hardware router/firewall, then you can speak about some decent level of security and protection... 

@ RV01 - you wrote:

My query is the following: I don't know if I should allow avast web scanner. I have sygate personal firewall,  my OS is millennium and I don't know if allowing this application I would run any risk. I am a home user .What should I do
Thanks for the help in advance 

Of course you have to give "green light" to avast! web scanner... if you wanna be protected in that field, you have to enable WEB SHILED provider. No risk at all, you can just increase your level of protection by enabling WEB SHIELD, nothing else... You also asked this:

Or is it easier and safer to change my firewall? 

What would it solve ? Nothing... every other decent firewall would ask you exactly the same question because it has to know should it let WEB SHIELD access internet or not... that's why we have firewalls installed after all, don't we ? 

Cheers !

[Jarmo P]

Sygate gave all kind of problems and many avast! users already reported them... use search function in these forums.

I participated in those threads and really it was mostlly heresay and the way the first build of WebShield behaved.
Sash, care to elaborate those current problems?

Kerio firewall, is a way better solution than Sygate, even Outpost Freeware...

Those are your opinions, nothing more. Subjective as mine too.

[sded]

Ran into some problems with Kerio 4.   Switched to 4.1.3 and had the same problems I encountered with 4.2B4-Kerio doesn't always load at boot .  Saw a few other messages about this on their website.  No solution-don't know what the conflict is.  In spite of being installed as an automatic service under XP SP2, it just comes up partially at boot (based on "protect a startup and shutdown being checked") and then goes away, never to be seen again, until you start it manually.  Also tried putting it in the startup folder;didn't help.  Happened only occasionally with 4.1.2.  Watch carefully to be sure KPF 4 is really running if you plan to use it.  No comment from their forum on the questions about it.  Sygate is looking better again, unless Kerio comes up with an explanation/fix.  At least the problems are well understood and manageable in the avast context.

[szc]

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Sash, care to elaborate those current problems?

Sygate developers never did anything to solve those problems on Windows shutdown. Many people reported those problems, as well as myself.

http://forums.sygate.com/vb/showthread.php?s=0f55cc62717d770dce53465b79e1cbcd&threadid=10823&highlight=shutdown
http://forums.sygate.com/vb/showthread.php?s=0f55cc62717d770dce53465b79e1cbcd&threadid=12361&highlight=shutdown
http://forums.sygate.com/vb/showthread.php?s=0f55cc62717d770dce53465b79e1cbcd&threadid=12381&highlight=shutdown
http://forums.sygate.com/vb/showthread.php?s=0f55cc62717d770dce53465b79e1cbcd&threadid=11452&highlight=shutdown
http://forums.sygate.com/vb/showthread.php?s=0f55cc62717d770dce53465b79e1cbcd&threadid=11488&highlight=shutdown
http://forums.sygate.com/vb/showthread.php?s=0f55cc62717d770dce53465b79e1cbcd&threadid=6919&highlight=shutdown

and so on, and so on... not to flood this reply...

Of course, nothing that forum members advised helped at all... Sygate is doing nothing to fix that issue, so I gave up. Went back to ZA, works perfect with my hardware router/firewall and I'm sticking to it...

Cheers !

[Jarmo P]

Those threads you are giving have nothing to do though with this thread.

I have never experienced those shutdown problems, running SPF 5.5.2710 currently. Maybe they had been using ZA or other firewall before, and not managed to completely uninstall all the components before running SPF?
It is true that the latest security center recognizing firewall has been getting some negative responses. That is why I have not upgraded.

But in this thread's context I considered Technical's replies again misleading and poorly thought beforehand.

[szc]

Those threads you are giving have nothing to do though with this thread.

Maybe it has nothing to do with this thread, but it shows that Sygate is not without errors.... When we are at this, nothing you just said have anything with topic of this thread either... RV01 just asked should he give permission to avast! web scanner, not which firewall is better...

Maybe they had been using ZA or other firewall before, and not managed to completely uninstall all the components before running SPF?
It is true that the latest security center recognizing firewall has been getting some negative responses. That is why I have not upgraded.

That has nothing to do with improperly uninstalled ZA... I'm telling you, Sygate was the very first firewall I have ever had installed on this system (fairly new system). Even if I had ZA, I know exactly what should I do to uninstall it properly. I'm computer technician by profession and I work in my field for the last 15 years... so uninstalling ZA and removing all related registry keys is nothing extraterrestrial. I didn't even have to do that, and if I had to uninstall ZA prior to installing Sygate or any other firewall, I would rather restore one of my previous System Ghost image files... it would be much easier and much less painful, also much faster since restore procedure lasts for around 5 minutes on my system.

Again, "fighting" about whose firewall is better or safer is nonsense. Different strokes for different folks... it was always like that and it will be, but telling that Technical don't know what he is talking about is useles. Believe me, he is here long enough to know what he is talking about... Which Firewall ? Use what makes you happy and what gives you best results, and what you are comfortable with.