Hi all,
I would like to add here my frustration and anger toward a job poorly done by Avast. Although the initial intention is good (protecting internet users from infections, attackes, malitious acts and other dangers), the way this is done is so non-transparent that it affects the website owners so much that I am really taking into consideration to forward this to our lawyers.
At this moment the following sites are being blocked by Avast:
vianaturalia.ro
nucidesapun.ro
sfaturilebunicii.ro
slimhouse.ro
3 of them are online stores which means we are loosing money due to the decision taken by Avast to block our domains.
Steps to understand the issue:
1. many users started to inform us that they cannot access one of our sites because Avast was telling them that the website is infected: URL:Mal
2. we are also taking protection of our users very seriously, so we started to investigate this, thinking that indeed something might be wrong with the website
3. we understood that the message appears because the domain somehow is part of a blacklist. We could find no blacklist on the internet, nor a reason how we got there
4. we scan the domain with all the tools known, some of them provided here on the forum. Nothing found.
5. we file a false positive form hoping that this is solved
6. the result, all other domains got blocked
7. we receive no information why this is happening, no feedback is being given by Avast, per mail or any other way. Some of the users on this forum complain that their sites are being blocked even after four weeks after they filed a false positive form. Funny enough, when clicking on More details (once you've got the message from Avast when trying to access the website), the users face a page saying: "Infection blocked, URL:Mal... if you want to be better protected, please pay". Other words, "we are blocking you for free, but you"ll have to pay to understand why"
8. somehow we manage to find out on our own that Avast blocks any domain that uses afraid.org as DNS. We don't know why, maybe it is indeed something bad, that was configured long time ago by the company that sold us the domain. OK, at least we have a clue, then we proceed and change the DNS to our site vianaturalia.ro. As I understand, I will have to wait and then file again a false positive form for our domains.
The whole process took enourmous time in which we, as I already said, lost enough money. As I said, I am not criticizing the main idea, but the way this is done. We are getting our sites blocked, but nobody gives us any piece of informations why, so we can take the right measures, if this is indeed needed. There is no feedback, there is no official blacklist somewhere, there is no explanation, there is no information available that might help domain owners to sort their issue in a timely manner. And this is a totally unprofessional service provided. Free or not.
After all this time we lost fighting with this, I turn to this forum hoping for a quick and somehow clear solution:
- why exactly are the domains being blocked? After all this time, we still do not know why.
- how can we undo that? The false positive form did not help us.
- when can this be solved?
As I said, we understand that the internet needs to be a safer environment and the users need protection. But definitely NOT this way, providing a huge disadvantage to domain owners through lack of communication and information. At this moment, Avast is definitely a solution I am not going to recommend. And as I could already read, I am not the only one in this position.
Still hoping for a quick resolution!
Adrian