Tried this myself but it still doesn't fix the problem.
Interestingly, the problem seems to be linked to a subscription renewal issue - suddenyl today (my Premier sub should auto-renew on 02/11/14) I opened up to find the firewall turned off, my sub converted into a 'Trial 30-day' service, and an invitation to buy Premier at a reduced rate. After several tries to get the firewall back on I deduced that turning it off might be a subtle (not) hint to renew, so I've reluctantly done that, losing 15 days' of my annual sub for the second year in succession.
Although my network check gives a clean bill of health, the firewall message is that 'Secure DNS can't run on this network' whatever that implies. I've been an Avast fan for five years but these last two renewals are making me wonder.
Any additional suggestions very welcome. I seem to recall once being advised to switch off the Windows Firewall in early free Avast versions, but I don't want to do that right now when it wasn't necessary yesterday with Avast running alongside with its own firewall.
