Webshield issue with Vista version of AVast Home

[_Rej_]

Hey all,

Sorry for the (long) delay,

I'll try the log and changes mentionned and report + email the infos back.


Rej

[_Rej_]

Ok,

done all the testing, logs and haven't seen any significant changes to my browsing.. still getting the approx 3 secs delays on each simple pages I try and I have the same results as I used to when I wrote the original messsage.

I'm now using version 1029 btw.

Lukor's
I seems to me that the problem is during the connecion handshake.

I agree, since my downloads (once started and using Webshield in Vista) go as fast as they usually do under XP or if I don't use WebShield.
There also seem to be something about returning to a page within the same session.  Let's say I link to Gamespot from Google, if I <Back> to google.com, I  won't get the delay.  Not knowing how IE or FF works, I can't comment on if it's already in memory etc but I thought I'd mention it in case it may help.

BTW, are we the only ones experiencing this issue? or is this an issue for all users of Vista + Avast Home Ed.?

I checked the log and couldn't see anything relating to timers so I'm not sure if the Email sent will be of help. :/

Anyways, everyone's help is much appreciated and if any of you need more testing, I'll be more than happy to contribute.

Thanks again and good luck.

_Rej_

Btw, how do I add my Computer info into the footer of each messages?  Check teh profile settings and couldn't find it.

[_Rej_]

nevermind about the footer   figured it would be the signature and I just saw that it was

_Rej_

[lukor]

Hello _Rej_,

I am still unable to reproduce it here or find any possible cause. Can you please make one more test.

Edit avast4.ini file, in the section [WebScanner] find the line LoadIsapiFilters=1 and change the value to 0.

[WebScanner]
LoadIsapiFilters=0

A terminate/re-start WebShield.

Does anything change?

(if not, please re-enable the filter, it does the virus scanning and is rather important  )

[_Rej_]

Hi lukor,

first, thanks for replying and for your continued interest in trying to resolve this.  Much appreciated

Tried the LoadIsapiFilters=0 without success.

I figured I'd even try the autoredirect=0 flag to see and didn't notice much (if any) difference either.

Wish I had better news 

I wonder, is there is a flag that would allow us to LOG webscanner with a time stamp for each lines?  This would give you a better idea of the delays I'm referring to.

Also, I'd like to mention this again, the delays *do seem* to be almost exactly 3 seconds (3000 ms)...  Is there something in the web communication protocols that has a timeout of 3000ms out there?  This might help.

Again, the above is an approximation but since I moved and changed my service to 10mb (from 7mb), my results are now 4.4 seconds then down to 1.4 seconds when I retry it right away (or when I'm using either WindowsXP with WebShield or Vista without WebShield).  This is consistant.. if I exit the web browser (IE7 or FF.. tried both) I always get first 4.4 seconds then 1.4 seconds on the test page I mentionned in my first post while  on Vista with Webshield.

I realise this isn't a perfect test, but if you know of a webpage that would help you even further, please feel free to let me know and I'll be happy to test those pages as well

Until then, good luck and don't forget to shoot me any tests you'd like me to try.  (and a flag for time stamps for the logs if one exists) 

Regards...

_Rej_

[lukor]

Ok, _Rej_, thanks, I'll prepare a special instrumented version of WebShield that will enable us to create somewhat more detailed logs. I'll post the download link and instructions as soon as it is ready.

Cheers,
Lukas.

[joooo]

Welcome.

[_Rej_]

Great!

You're welcome of course   Helps me as much as it does you/Alwil + other users.

I'll check back more often to make sure I don't delay you too much.  (got plenty of time on my hands so I'll be available for as many tests as needs to be done).

and thanks for the welcome joaopr

Cheers too,

_Rej_

[_Rej_]

In the meantime, I've decided to try to leave webshield on (on Vista) and encountered another problem -- a problem that might be related to the delays though.

whenever I try to open this page

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/20042244/

...4 out of 5 times, after what seems like the full page has loaded, I get an Internet Explorer error that says...

'Internet Explorer could not open this page... (see attached *.jpg)

then, after pressing OK, I get the 'page cannot be displayed' page.

Not sure if this helps, but I don't want to pass up anything in case it might prove useful.

_Rej_

P.S. I don't get this error with FF but then again, I use NoScript and AdBlock, so in effect, lessening the stuff to be loaded.. and I assume the handshaking related to those.

[_Rej_]

I've discovered another issue with WebShield... on Windows XP this time (SP2) --- will need to test Vista to see if the same thing occurs.. I'll report on this later on.

This issue has been happening to me for a good 2 weeks now (I think it's before the 1029 version altho I'm not sure).

To test I have been doing is to download this file from the microsoft servers 10 times without WebShield...

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=b406cf67-d926-463b-99e8-27199d6626b5&DisplayLang=en

(good thing I have no limits on downloads with my current ISP package

and once I activate WebShield, 9 out of 10 times, the download will *stop* ... just stop with the included download screen just staying there, its icon still animating, but nothing else changing.. that means the 'Estimated time left' stays the same, the 'transfer rate' stays the same etc..  I've left the last one open for 5 minutes and no changes.. it just stays there.

Note that this happens *only* when I have webshield activated OR on pause..   if WebShield is terminated, the downloads never 'freeze'.

btw, since I thought that this was a problem with my ISP (had called them a few times about it without them seeing any issues with my signals), and that when a download freezes, I can cancel and restart it and since it restarts where it left off, it was something I could live with. 

But realizing that it's (well, I think it is based on my tests) a Webshield issue since it doesn't happen with it off (terminated), well, thought you should know aobut it

Also, the downloads never stop at the same spot (advantage of testing same file over and over).

Now, I'm not sure you wanted this new issue on a new thread or on this thread, so let me know and I'll report it on a new thread if required.

Sorry to be the bringer of 'bad' news but hey, the more bugs fixed, the better it becomes

Regards..

_Rej_

P.S. Forgot to mention that I tried to log, but when I activate the log, it reports nothing while downloading the file so I thought you wouldn't need one, but if you do, let me know and I'll redo the test with log on and send you the results.

P.P.S. Also, this happens wether I use IE7 or Firefox.

_Rej_ gone to test on Vista

I've done the tests on Vista and the downloads never freeze, but they always stop at around 18MB (out of 53MB) for a few seconds while I see the 'a' icon turning, then it always resumes without problems. -- if WebShield isn't active, then the stoppage at 18mb does not occur.  I consider this normal.

[_Rej_]

Hi Lukor,

First the apology  -- I mentionned earlier (in a previous post) that adding a time stamp might help... well I must have been asleep the last time I checked, because I realized you *already* had time stamps in the logs.. so sorry about that 

Since I realized that there *were* time stamps, I redid the logs which I will include here so you can see the delays I'm referring to in these posts... I include both the WinXP and Vista logs.

In both instances, I did the exact same tests.  I started with Google.ca, then went to my performance test page, did the test twice, then returned to google.ca.  Last part of the test is opening the main MSNBC.com page (takes a log longer on Vista)

One thing to note is that on my second performance test on Windows XP, the image loading frooze, so I kept it in the log in case you might see something I missed (it's the same problem as the downloads I mentionned in the previous post -- at least this time I was able to log it).

So here are the logs.. hope they can help.

I'm going to wait for your exec for the next tests...

So until then...

Regards..

_Rej_

P.S. since I thought you needed both the .log and .ws files I zipped them, but got stopped since the forum doesn't allow .zip files.. I just added .log to the names but they are still zipped

[lukor]

Hi,

can please check this file:

http://public.avast.com/~rypacek/ashWebSv.zip

It is a zipped webshield service executable (ashWebSv.exe). Unpack it to the avast folder (C:\program files\alwil software\avast4) -WebShield must be terminated during the replacement.

It should create more detailed log in C:\Program Files\Alwil Software\Avast4\DATA\Log\ashwebsv.dbg. Please send me the file and hopefully something will come out. (the file is accessible again only when WebShield is terminated).

Avast will automatically replace this patched service with the original one during reboot - so please be aware that the patched version will disappear automatically 

[_Rej_]

Hi,

Ok, Downloaded, Scanned (  ) and noted (about patch replacing it, how to install etc).

I'll send you the logs with the same activities I did with the last ones (see previous post).

_Rej_

[Connecter]

hello,
I register me, because I read this tread and I have the same problem. My Internet is very slow. I also try another virus protection program.  But it make no difference. When I quit Avast, the Internet has full speed. Under XP I have never ever any problems. I hope it can fixed. I don´t like to surf without any protection.

[_Rej_]

Hi,

Here we go... logs included.  Not zipped this time.. just the .log files.

Same activities as previously (hope you read my previous 2-3 messages but in case you didn't...)

- Open with Google.ca
- goto http://performance.toast.net/
- run test twice, first time = 4.4 seconds, second time = 1.4 seconds (every and I mean *every* time)
- go back to google.ca
- open main page of MSNBC.com which was http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3053415/ at the time.
- Terminate WebShield to get logs.

Did this on both WinXP and Vista to demonstrate the delays experienced in Vista.

Hope this helps.. if not, let me know if you need other tests/pages etc.

Thx for the test exe btw.

Regards...

_Rej_

P.S. after checking the logs time stamps, the biggest difference I could notice that doesn't require user input start with the first MSNBC.com link -- that's when I click to get to the main page, and once it's loaded, I terminate webshield to get the log..  on Xp it's 12 seconds to load the entire page (with adds etc) while it takes 43 seconds on vista.

Note that my download speeds (when they don't freeze on Xp) are the same on both Vista and Xp (~ 1 MBytes/s)