Serious Problem with Web Shield (extreme censorship).

[gsl57]

Avast Premium Security Win 10 Desktop.
Avast secretly blocked ports 80 and 53 (perhaps others) while I was downloading a 3gb file. It gave no warning or explanation of this action, leaving me to re-boot my router, and re-boot my PC to no avail. Windows technical debugger said the problem was a broken DNS server, while browsers all said "no internet access". Once having decided it was maybe Avast causing the problem, turning off all shields did not cure it. Finally, after several hours of anguish, I found that turning Web Shield off and on did fix it.
But that was not all, I then found I was banned from the forum: login was ok, but no posts could be read, let alone posted. Logging in on my iPad produced exactly the same situation - extreme censorship in my opinion. I have had to create a new account in order to post this. When I say no internet access, I could not even view my router admin page !!!

[DavidR]

What were the details/reasons given in the ban  ?
For what user name  ?

[gsl57]

The ban was silent, secretive, and no warnings were given. Nothing in the UI gave any hint that Avast was responsible for my dilemma.  I only discovered the 'cure' by clicking on everything in sight. I remain banned from this forum under my usual user name
 and have had to create a new login for these postings.

By banned I mean: I get the first page, but clicking on anything at all, including login, help, etc, or anything on the menu, and no response from clicking on any of the posting links. Anybody would think that I am the problem.

[MrDJ]

if you used you whole email as your user name they may have locked it for your protection as on a public forum your asking for trouble from spammers.
i would also suggest edditing your above post to remove the email.

[gsl57]

Yes, thanks for the tip, I have removed it. However, it has been my login for years with no problem, but the instant the problem occurred I was banned. When I put the url in my browser something adds '?nologin' to it, and this 'something' can only be Avast.

Summary: while I was downloading a 3gb .zip file with no hidden virus, Avast suddenly blocked everything in sight including forum access. There were no warnings, explanations, or clues in the UI. When I finally stumbled on the 'cure', the browser was able to complete the download uninterrupted. 1984 comes to mind.

Incidentally, I am asked for my email address when I click 'login', not my user name which appears to be the name part only of my address.

[DavidR]

The ban was silent, secretive, and no warnings were given. Nothing in the UI gave any hint that Avast was responsible for my dilemma.  I only discovered the 'cure' by clicking on everything in sight. I remain banned from this forum under my usual user name
 and have had to create a new login for these postings.

By banned I mean: I get the first page, but clicking on anything at all, including login, help, etc, or anything on the menu, and no response from clicking on any of the posting links. Anybody would think that I am the problem.

The ban shouldn't be secretive, there should be a reason given and displayed when you try to logon. 
Typically this will be 'forum spammer', spam, etc. so you should get something.

You stumbled on the cure, which was 'If it isn't confidential' ?
Typically this would be the same as your Avast installation - Registration.
Or creating a new forum account - but I don't know how that would play out if it relates to your Avast Account, e.g. the id.avast.com.

[gsl57]

Yes, I am posting here under a different user name AND using a different browser. I have proved that if I use my original user name then not only am I locked out, but the browser I used is locked out.

I finally emailed avast support enough times to get a real human being who quickly told me how to get into the "Geeks" menu and change the flag that permits warnings if the web shield is activated - yes it is off by default !! The first five emails yielded automatic responses, pretending to be real persons, that provided boilerplate solutions to completely unrelated problems.

Even now the ticket is closed, I remain locked out from this forum using my usual name and browser. All this because I chose to download via http a 3gb .zip file which was virus-free, and which I was able to complete later. If anyone thinks this sort of censorship is good public relations, they must work for avast.

... and while we are at it, who knows how to access the "Geek" settings ?? and will I be banned for telling you ??

[MrDJ]

no idea what is going on.
what i can help with is geek area > https://support.avast.com/en-en/article/Use-Antivirus-Geek-settings/#pc

[DavidR]

Your browser should have nothing to do with any ban as it isn't browser specific.

As I have said you should get some kind of notice of why you are banned.

I then found I was banned from the forum: login was ok, but no posts could be read, let alone posted.

That would generally be informed when you try to log in, the same would be correct in logging in from a different OS.  As far as I'm aware the ban would be neither browser or OS specific.

Yours is the first instance of this kind that I have seen in the forums and I have been active for almost 20 years, it is if nothing else very strange.

[MrDJ]

lets back track a bit.

what was your original username that you say is banned. was it your full email address that i recommended you remove due to the risk of you getting spammed.
then one of the forum admin can look it up and see whats going on in the background.
as DavidR said, it should not have anything to do with which brouser you use.

[DavidR]

Interestingly I have just had a problem logging in, unrelated to the OPs issue just hangs whilst trying to logon.. 

So I thought I would try doing a password reset/change which should send an email to your registered email, but that just hangs and no email received (and at one point I got a message about an issue with id.avast.com whilst waiting).  So I suspect that this current problem I have is id.avast.com related, still tracking down that problem.  But not directly related to the OP not being able to view posts as I was able to do that even when not logged on, but obviously not able to post.

But I was able to log in using an alternative option from the list below the logon fields, my Google account.

And even without logging in I was able to view posts, but obviously not post.

[MrDJ]

The plot thickens David 

[gsl57]

Thanks DavidR for your thoughts, I had not accessed id.avast.com before. It shows details of this login which has not paid anything, fair enough.

I then looked on another device which is blocked from the forum because I accessed it under my original blocked email address, and surprisingly id.avast.com showed those details correctly and even allowed me to edit them, and showed that my paid subscription has 37 days to run. I could not see anything there which might relate to this forum.

Incidentally, to access the secret settings on a PC, you choose Menu/Settings and enter 'geeks:area' in the Search box. I advise you to scroll deep down to WebShield and tick the warning messages box which is off by default, at least in my copy of Avast Premium. Goodness knows why they hide this stuff like this.

[DavidR]

For the majority of users the settings in the geeks area wouldn't even be a thought for your average user.

I know how to get there and in all of that time I have not felt the need to make any changes. 

I advise you to scroll deep down to WebShield and tick the warning messages box which is off by default

I don't know where you are looking as there is no such 'warning message box' setting in avast free, but it doesn't make sense.
The web Shield throws up a Warning on any Web Shield alert, as the default setting is to ASK.  If you are referring to the Show a notification window when an action is taken, that is on 'ticked' by default.

[gsl57]

OK David, here it is attached (I hope).

The line in question, unticked by default, reads: "Show a notification window when action is taken".
Notice comments like "Avast Geek" and "secret cave".

I made a mistake (and fooled myself too) because the invocation is Menu/Settings/SearchBox geek:area and not geeks area ! Sorry about that.