Web Shield blocks internet access on Win 7

[matus525]

Hi all....I wiped my hard drive and then made a clean install of Windows 7 SP1 32-bit.  Then I enabled Windows Update and it downloaded and installed all Windows updates.  All installs were successful with no errors.  MS Explorer can access the internet.  Now….. I downloaded the Avast Free installer from the Avast website and install it successfully.  Then I ran a “Smart Scan” followed by a “Full Virus Scan” with no virus or malwares found.  But now I cannot access the internet and Windows Update returns an error when it tries to check for updates.   So…. I disabled the Avast Web Shield and now internet access and Windows Update works again.   My current version is 21.2.2455 (build 21.2.6096.651).   Please know that I did not install any third party anti-virus or firewalls.   I tried to use Avast’s “Repair” function but that did not fix my problem.   I think using Avast with the Web Shield disabled is not a solution or a good idea.   Could this be a bug in Avast?  Anyone have any ideas or suggestions?

[DavidR]

Are you getting any error displayed, if so what (attach a screenshot) ?

Win 7 SP1 is really old and

Support for Windows 7 ended on January 14, 2020. If you are still using Windows 7, your PC may become more vulnerable to security risks.

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/windows-7-support-ended-on-january-14-2020-b75d4580-2cc7-895a-2c9c-1466d9a53962

But as far as I'm aware is still supported by avast, but for how long I don't know.

MS Internet Explorer is damn old too and my not be compatible with some of the settings in the web shield in avast 21.2.xxxx.
Try enabling the Web Shield again and try disabling the following Web Shield options, Enable QUIC/HTTP3 as I'm sure that wouldn't sit well with MS Internet Explorer and possibly the Protect against botnets option. See attached image, click to expand.

Have you tried another browser Firefox is my default browser, I don't know if that works with win7 SP1.

[matus525]

DavidR….thanks for a quick response.

Attached is the Windows Update error screenshot. 

Windows 7 has wound down but is still currently support by MS under ESU support through 2023 and Avast’s website is still saying it supports Win 7 so I was hoping Avast would work.

I installed MS Edge and it wouldn’t connect to the internet either until I disabled the Avast Web Shield.

I will try your suggestion to change the QUIC/HTTP3 option and see if it helps.  But since Windows Update is also impacted I don’t think the issue is related to HTTP3.

[DavidR]

Unfortunately your image doesn't clarify the problem.  If there is a conflict, remove one element of the conflict, no conflict, but it doesn't pinpoint the culprit.  Are you sure that Windows Defender isn't still active on win7, I don't know if that is disabled automatically when a 3rd party antivirus is installed ?

I also didn't use win7 for very long (early win7 starter edition on a 10.1" netbook), preferring to keep my old XP Pro desktop going until I got my new win10 laptop.  So I have little practical experience of win7.

Windows Update as a site could quite well be using the latest secure transport functions QUIC/HTTP3, but simply having that function enabled in avast could have some impact.

I don't even know what version of MS Edge (I have never used it) you would be able to install on win7 SP1.  Probably the older version and not the latest chromium based version of ms-edge.

[matus525]

The MS Edge version is the latest chromium based version.  But of course that doesn't explain why Windows Update connection fails. 

I didn't dig into the details of the following posts to find the root cause but Avast may have had problems related to internet access in the past.  In version 17.2.2288 ...... https://forum.avast.com/?topic=200006.0 
a user reported problems accessing the internet and fixed his problem with an update to version 17.3.2290....
https://forum.avast.com/index.php?topic=199715.0
Although in that case it appears that problem was with the Firewall.