Fix for WebShield download issues

[bob3160]

I am also having problems

I have the correct aswstm.sys 9.0.2001.265 version in the windows/system32/drivers folder

Fire Fox and IE pages often have to be refreshed in order to load, and downloads dont finish when the web shields are on (avast and MBAM would not update either with the web shields on)

This is on Windows 7


It also only seems to be the web shield as i can play online games with no problem



(edit) after uninstalling zone alarm firewall and installing the new version, the situation seems to have resolved itsself (still early). So it may have been a problem with Avast 9.0.2011 and a older version of Zone Alarm

May U suggest that your try the built in Windows Firewall and see if that eliminates your current problems.

[castalla]

Fix applied.  No effect on connectivity problems with Squeezeplay (squeezebox player) player fails to connect to server.

As I mentioned in my last post the fix isn't connection related but problems with downloads, so it is unlikely to succed for your problem.

You should start your own 'new topic' and we will try and help. In that topic answer the following:

What is your operating system ?
What avast version and build are you using (e.g. avast free - 9.0.2011, etc.) ?
Are you getting any errors displayed

I believe this problem is well explained by pastyman in:

http://forum.avast.com/index.php?topic=144058.msg1045007#new

[wayne0922]

I purchased the Avast premium yesterday.  I have Windows 8.1. I downloaded and installed ok but now I have many web pages I normally use on a daily basis that freeze, or drop, or loose connective all together.  I have used the free version of avast without the shield for over 2 years and did not have any problem.  Is there a conflict between windows 8.1 and avast? I am on a 38mb cable internet connection.

[Blacksand]

So I'm here just to help by posting my findings, though I haven't tried an amazing amount of time.

Since the 2014 update I've had the same problem, (videos on youtube barely loading and freezing, downloads not working etc.).
At the time I jumped to this forum to see if others had the same problem but back then I didn't have much luck finding a solution.
On my main pc I'm using the following:
Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit SP1

I tried the update on my laptop which uses Win 8.1 Pro 64bit and had 0 problems at all.
Although there I'm using the free edition unlike the Internet Security edition I use on my main PC.

Without the information or even trying to find out that the culprit was the Webshield, I uninstalled Avast completely and installed a previous version (2011. etc., the one from october 2013?). It worked fine after that.
Today I tried to see if there was any progress and updated to the 2014 version and, alas, the problems were back. Then I checked the forums again and found this post.
While I found out that Webshield is indeed guilty of the problems, I am still missing a file. I have all the correct ones in the program files folders, but in the windows drivers folders I am missing the .sum file. Waiting didn't help.

I did find the websheld.ini file (which was in a hidden folder, causing not to be found with the search option at first) and added the line of code. Restarting after that helped, everything was fine again.

[peterNL]

Hi Lukas

Time goes by , still NO improvementy. I see some ppl say we should adjust this & that , so avast WILL work ... well , it's a BS and You know it as well as I do.
I'm still on ..9.0.2008 .   You (avast I mean) won't manage to solve this issue within weeks ( maybe even months ) .. am I right Lukas ?  my oh my .... I want to stay with avast but look at this mess with prgm2014 version..
ARE YOU (avast) close to fixing, repairing this bloody bug or not ??!! Can You just give us - customers - an honest answer

peter jankowy from Holland 

[fssbillk]

Not sure if my problem is webshield or Avast Free Version 9.0.2011 issue.  Have Win XP Pro and IE8.  After days of comparing three of my machines (same os/ie, where one works and the other two don't), the only difference is my "good" machine has vers 9.0.2008.

As with others who have posted in this thread, I am a long-time user and avid fan of Avast.  But with the advent of 2014 software, I've experienced numerous, time-consuming problems, from installation to execution.  This is killing me!  I, too, would like a link to some previous versions.

Anyhoot, try this on a WinXP, IE8, AvastFree 2014.9.0.2011 cornputer:  go to my bank's website - https://www.bankatunion.com/home/home.  Then under Business Banking, click Login.  Then type anything into the three fields (co id, user id, user pw) and click Log  In.  I get a Done or Error in the bottom left of the IE window.  You should get a new page saying your credentials are bad (which I do with vers .2008).

I hope this repeatable error will help you solve my problem.  Thanks!

I forgot to post that when you get to the screen with the three fields and F5-Refresh the screen before entering/clicking, it seems to work.  Maybe this will help with diagnosis.

[lukor]

Not sure if my problem is webshield or Avast Free Version 9.0.2011 issue.  Have Win XP Pro and IE8.  After days of comparing three of my machines (same os/ie, where one works and the other two don't), the only difference is my "good" machine has vers 9.0.2008.

As with others who have posted in this thread, I am a long-time user and avid fan of Avast.  But with the advent of 2014 software, I've experienced numerous, time-consuming problems, from installation to execution.  This is killing me!  I, too, would like a link to some previous versions.

Anyhoot, try this on a WinXP, IE8, AvastFree 2014.9.0.2011 cornputer:  go to my bank's website - https://www.bankatunion.com/home/home.  Then under Business Banking, click Login.  Then type anything into the three fields (co id, user id, user pw) and click Log  In.  I get a Done or Error in the bottom left of the IE window.  You should get a new page saying your credentials are bad (which I do with vers .2008).

I hope this repeatable error will help you solve my problem.  Thanks!

I forgot to post that when you get to the screen with the three fields and F5-Refresh the screen before entering/clicking, it seems to work.  Maybe this will help with diagnosis.

Hi fssbilk, since you are using Windows XP, your problem is completely unrelated to this "new" webshield and new problems - this technology is deployed on Windows 7+ only.

[lukor]

Hi Lukas
Time goes by , still NO improvementy. I see some ppl say we should adjust this & that , so avast WILL work ... well , it's a BS and You know it as well as I do.
I'm still on ..9.0.2008 .   You (avast I mean) won't manage to solve this issue within weeks ( maybe even months ) .. am I right Lukas ?  my oh my .... I want to stay with avast but look at this mess with prgm2014 version..
ARE YOU (avast) close to fixing, repairing this bloody bug or not ??!! Can You just give us - customers - an honest answer

peter jankowy from Holland

Hi Peter Jankowy to Holland, I have searched the list of possibly explanations of the BS acronym and found quite a few that are not offensive! Britney Spears? http://www.acronymfinder.com/BS.html


Regarding the Webshield problems (unrelated to BS): we have been able to identify serveral issues in the code the process the buffers from the network. Unlike the already mentioned fix (aswstm.sys driver patch mentioned above) they all seem to be rather special cases, still bugs but not something that apparent as the fix we have already released (just a few days after the initial 2011 release). Still, these changes will definitely help and as such we are going to release them soon for public testing, probably in the form of a patched aswStreamFilter.dll for volunteers. This afternoon we have indentified and fixed another problem that might help users reporting access issues when opening their router pages. I'll post a link to the patched aswStreamFilter.dll for volunteers tomorrow.


Switching off the new code (UseStreamFilter=0 in the WebShield.ini) is also a "fix", how to avoid problems with the new HTTP filter, of course, no Britney in that. As the old code is functionally equivalent to the new one, in the security respect, this is a supported solution and anyone with problems, is encouraged to switch to the proxy mode.


I understand that some are not skilled enough to edit a text file using notepad and don't like to do that in their instalations, therefore we are going to release all the mentioned changes soon, either as an EmergencyUpdate, but more probably as a standard update. This is about to happen within one or two weeks.


Lukas.

[mistboy]

Hi, this change fix the problem in browsing blocking right? ok i will apply the configuration in minutes, waiting for the new release to fix the router/Internet browsing without change any avast! system file manually, thank you!!!

[pastyman]

Regarding the Webshield problems (unrelated to BS): we have been able to identify serveral issues in the code the process the buffers from the network. Unlike the already mentioned fix (aswstm.sys driver patch mentioned above) they all seem to be rather special cases, still bugs but not something that apparent as the fix we have already released (just a few days after the initial 2011 release). Still, these changes will definitely help and as such we are going to release them soon for public testing, probably in the form of a patched aswStreamFilter.dll for volunteers. This afternoon we have indentified and fixed another problem that might help users reporting access issues when opening their router pages. I'll post a link to the patched aswStreamFilter.dll for volunteers tomorrow.


Switching off the new code (UseStreamFilter=0 in the WebShield.ini) is also a "fix", how to avoid problems with the new HTTP filter, of course, no Britney in that. As the old code is functionally equivalent to the new one, in the security respect, this is a supported solution and anyone with problems, is encouraged to switch to the proxy mode.

Lukas.

Hi Lukas

Thanks for posting and letting us know about the bug fixing which is going on. Do you happen to know whehter the fixes will include Avast 2014 currently killing the Squeezeplay Logitech Media client issue (http://forum.avast.com/index.php?topic=144058.0)?

As mentioned in this thread, the UseStreamFilter fix doesn't seem to work and various SP users have reported it showing that it's a general problem, not a machine-specific one. Whilst, as discussed, there is a workaround, having to switch off the webshield to allow SP to connect to our local media servers, doesn't exactly fill one with confidence!

Best wishes

[lukor]

Hi Lukas

Thanks for posting and letting us know about the bug fixing which is going on. Do you happen to know whehter the fixes will include Avast 2014 currently killing the Squeezeplay Logitech Media client issue (http://forum.avast.com/index.php?topic=144058.0)?

As mentioned in this thread, the UseStreamFilter fix doesn't seem to work and various SP users have reported it showing that it's a general problem, not a machine-specific one. Whilst, as discussed, there is a workaround, having to switch off the webshield to allow SP to connect to our local media servers, doesn't exactly fill one with confidence!

Best wishes

Hi, thanks for the note. I missed this one and I am not sure we have already tested with Squeezebox. Let me check this tomorrow.
Lukas.


BTW: I've promissed and updated aswStreamFilter.dll for testing. It's here: http://public.avast.com/~rypacek/patches/aswstreamfilter.269.zip
This should be unpacked into Avast program folder (with avast! Antivirus service stopped, self-defense off) and restart. I'll post here an update with eaiser installer/patcher shortly.


Lukas.

[AlfredTheorin]

I have had occasional random issues with WebShield before but today it went completely mad. Youtube video streaming always die after the initial pre-fetch, file downloads are randomly aborted or corrupted, and once in a while loading simple homepages fail (the latter usually works when retrying).

When I disable WebShield everything works perfectly.
I have checked that the patch is applied.
I did the WebShield.ini hack and rebooted but the issue still remains.

I am running Windows 8.1 x64 with Avast 2014.9.0.2011.

I'll disable WebShield for now...

[BBQSteve]

New to the forum so forgive me if I am in the wrong place to post this. I have not seen download problems with the new version, but I have seen problems where javascript is involved. At TD Ameritrade after I log in the site runs a flash app for viewing trading and prices. This halfway loads with no error message on the page. Refresh does not help.

For another site where I am a member and have to login then also login to the forum, I have to refresh each login page to get the script to run correctly. When I enter data into the forum login, I get a message at submit that tells me no data has been entered, refresh do it again and I am in. Once in, when I try to post, normally a box opens up where several options like here are displayed (BTW, no problem on this forum so far.) A refresh and place the cursor in the reply box generates the proper screen and I can enter my post. BTW, the first attempt I can see I am entering data like the login, but it is a faded gray and not the bolder black color and I can not submit for no data is entered again.

I know this has something to do with Avast because if I do an uninstall/repair when Avast has finished installing/repairing and before I answer any questions to turn on things, all works fine. It took me awhile to figure out it was Avast.

Great product in the past, I hope you can get this fixed. Yes I have followed the instructions to apply previous fix and it is there, but my problem is still there. I am running W7-64 on a Asus Maximum V Formula mb and i7-3770k processor with 8gb memory.

[lukor]

BBQSteve,


does the problem disappear if you turn the WebShield off?


If yes, could you, please, try to disable Script scanning, in the WebShield settings main page? This will help us diagnose which part of the shield is responsible - Web content scanner or sripting engine part.


Thanks,
Lukas.

[peterNL]

Hi Lukas

Thanks for Your response. I mean it. Fair enough to me, absolutely :
"therefore we are going to release all the mentioned changes soon, either as an EmergencyUpdate,
but more probably as a standard update. This is about to happen within one or two weeks."

No need for irony though ( about me using BS ) , bare in mind that your customers have right to be irritated due to this Web Shield bug.
As I've written before , I'm your customer since a very looong time.
Also, as You can surely recall , I've made my share of attempts trying to fix this issue - my 1st post in here -  and I'm all but new to pc
(I've tested more than 200 security/optimization/diagnostic programs in last 15 years) .
Problem is - I have no time right now to try and look... I work at one of the 4 Worldwide Biggest companies (in our business) & I have ENOUGH
BS every day, believe me Lukas... Our Customers MUST always be satisfied, and we succeed in 98,9 % , so it's Not Bad Worldwide.
Lukas , at my work I have daily contact with ppl worldwide & there are still many, many of them who don't realize
that their net slow down is caused by avast prgrm update but sooner or later they will ,
many ppl think they got some internet issues cause their partners did or downloaded something which slows down the net.
It sounds stupid, I know, but a lot of ppl think that way. Today I've heard it from Poland, Germany, US ( 4x ) , Australia ( 2x) , Italy and some other I forgot...
How do I know it ?
Well , these are my regular clients and I asked  them about it ( after some of them earlier started to complain about slow net )

BTW , I renewed my avast subscription as I said I will . You - avast - may have a little drawback right now with this WebShield issue
but I still think & say : There is absolutely NO better one than avast , some may be quite equal but no other is better.

With best regards to You & whole avast team ( no irony here Lukas :-) )

peter jankowy from Holland