Author Topic: *UPDATE* Avast Network Inspector finding problems with This Computer  (Read 853 times)

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Offline Dinobot2

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TL;DR: It looks like it's something to do with my router's IPv6 settings.

Last week I made this thread about the Avast Network Inspector intermittently finding an issue with my computer on the network scan, going back and forth between saying my network is good and that my computer has an issue, with no real consistency (three good, two bad, one good, three bad, seven more good, etc.), and I didn't know what it would be since I hadn't changed any of my settings and hadn't noticed this before (although I wasn't paying much attention to this aside from scanning once every few months).

Well, after pulling my hair out, being filled with anxiety and doing many tests and factory resets on my router, the apparent problem has to do with my router's IPv6 settings. My D-Link router (model: DIR-822) has a section for IPv6 settings that has the option to Enable Automatic IPv6 Address Assignment. When it is enabled, regardless of Autoconfiguration type, I have this Avast issue, as described above. When I disable it, however, I get no such bad Network Inspector scan results, and only good ones.

I can't say for sure why the IPv6 causes this issue with Network Inspector (especially only getting a bad result sometimes, not always), but I'm tempted to speculate that it could be because my IPv6 filtering is turned off on the router, which was the factory default (as opposed to my IPv4 filtering which is on by default). Unfortunately, either because D-Link doesn't want me to or due to my router being faulty, when I turn Filtering On and save the change, it still stays at OFF. Due to that, I can't see if that's what is causing the Network Inspector to report an issue, which is frustrating. (*EDIT*: I tested turning off my IPv4 Filtering on my router while IPv6 address assignment is off, and Avast doesn't flag any network issues. This leads me to believe that Avast flags IPv6 traffic for some reason).

I also question, if this is a setting on my router, why this is showing up on Network Inspector as an issue with my computer and not with my network. If it's a router issue, it should show up as a Network issue, but it always says my Network is fine (unless I have a torrent client running, but that's a different story).

Obviously I can't say this is for sure what's causing the issue. I can only go off of trends and inferences, and the trend is, after a lot of tests on my part, that this seems to be what's causing the issue.

So, with that all said, it seems like I have four options

1. Keep things as is. A few tech savvy people I have spoken to and described this to, including a good IRL friend of mine who I trust, has said that this is probably Avast just acting weird with IPv6 and as long as I have my Windows Firewall up, keep the security up on my firewall with a strong password, and an antivirus installed, working, and up-to-date, I should be fine. This was also how things have been for a while with my router and didn't notice anything until last week when I just got curious and decided to scan my network after my internet was knocked out for a few hours the day before. It's possible that I got lucky, but see the aforementioned advice from my friend and others.

2. Disable Automatic IPv6 Address Assignment. The downside of this is that this basically knocks out my IPv6 connection even if I don't disable it on my laptop adapters or other devices, at least according to ipv6-test.com. So far I haven't noticed anything not working or acting weird when I go solely on IPv4, but I can't say for sure and don't know what will act up or not work.

3. Factory reset my router. Interestingly, when I do a factory reset on my router, the default setting for the IPv6 Autoconfiguration is with it Enabled, and after a reset I don't get any bad Network Inspector results. Problem solved right? Well, no, because for some reason when I do this, a few of my apps just don't work on my Wifi but will work on my data. This is something I noticed 1.5-2 years ago and the only solution that works is toggling that setting on my router off, saving, and either toggling back on or keeping it off. So if I do this and don't disable-then-enable Address assignment, apps on my phone don't work on my Wifi network.

4. Buy a new router. This is something that needs to happen eventually, and with my inability to turn the IPv6 Firewall filtering on the router, it seems like this is a faulty router (unless D-Link deliberately made it so that you couldn't change that, which would be...stupid). My router is also four years old, right in the 3-to-5 year range that a google search told me to replace it. My only worry with getting a new router and setting it up is what if the Avast Network scan shows the same issue and it really is something with IPv6 (or some other new issue) that causes the Network Inspector to report an issue? There's a very "devil I know vs devil I don't" aspect at play for me here.

If you made it through my giant wall of text, I appreciate it. I will end by asking if anyone has noticed anything in the same or similar vein with their routers and how it combines with Avast, in particular the Network Inspector? It seems like, at first, my problem is somewhat specific and rather unique, but if someone else has noticed anything or maybe even does a test of their own and fiddles with some settings to see if they experience the same thing, that would provide me a bit of comfort. And if you have a solution that isn't just "buy a new router", even better!
« Last Edit: November 25, 2022, 12:38:45 AM by Dinobot2 »

Offline Dinobot2

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Re: *UPDATE* Avast Network Inspector finding problems with This Computer
« Reply #1 on: November 24, 2022, 12:07:36 AM »
No one? Man, that's disappointing  :'(