Author Topic: Updated Avast after it stopped working, now VPN won't connect.  (Read 6245 times)

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Yesterday Avast (Free Anti-virus used with Win7 desktop) stopped working so I downloaded and installed it again, Avast itself now works but now SecureLine VPN (which I am paying for) does not work, giving the error message "server DNS address could not be found." (and search results, with the same DNS error, are from the country I am in, not the country the VPN says it is connecting to, so it's not really connecting). My VPN registration is "active" according to the control-panel (and I've already paid until next month).

I did the "repair" action on Avast from Control-panel, and it seemed to complete OK. It produced a notification "incompatibility with Avira" (I've run them both for many years, with zero problems), so I turned off Avira real-time virus protection, but VPN has the same problem.

How do I fix this? (I posted this on a support ticket yesterday, but no reply yet, so I thought I might as well try here too).

I am using VPN because I actually need it (I travel most of the time, and some resources I need only function in my home country), and if support really takes a week or so, as I've read on other messages, I'll have to switch to a better VPN, because that's no use to me on a service I am paying for, and really need to work.

Thanks in advance for any help.

Chris

Offline Eddy

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Re: Updated Avast after it stopped working, now VPN won't connect.
« Reply #1 on: March 25, 2016, 01:40:28 PM »
Turning off Avira is not enough.
You need to completely remove it.

Links to removal tools/instructions > http://www.ache.nl/

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Re: Updated Avast after it stopped working, now VPN won't connect.
« Reply #2 on: March 25, 2016, 01:52:26 PM »
I don't see how it would make any difference, as they've both worked perfectly together for years. All I did was re-install Avast, not upgrade or change anything, so I presume nothing should have changed. And besides, since Avira sometimes finds viruses that Avast doesn't, I need them both anyway.

Chris

Offline Eddy

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Re: Updated Avast after it stopped working, now VPN won't connect.
« Reply #3 on: March 25, 2016, 02:00:14 PM »
Things change in both Avira and avast.

Here is the reason why you never should use two av's at the same time.
http://blog.kaspersky.com/multiple-antivirus-programs-bad-idea/

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Re: Updated Avast after it stopped working, now VPN won't connect.
« Reply #4 on: March 25, 2016, 02:19:20 PM »
I've read things like that many times, each anti-virus maker saying you should never ever use any other one, and they will cause major problems etc.. But I'll say again, I've used them both for many years, with zero problems, and since they find different viruses, I obviously need BOTH.

I think most of the "incompatibility" is really just marketing, each anti-virus-maker obviously wanting people to use theirs and not find out that other options sometimes find different viruses.

Chris

Offline Eddy

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Re: Updated Avast after it stopped working, now VPN won't connect.
« Reply #5 on: March 25, 2016, 03:58:25 PM »
They don't say it will cause major problems, they say it can cause problems and that is true.

The notification you got very clearly says what likely is causing the problem.
Only one way to find out.
Remove Avira completely.

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Re: Updated Avast after it stopped working, now VPN won't connect.
« Reply #6 on: March 26, 2016, 05:26:37 AM »
OK, so I completely uninstalled all components of Avira, then tried Secureline again, and it has exactly the same problem. So Avira is clearly NOT the cause of the problem. Good to check that anyway :)

Chris

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Re: Updated Avast after it stopped working, now VPN won't connect.
« Reply #7 on: March 26, 2016, 05:27:43 AM »
Since I did the "repair" action, SecureLine is now going through several welcome screens each time I go to use it, which might be an additional problem. I wouldn't mind that if it actually worked :)

Chris

Offline Eddy

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Re: Updated Avast after it stopped working, now VPN won't connect.
« Reply #8 on: March 26, 2016, 10:49:53 AM »
Perform a clean installation of avast with SecureLine.
It looks as if the side by side installation of Avira and avast has crippled something that the repair can't fix.

Offline schmidthouse

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Re: Updated Avast after it stopped working, now VPN won't connect.
« Reply #9 on: March 26, 2016, 04:36:39 PM »

I think most of the "incompatibility" is really just marketing, each anti-virus-maker obviously wanting people to use theirs and not find out that other options sometimes find different viruses.

Chris

I for one believe that is terribly misinformed, no malice intended. :)
« Last Edit: March 26, 2016, 04:38:56 PM by schmidthouse »

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Re: Updated Avast after it stopped working, now VPN won't connect.
« Reply #10 on: March 29, 2016, 06:40:26 AM »
Perform a clean installation of avast with SecureLine.

That worked. Thanks !!

Chris

Offline Eddy

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Re: Updated Avast after it stopped working, now VPN won't connect.
« Reply #11 on: March 29, 2016, 12:29:27 PM »
You're welcome.

Sorry you had to find out the hard way, but as you see a side-by-side installation of security software that works alike can cause problems.

As info :
avast, Mbam, McShield and CryptoPrevent work well together.