Author Topic: Web Shield or Web Scanner  (Read 11789 times)

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JN2

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Web Shield or Web Scanner
« on: February 24, 2007, 04:38:59 AM »
Web Shield or Web Scanner does it block your surfing? At times I keep getting; there no internet connection.
I understand your new avast! comes with a on-access scanning provider - Web Shield.

Quote: It is able to monitor and filter all HTTP traffic coming from the Web sites on the Internet. It’s implemented as a HTTP proxy running on your PC. Connections from your Web browser are redirected to the Web Shield module. Web Shield in turn connects to the requested web server and while downloading the content it scans it for viruses and Trojans. Only the clean data is delivered to the browser, every malware is stopped before it gets saved on your PC

WOW! this definitely sounds like a lot a work for a web scanner; it must slow down the "surfing" or completely disconnect the internet connection, right? @ times I can't surf... I use 'FireFox v2.0.0.2' and Comodo Firewall Pro v2.4.18.184

Offline alanrf

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Re: Web Shield or Web Scanner
« Reply #1 on: February 24, 2007, 09:01:05 AM »
JN2,

I have read your posts and I have to ask the question ... are you in this forum seeking help, to discuss issues or (if I take a less generous reading of your post) to advertise how clever you believe you are?

I shall suspend my own initial disbelief and assume you are here to discuss issues. 

avast is used at this location on multiple systems including Win ME, Win XP Home, Win XP Pro and none of the systems exhibit any problems in browsing the I internet with the Webshield active.

The disingenuous comment:

Quote
WOW! this definitely sounds like a lot a work for a web scanner; it must slow down the "surfing" or completely disconnect the internet connection, right?

not withstanding, the Webshield very simply scans the http (not the https) transactions.  No big deal, no noticeable slow down and it just keeps on doing it.  The way it does it is not rocket science - and so I have to say "it is not a lot of work for a web scanner".     

I use the same version of Firefox as you.  I do not use the same firewall, Zone Alarm is on some machines, just Windows XP firewall on others.  No difference in any - no slowdown by avast.

Would you care to tell us a bit more about the conditions in which you do experience problems?

 

Offline oldman

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Re: Web Shield or Web Scanner
« Reply #2 on: February 24, 2007, 09:34:44 AM »
Web shield could disconnect the internet, depending on your settings on webshield's advanced tab. If silent mode is checked, then webshield should abort connection when ever a virus is detected.

Offline alanrf

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Re: Web Shield or Web Scanner
« Reply #3 on: February 24, 2007, 11:04:15 AM »
oldman,

may I suggest that your reply is misleading?

Browsers, by their design, establish multiple connections to the internet when building a web page.  Avast, if it discovers a threat, will abort the specific thread on which the threat is discovered.

It does not, ever, stop the ability of the user to continue with a network connection.

 
« Last Edit: February 24, 2007, 11:06:45 AM by alanrf »

JN2

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Re: Web Shield or Web Scanner
« Reply #4 on: February 24, 2007, 09:15:01 PM »
JN2,

I have read your posts and I have to ask the question ... are you in this forum seeking help, to discuss issues or (if I take a less generous reading of your post) to advertise how clever you believe you are?

I shall suspend my own initial disbelief and assume you are here to discuss issues. 

avast is used at this location on multiple systems including Win ME, Win XP Home, Win XP Pro and none of the systems exhibit any problems in browsing the I internet with the Webshield active.

The disingenuous comment:

Quote
WOW! this definitely sounds like a lot a work for a web scanner; it must slow down the "surfing" or completely disconnect the internet connection, right?

not withstanding, the Webshield very simply scans the http (not the https) transactions.  No big deal, no noticeable slow down and it just keeps on doing it.  The way it does it is not rocket science - and so I have to say "it is not a lot of work for a web scanner".     

I use the same version of Firefox as you.  I do not use the same firewall, Zone Alarm is on some machines, just Windows XP firewall on others.  No difference in any - no slowdown by avast.

Would you care to tell us a bit more about the conditions in which you do experience problems?

 
I ask this, is becuz, whenever this happens at the time ... the phone rings as well. I've scan the computer about a zillion times... thinking about, maybe I have a dialer or something or maybe just coincidence, the results are always clean. I also use A-Squared Free... besides your new AVAST-Home. Another funny thing is I use Broadband Speed Test & Diagnostics add-on for FireFox...it works! https://addons.mozilla.org/firefox/2360/


This is the result:

Server not found
Firefox can't find the server at forums.comodo.com.

    *   Check the address for typing errors such as
          ww.example.com instead of
          www.example.com

    *   If you are unable to load any pages, check your computer's network
          connection.

    *   If your computer or network is protected by a firewall or proxy, make sure
          that Firefox is permitted to access the Web.

Offline Bluesman

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Re: Web Shield or Web Scanner
« Reply #5 on: February 25, 2007, 12:52:16 PM »
Firefox can't find the server at forums.comodo.com.

Don't know if you have had this problem all the time, but the Comodo-forum was down 1-2 days recently, maybe that was the reason that you couldn't access it?

Can you connect today?
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middleclasstool

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Re: Web Shield or Web Scanner
« Reply #6 on: March 02, 2007, 10:08:41 PM »
I'm getting this same issue.  Periodically Firefox just won't load web pages, but returns a "Server not found" error.  If I pause web shield, it loads the pages just fine.  Sometimes just repeatedly refreshing the pages (hitting F5 until my finger hurts) fixes it, but sometimes I have to pause web shield.

This issue didn't exist until I installed Avast yesterday, so those two points in conjunction pretty much prove to me that it's either Avast or the Avast/FF combo that's occasionally borking things up.

WinXP Home, Avast 4 Home, FF 1.5.0.10, Windows Firewall on DSL

Offline Lisandro

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Re: Web Shield or Web Scanner
« Reply #7 on: March 02, 2007, 10:15:08 PM »
WinXP Home, Avast 4 Home, FF 1.5.0.10, Windows Firewall on DSL
Having no problems with FF 2.0.0.2... pages are loading fine and quick with DSL.
Couldn't be any other resident or security program? A proxy (annonimizer)? ???
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middleclasstool

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Re: Web Shield or Web Scanner
« Reply #8 on: March 02, 2007, 10:19:39 PM »
Not running a proxy or any anonymizers or other security.  Just Avast and WinFirewall.  And as I said, no system changes at all except for installing Avast yesterday.

I know I'm due for a FF upgrade.  Maybe that'll fix it, but not everyone's moved to 2.0 yet.

Offline Lisandro

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Re: Web Shield or Web Scanner
« Reply #9 on: March 02, 2007, 10:25:00 PM »
Can you give us examples of the problematic sites?

Maybe you can activate logging in WebShield:
1. Edit <avast>\data\avast4.ini file
2. Find the section [WebScanner]
3. Add the line:
    EnableLogging=1
4. Restart Web Shield in XP (terminate and start again) or whole PC in case of Win98
5. Browse (trying to access some webpages)

The log file are <avast>\data\log\ashwebsv.log and ashwebsv.ws.
They would be accessible when WebShield is terminated again.
Post them here or send by mail to rypacek (at) asw.cz
After that, disable the logging to avoid a big log file.
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middleclasstool

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Re: Web Shield or Web Scanner
« Reply #10 on: March 02, 2007, 10:47:29 PM »
I'll do that, and report back next time it bombs out on me.  Thanks!

sando

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Re: Web Shield or Web Scanner
« Reply #11 on: May 23, 2007, 04:44:51 PM »
Dear support,
I'm having the same problem. When the avast! Web scanner is on, I hardly get to any page in IE 7.0 or FF 1.5.0.6. Usually the browser is 'waiting for reply' after 'website has been found' but it keeps waiting and waiting and eventually nothing happens. The problem started some 2 weeks ago when my computer got quite slow for no apparent reason and kept freezing after some 5 minutes of restarting it (Win XP Pro, Win Firewall, just basic applications+Avast professional (using ADNM), LAN on DSL). I noticed that after installing newest windows updates the freezing problem went but no Internet access problem has started. When I stop avast! Web scanner, I can browse anything I want, when I start it, nothing at all. The very interesting thing is that the folder C:\Program Files\Alwil Software\Avast4CLI has been created some 2 weeks ago when I, trust me, didn't touch avast at all. Folder C:\Program Files\Alwil Software\Avast4Client is there as well, created many months ago when I, using ADNM, installed it at first.
Here is the log:

23/05/2007 15:30:07,"http://download.mozilla.org/?product=firefox-1.5.0.11-complete&os=win&lang=en-GB","text/html; charset=UTF-8","GET",HTTP Status: 302,0,0,329,536,536,329,\Device\HarddiskVolume2\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\firefox.exe,PID: 3152,CON: 127.0.0.1:12080->127.0.0.1:1151 <--> 10.1.5.221:1152->140.211.166.199:80,SEQ: 1
23/05/2007 15:30:07,"http://news.bbc.co.uk/rss/newsonline_uk_edition/front_page/rss.xml","","GET",HTTP Status: 304,0,0,229,558,558,229,\Device\HarddiskVolume2\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\firefox.exe,PID: 3152,CON: 127.0.0.1:12080->127.0.0.1:1157 <--> 10.1.5.221:1158->212.58.226.33:80,SEQ: 1
23/05/2007 15:30:09,"http://www.google.com/firefox?client=firefox-a&rls=org.mozilla:en-GB:official","text/html","GET",HTTP Status: 302,0,261,527,542,542,529,\Device\HarddiskVolume2\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\firefox.exe,PID: 3152,CON: 127.0.0.1:12080->127.0.0.1:1153 <--> 10.1.5.221:1154->216.239.59.103:80,SEQ: 1
23/05/2007 15:30:11,"http://mozilla2.mirrors.tds.net/pub/mozilla.org/firefox/releases/1.5.0.11/update/win32/en-GB/firefox-1.5.0.11.complete.mar","application/octet-stream","GET",HTTP Status: 206,0,65536,65930,534,534,65932,\Device\HarddiskVolume2\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\firefox.exe,PID: 3152,CON: 127.0.0.1:12080->127.0.0.1:1155 <--> 10.1.5.221:1156->64.50.236.214:80,SEQ: 1
23/05/2007 15:30:20,"http://www.zoznam.sk/","text/html; charset=windows-1250","GET",HTTP Status: 200,0,5423,5979,405,405,5981,\Device\HarddiskVolume2\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\firefox.exe,PID: 3152,CON: 127.0.0.1:12080->127.0.0.1:1159 <--> 10.1.5.221:1160->213.81.185.31:80,SEQ: 1

After 2 minutes of waiting for www.zoznam.sk webpage with message 'Waiting for reply' I decided to stop the service and bring up the log.

Thank you for reply,
Martin Hurajt

Offline Lisandro

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Re: Web Shield or Web Scanner
« Reply #12 on: May 23, 2007, 05:01:32 PM »
I know it's not a solution, but a workaround, but if this happens only with some sites, you can add them to the exception url list. Is that log the webshield log as described above?
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sando

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Re: Web Shield or Web Scanner
« Reply #13 on: May 23, 2007, 05:38:01 PM »
Yes, this was the AshWebSv.log . Generally there are three things that happen: in very most of cases I get 'waiting for reply' in browser status bar, animated FF or IE icon in top right and nothing happening (blank screen). In few cases I got blank page with 'Done' in status bar and finished downloading and in one case I got part of the website appeared but with many structural errors. I guess this has to do with browser's cache. No webpages got displayed correctly, so I can't use your advice. I think we should start asking, why the folder C:\Program Files\Alwil Software\Avast4CLI was created on its own 2 weeks ago. Btw, I uninstalled avast and installed it again from ADNM and no change.
Thanks a lot
Martin Hurajt

Offline Lisandro

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Re: Web Shield or Web Scanner
« Reply #14 on: May 24, 2007, 01:27:40 AM »
I need specialized help from Lukas or Vlk...
Sorry, can't go further...
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