I think Avast is well aware of the problem but unfortunately I think they simply can't resolve it. Their firewall is awful since the beginning, no matter how many "fixes, updates, etc." were introduced. I think it is not by chance that they bought a driver from Outpost (meaning simply that you don't have the capacity to develop your own). And then they don't use it because it is flawed - well why don't you first test and check before you buy (and then through away). It's a pity for otherwise a fine product. Avira also had problems with their firewall and I think they made the right choice abandoning their firewall in favor of the Windows build-in one. Well, that wasn't good only for XP users but with Microsoft stopping security updates and patches in April...