Author Topic: Avast! not working with Safe Eyes blocking software  (Read 5853 times)

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dvancleve

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Avast! not working with Safe Eyes blocking software
« on: December 29, 2008, 10:49:38 PM »
Howdy folks,

Just installed Avast! on an old low memory laptop yesterday.  All seemed well, but now I can't access the web.  Safe Eyes says "The filter application could not be started.  Please ensure that you do not have any firewall or antivirus software which is preventing Safe Eyes from reaching the internet".  Avast! is the only change to the system, so must be the problem.  Trick is, I don't know how to configure Avast to stop it.  Anybody know?

Thanks, Doug

Offline Lisandro

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Re: Avast! not working with Safe Eyes blocking software
« Reply #1 on: December 29, 2008, 10:58:09 PM »
Which is your firewall?
Does Safe Eyes use a proxy filter?
Which is the operational system of this computer?
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dvancleve

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Re: Avast! not working with Safe Eyes blocking software
« Reply #2 on: December 29, 2008, 11:02:10 PM »
I don't have a software firewall application installed.  My wireless router is a D-Link DIR-655 and the laptop is Win2K.  I didn't have to do any configuring of Safe Eyes to get to the internet when I set it up (everything worked the same except the stuff it blocks), not sure about the proxy filter...

Thanks, Doug

Offline Lisandro

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Re: Avast! not working with Safe Eyes blocking software
« Reply #3 on: December 29, 2008, 11:07:30 PM »
Maybe you could report them: http://www.internetsafety.com/safe-eyes-trouble-report.php
I've tried to browse their site to know if it uses a proxy, but I couldn't discover.
Most probably not... if you disable avast WebShield, will you be able to connect?
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Offline alanrf

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Re: Avast! not working with Safe Eyes blocking software
« Reply #4 on: December 29, 2008, 11:41:53 PM »
To test it - I just downloaded and installed Safe Eyes on this system.  It appears to be working as intended and blocking access to Web sites.  I also have the avast Webshield and Network shields running. 

As far as I can tell it works a bit differently from the usual proxy type configuration but it has to be very invasive into the communications layer since it permits blocking of P2P, IM, Email as well as Web browsing.  There is no proxy as such and it clearly uses transparent intercepts. 

At startup it establishes a secure session to its servers.  It is on its servers that the user's blocking preferences are kept and it appears that the all requests have to be checked against its servers before being permitted. 

It may well be that the significant difference is that I had avast already installed on my system before installing Safe Eyes whereas dvancleve installed avast after Safe Eyes.

Interestingly - when I ran Wireshark to get details of the network activity involved the Safe Eyes intrusions into the network layer while running Wireshark caused Firefox to crash repeatedly.

I see that Safe Eyes has an excellent reputation as a parental control service but, given its intrusive nature into the network activity and the constant reporting of network activity to a server outside my control, it is not a product I would want on my system.  So in a moment I will be taking my system back to the point before its installation.

Later edit: I should add that the system I performed the test on is Windows XP Pro SP3 ... I do not have a Win2K system on which to test.    
« Last Edit: December 29, 2008, 11:55:25 PM by alanrf »

Offline Lisandro

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Re: Avast! not working with Safe Eyes blocking software
« Reply #5 on: December 30, 2008, 01:05:02 AM »
but it has to be very invasive into the communications layer since it permits blocking of P2P, IM, Email as well as Web browsing.
To manage all these connections, the software must be invasive, for sure...

An alternative, not that invasive, and only for http, is www.k9webprotection.com.
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