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Umquad:
As I originally said (or tried to say) I don't think Avast is causing the problem, but its interaction with something else (or something else's interaction with it) seems to be. I completely uninstalled and cleaned up the firewall I was using just to eliminate that as a variable, so I don't have any firewall or firewall settings to confuse the issue. The only thing I have to go on now is that, even though it doesn't make any sense, I can consistently either get to websites or not get to them simply based on toggling On-Access protection on and off. I'm just hoping to get some thoughts that will give me ideas on what I might try next. Thanks.

Spiritsongs:
:) Hi :

You should start by telling us the NAME of your Operating
System, then the name(s) of all the security programs
you currently have on your computer AND lastly, the
name(s) of ALL recently uninstalled program(s), if any !?

Umquad:
I am on XP Home. The security programs I have running are Avast, WinPatrol and Windows Defender.

Until a few weeks ago I had been running Sygate firewall, but then tried Ashampoo, then Comodo. When trying Comodo I could not connect to websites and got no indication of what was wrong, just the "connection to server was reset" message, so I had no clues as to how to try to figure out what the problem was or what to do to fix it. I went back to Ashampoo, then ran across the Avast lingering menu item image problem discussed in another thread. That was where I should have left well enough alone, but instead I reinstalled Avast, thinking that might solve that problem. I then got messages saying Avast update could not run, which I decided was due to my Ashampoo rules for Avast no longer referencing the right folder. I eventually uninstalled both Ashampoo and Avast, using the Avast cleanup program to get rid of all traces of Avast. With neither a firewall nor Avast installed, I was able to connect to all websites with no problem. I then reinstalled Avast beta as the first step - no firewall installed - and tried to access websites using both Firefox and IE, but I get the "waiting for.." on the status line, then the "connection to server was reset" message. I then discovered that I can get to websites if I stop On-Access Protection, but can not if I start it again. It's a simple binary situation - if On-Access is started I can never connect, if it is stopped I can always connect. I have not yet reinstalled any firewall, in order to avoid introducing another variable into the problem.

As I've said in earlier posts, I don't think it's a problem with Avast, but with something else that is affecting how Avast works. I'd just like to figure out what it is so I don't have to do a reformat and reload to get things back to normal. An ideas would be appreciated.

PS: I also just determined that I cannot run iAVS update - connection terminated.

Spiritsongs:
:) Hi :

WHICH XP Home : SP1 or SP2 ? Does not uninstalling &
installing different programs "effect" WinPatrol ? Does
it not take a "snapshot" of your system and would not
"changing" programs require an "updated" "snapshot" ?
This is one reason I never installed WinPatrol .
And why did you uninstall Sygate ? I have it on my
machine & as far as I can tell does a good job .
Perhaps it would be best to NOT use "Beta" products,
which includes Avast & Windows Defender !? Would
recommend you use the "regular" Avast 4.7.871 and
a different antispyware, such as Ad-Aware, Ewido and
possibly the FREE ver of SUPERantispyware .

You never did mention current, but not "running"
security program(s) you may have !?

Umquad:
I'm on SP2 and I stay updated.

I also run Spybot, Ad-Aware, Ewido, Spyware Blaster. I'm curious, so I give most of them a try.

The only thing I've ever been aware of WinPatrol doing for me is alerting me when some program is trying to set itself up as a startup. It's never caused a problem.

I normally am cautious of beta releases also, but tried Avast beta because it was recommended as a solution to the leftover image problem on another thread and I read the thread on the beta feedback before deciding that it looked safe to try.

I really don't think any of these have anything to do with the problem because I've been using them without problems for ages. This all seemed to start when I started trying new firewalls. I think something that got set during the install of one did not get reset when I uninstalled or something got left that is causing a conflict, maybe something in the registry. My usual approach to try to solve something like this is to uninstall, then reinstall to see if that fixes it, but that hasn't helped in this case. I also tried going back to earlier restore points, but that didn't fix it either.

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