Poll

Have you experienced download problems with WebShield? Did it get any better after this fix.

No apparent download issues, before or after.
43 (39.4%)
I do have some issues, running XP or Vista, no change after the fix.
3 (2.8%)
I do have some issues, running Windows 7 or 8, no change after the fix.
39 (35.8%)
I had some issues, running Windows 7 or 8, issues are gone after the fix.
12 (11%)
I do have some issues, don't know if I have the fix or not.
12 (11%)

Total Members Voted: 0

Author Topic: Fix for WebShield download issues  (Read 115778 times)

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lucern

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Re: Fix for WebShield download issues
« Reply #135 on: January 24, 2014, 12:47:05 AM »
Uploaded the nsf folder to the incoming folder via ftp.
Let me know if you received it or not.

lord ami

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Re: Fix for WebShield download issues
« Reply #136 on: January 24, 2014, 12:56:43 AM »
I went thru that too. nsf and other folders are protected by avast! I believe, so in order to use the contents, you can also copy them to Desktop for example :)
But FTP is the best choice I'd say ^_^

//
My bad. I didn't completely read the sentences. Yes, forum rules may restrict attachments. I read that the folder didn't allow you to use the files ::)
« Last Edit: January 24, 2014, 01:02:35 AM by Lord Ami »

lucern

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Re: Fix for WebShield download issues
« Reply #137 on: January 24, 2014, 12:59:07 AM »
@Lord Ami

It's a feature of the Avast forum, not with permissions on my local machine. The Avast forum only allows certain file extensions to be attached. .log is one of them, but the two file extensions in the nsf folder, .dat and .xml, are not allowed extensions to be uploaded to the Avast forum.

Offline lukor

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Re: Fix for WebShield download issues
« Reply #138 on: January 24, 2014, 01:09:49 AM »
Hi Lucern,
sadly I am not able to locate the files on the FTP. I've found a folder NSF, but it was empty. We really have to make this whole process somewhat easier, it was even hard for me to locate the server's internal name here.


Could you give it a last chance and try to upload the NSF folder zipped into one archive. I believe the security policy on the FTP prevents you from seeing anything you create - so I guess even the folder NSF is actually not visible to your FTP client and therefore it might fail to store the files there. ZIP file should solve this.


Sorry for the hassle.
Lukas.


lucern

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Re: Fix for WebShield download issues
« Reply #139 on: January 24, 2014, 04:28:35 AM »
Hi Lukas,

Just uploaded a zip file with the name "nsf-lucern.zip" via ftp.
Let me know if you're able to locate it.

@Lord Ami
Thank you for your advice. :)

Offline lukor

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Re: Fix for WebShield download issues
« Reply #140 on: January 24, 2014, 02:39:31 PM »
Hi Lucern, got your log files, but it appears as if you were not downloading anything during the logging period. There is just one record about a connection being made, but no traffic (data) were recorded. Can you please confirm, that during the period the log was on you have tried to download the problematic file and that the download failed?


Thanks,
Lukas.


ToeKnee

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Re: Fix for WebShield download issues
« Reply #141 on: January 24, 2014, 03:54:48 PM »
Ok I'm having an issue that started after version 9.0.2008 with Internet Download Manager and the web shield. If I use version 9.0.2008 or lower I have no problem at all, but since I switched to 9.0.2011 and even 9.0.2013 at the moment the problem won't go away. Every time I download a file I get a message stating my download is corrupt in IDM and the file will always restart downloading but I get the same message. When I turn off Web Shield the problem goes away. So as I stated, this problem only started since versions above 9.0.2008. I even reinstalled 9.0.2008 and the problem goes away. I tried everything I know but to no avail. Has anyone had this problem with Internet Download Manager? Help would be appreciated. Thanks!

Oh and just so you know, this doesn't happen if I download a file normally through the browser. I'm using Google Chrome at the moment.

lucern

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Re: Fix for WebShield download issues
« Reply #142 on: January 25, 2014, 01:30:21 AM »
Hi Lukas,

I reproduced the problem again and uploaded a new set of files as a single zip file - "lucern files 2.zip". Uploaded via ftp.

Let me know if these files are ok!

ToeKnee's post above is describing a similar, if not identical, problem as I am.
I have experienced the issues in the three browsers I have installed - Firefox, Opera, and Internet Explorer.
« Last Edit: January 25, 2014, 01:33:27 AM by lucern »

lucern

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Re: Fix for WebShield download issues
« Reply #143 on: January 28, 2014, 08:27:26 PM »
Any updates? I am probably going to have to switch to a different antivirus program soon, as it's been well over a month and I can no longer tolerate turning the web shield on and off every day for every minor download (0 - 5 mb) this bug affects or whenever I want to watch a 3 minute youtube video.

I want to stay with Avast, it's been great for 5 years! These problems are simply too significant and the Avast team doesn't seem to be having any luck fixing these problems, despite the plethora of different users who have managed to find this thread to add their posts of these issues (I'm sure there are MANY non-tech savvy users who are experiencing these problems and are still not aware Avast is the culprit, and think it's due to a virus, or a hardware issue, or their computer is just old, or what have you).

Truthfully, I think Avast as dropped the ball terribly communication-wise with these bugs. If you know that your program is the cause of these major problems, it is your responsibility to let the end users know and to inform them you are fixing said problems. I'm from an IT background, and the fact that these bugs have been known for over a month now, and no effort has been made by Avast to notify users of these problems, is such poor customer service. A lot of users are uncomfortable turning off their AV software, so they will not try, and are left with a machine full of problems they don't know how to fix because they don't realize it's Avast that is causing the problems.

And sure, you can google this thread, as I and other users in this thread have, but the majority of users do not have the time or are not tech-savvy enough to want to bother doing so. And even with googling, it took a while to narrow down the issue and find this thread amongst all the other Avast problem threads.

Also, the only way to find these potential fixes is by googling and finding this thread. These problems should have been included as a link within the Avast program itself, to at least let users who are experiencing these problems what the causes behind it are, and so that the end user does not potentially waste time trying to figure out what the problem is.

From the poll, nearly half of users are still affected by this bug, even after released fixes. That is a HUGE amount.

Avast, I want to continue using you because I've had no difficulties at all the past 5 years. Believe me, switching to AVG is the last thing I want to do, but you're practically forcing me to with these deal-breaking bugs, problems, and poor customer service communication.
« Last Edit: January 28, 2014, 08:37:21 PM by lucern »

Offline lukor

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Re: Fix for WebShield download issues
« Reply #144 on: January 28, 2014, 08:44:40 PM »
Lucern, the bug that was known to us when this thread and poll was created was fixed very quickly and is already eliminated. Its cause was identified and is removed. It took days, not months.

I can see you are having problems with the download and we are trying to find the cause for that. The logs you sent contained no useful information so we are trying on our own or waiting for another user.

As for your problem, as I have stated several times before, you can easily solve it for your self by switching to Proxy mode, as was described here.

StreamFilter.ini
[General]
UseStreamFilter=0

You are saying that your problem is the same as the one reported by ToeKnee. Are you also using Internet Download Manager ?
« Last Edit: January 28, 2014, 08:50:08 PM by lukor »

Offline lukor

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Re: Fix for WebShield download issues
« Reply #145 on: January 28, 2014, 09:58:16 PM »
Hi Lucern,
have you already tried switching to proxy? How is it? Is everything OK?


Lukas.

lucern

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Re: Fix for WebShield download issues
« Reply #146 on: January 28, 2014, 11:29:00 PM »
Lukas, what you are saying is not true. You claim the problems are solved - why then is the poll option "I do have some issues, running Windows 7 or 8, no change after the fix," the second-highest option, at 35.8%.

You are also ignoring the users who have posted in this thread after the problems have claimed to have been fixed, and a number of their (single) posts stating their problems have gone ignored. I have no idea why this insistence that all the problems are fixed, when new users are coming to this thread and posting continued problems. And you know that even if it's "only" a few users, who has the time to look this problem up (I know I didn't want to bother with this at all, until several weeks passed and it became intolerable), so it can be easily inferred that those users to this thread signify a much larger user base who are also experiencing these problems.

As for the proxy settings, I'll repeat the question I first asked when you suggested it to me, but then ignored and asked for my logs (the first I sent twice, and then I sent a separate set of new logs the third time, and I am still unsure if you received the third set I uploaded to the Avast ftp sever last Friday, as I received no confirmation on this forum).

My question is, if I switch to the proxy, will I need to manually turn it off for future updates of Avast, or will Avast handle the manually changed configurations automatically?

lucern

  • Guest
Re: Fix for WebShield download issues
« Reply #147 on: January 28, 2014, 11:52:59 PM »
Here is another thread in the Avast forum that describes similar or identical problems that I and others have mentioned in this thread. The posts are recent, within the last week, and there are two posts after the January 22nd update that was supposed to have fixed all these problems (and posted 3+ days afterward, so that would have been ample time for their Avast programs to have auto-updated):

"Avast Internet Security 2014 Blocking All Internet Connection" http://forum.avast.com/index.php?topic=140144.15

Quoting the two last posts in the thread, the first of which whose sentiments I share exactly, and who was likewise forced to uninstall Avast despite being satisfied with its performance over the past 4+ years until this 2014 update:

I am uninstalling AVAST after 4 years of using. Because you've served me well, I thought I'd post on here to let you know the problem.

The Web Shield restricts me in everyday tasks:

e.g.
I like to use YouTube

I have the webshield on, I cannot watch YouTube videos. (Videos load 1-10 seconds then stop, no exceptions)
I turn the webshield off, I can watch YouTube videos. (Videos load normally, no exceptions)

I have held on for a while, I have installed every update you have, and nothing seems to address my problem. It's been a good couple months, so I'm out.

I tried to fix the problem but I can't. I have a new ultrabook and fairly good computer knowledge.

Specs


The above user has been experiencing these issues for months, not days, as you claim.

almost the same problem. I still can get yahoo and facebook but nothing else seems to work .Avast needs to solve soon. System Dell Inspiron, AMD 64, Windows vista, firefox, I went to Avast (paid for 3 years) from Nortons because of poor customer service. If you do a search you will see the problem is with several people.

Please stop dismissing these problems as being "fixed" when they clearly are not.
« Last Edit: January 28, 2014, 11:58:50 PM by lucern »

Offline lukor

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Re: Fix for WebShield download issues
« Reply #148 on: January 29, 2014, 12:15:32 AM »
Lucern, webshield is a tool that filters network traffic. Most bugs in the tool manifest themselves as problems with network. I am not saying that we have no bugs in WebShield. Not at all, however presenting this situation in a way that we know about bugs and don't fix them - this is what I might see as insulting of our work.

Yes, there is probably a bug in the code, since you are reporting it. Several guys from the StreamFilter team are trying to find a solution for your problem at the very moment, 23:45 in the middle of the night.

The second highest option 35.8 % does not reflect what has changed after people voted. I have posted this thread when a patch to aswstm.sys was available and since that we have made several bug fixes and we have also released a new version. Several problems, such as the problem with Dropbox upload (see elsewhere), was fixed with the 2013 update, and these fixes were introduced after the vote you are referring to.

So, I what I claim is that more problems were fixed that is recorded in this poll. You might believe otherwise of course and since on your system the WebShield component does not work correctly, you have every right to be unhappy and even angry at us. Sorry for that.

This is why I have suggested you to switch to the proxy mode, it is functionally equivalent to the streamfilter and shouldn't have the same issues. If you are already angry, there is no need for you to be more angry troubleshooting the bug for us if you don't want to. If it's just you on the whole earth, you would be happy and problem solved. That is however not very probable, so others might help us find out more about the issue or we might be eventually able to reproduce the issue ourselves.

My answer is: If you switch to proxy you don't have to do anything manually again. You'll be switched to proxy for ever and running what you were running in avast 9.0.2008. Your protection will be the same as it ever was. And it is possible that in the future we might turn you back on on streamfilter mode. Currently that's not what we do or plan to do - so if you would like to give streamfilter a try in the future, you would have to do it your self (I imagine how angry you might be if all of a sudden all your problems would come up again just from the fact that we thought that this was fixed since it was fixed for other users - yet in your case, things might be different)

Second answer might be: We might also switch all users to proxy. We would do that if the number of problematic cases would be higher. Say something more than 39 / 80.000.000. The number of users with problems is of course much higher than 39 in every 80 millions (but nowhere near 39% or even 3% percent), we are aware of that and the guys on the support lines and emails are trying to help each individual. There are users with WebShield proxy problems and there are users with WebShield StreamFilter problems and the support team is trying to help both parties. Since the 9.0.2013 the number of users with problems with Streamfilter is much lower and that also support my belief that many bugs were fixed.

Third comment: when I say a bug was fixed, I mean that we have seen a problem, we have found out what the cause of the problem was and we have removed the caused == fix. Then, we have verified that particular problem went away on systems where it was previously visible. I can not possibly guarantee that there are other cases which are not yet covered which we haven't seen yet. However, I never acknowledge a fix here, if we haven't fixed the bug.

So, to sum up: what you are saying is not true. We are not aware of a unfixed bug for months and we don't ignore it. Other, unfixed bugs are still being researched and will be fixed as soon as we can.

Regarding you logs:
firstly: you've uploaded an empty folder.
secondly: you've uploaded a log file without any captured traffic == no problem
third: you've uploaded usable logs, which are being looked at, nothing particular that might help is recorded, as it seems now. That's why I have sent you a step by step info, how to record better logs - only if you want of course.

Regarding the threads:
E.g. Lermanfl is mentioning he is running Windows Vista - this a typical case, when shouting does not help: Vista is not capable of executing streamfilter code, aswstm.sys driver does not run there. Clearly this is not something related to the case we are talking here about. No patch might possibly help, since the driver being patched is not even installed on Windows Vista. Even the bugs in the HTTP parser code related to other issues is not related to this specific (sad) case - this is COMPLETELY UNRELATED.

So my question is: What about proxy mode? Does that help at your case? Since if it does not, we might stop searching for a bug in the streamfilter code - the problem must be elsewhere (possibly same as Lermanfl is reporting, but definitely unrelated to stream filter). So far we believe it is a streamfilter code, since the code is new and had smaller time to settle. Even if it eventually will turn out that it wasn't there - it wouldn't hurt us to make a thorough revision of the code (which is what we do now) and the testing tools being implemented these days will come handy in future as well - but definitely all these efforts wouldn't (in such case) help to solve your specific issue.


L.

lucern

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Re: Fix for WebShield download issues
« Reply #149 on: January 29, 2014, 12:44:49 AM »
Lukas:

1. You sent the step by step info after the first folder I uploaded did not work.
The second time I uploaded it and the logs were not useful to you.
The third time I uploaded the logs after replicating the download problem a second time, and unless there are more instructions on how to upload a folder through ftp (even though it seems you've received the files) I don't understand what instructions you're referring to.

2. I find your insinuation that I am simply "angry" and don't want to help the Avast team insulting. What in the world would compel me to create this account and post 15+ posts and following the instructions you've requested of me if I didn't want to help. Trust me, being on these forums is the last thing I want to be spending time on, but I did so in the hopes it would improve your software, for I and other users. I have lost a lot of time I could have been working on something useful by posting in this thread and troubleshooting. If I didn't have such a positive experience with Avast in the past 5 years I would not have dreamed of bothering and would have immediately uninstalled the program from the start. But I did not, because I had a better impression of Avast at the time. It was my positive experience with Avast that compelled me to join this forum and try to help, instead of waiting for someone else to do so which is what I would have normally done.

I mistakenly thought reporting the problems experienced would be beneficial to your team (ie: in many of the posts with these problems, users mention they experienced the problems after installing on a clean machine - that is the same as my case, maybe that's useful information, maybe not), not viewed as an attack or insult, or "anger". It's called criticism, deal with it like a professional.

Also, why are your programmers working at midnight. Send them home. Unless they are volunteers and doing this as a pastime? In which case I'm not sure what you're trying to imply by bringing up that they are working in the middle of the night. If they're not volunteers and are paid employees, that just makes me question how Avast treats their workers, they should not be required to work in the middle of the night unless you have night shifts or something.

3. Thank you for answering my question about the proxy.

4. I did see the Dropbox thread, which is why I did not mention it. I am glad that user's problems were fixed!

5. Obviously as I have tried to stress to you, this thread is not indicative of every Avast user (39/80,000,000 as you like to put it). I stand by my opinion that a few forum posters claiming to have problems is more than likely to indicate many more users experiencing those problems, and many of those who are not tech-savvy enough to realize Avast is even the cause, and as such will never see this thread, forum, or ever make a post. That doesn't mean they don't exist.

6. Re: the threads. You don't comment on the user cm92 who has been experiencing these issues for months.
Perhaps they were more intelligent than I for uninstalling when they did, instead of me who has wasted what have been hours (over the course of several days since my first post) in this thread trying to help you with bug reports and logs, and I do not believe I was rude or aggressive, unless pointing out facts and linking other threads to support my point that I am not the "only user on earth" (as you so colorfully worded it) is somehow rude.

Anyway, thank you for attempting to solve the problem, but I guess if I'm in the hypothetically 3% of users who are experiencing this I guess I and anyone else experiencing this don't matter to your team and it's not that strong of an issue for you, so I'll be uninstalling Avast after 5 years of being a satisfied customer and highly recommending it to people as the best AV option. I regret creating this account in the hopes it would help other users experiencing these frustrating issues. I should not have bothered.

Goodbye and thanks for the past 5 years.
« Last Edit: January 29, 2014, 01:04:41 AM by lucern »