Why does Avast shut down IE7--HELP-

[~M1kisa~]

I tried downloading Avast and all of a sudden, I could not connect to the internet. The wireless network is detected, however, I think the error in the bottom corner reads ie7/dnserror. Does this look or sound familiar? A seperate issue I am having is uncontrlollable popups. AVG was supposed to be on the PC but I don't know what happened to it. I think that it is a virus/malware/adware- and what ever else. Should I purchase Norton? I am using Avast on another PC and love being alerted when a possible threat arises.

[DavidR]

avast doesn't shutdown IE7 nor block your access to the internet. That is the preserve of a firewall and possibly remnants of a previous AV. Or even possibly malware already on your system.

What is your firewall ?
Does it allow ashWebSv.exe internet access ?
- If it does delete the entry for it and reconnect to the internet, this will force the firewall to ask permission again.

AVG Remover, download tool from here, http://www.grisoft.com/ww.download-tools there is a 32bit and 64 bit windows version, ensure you use the correct one.

Personally I wouldn't have Norton spit if it were free.

If you haven't already got this software (freeware), download, install, update and run it, preferably in safe mode and report the findings (it should product a log file).
1. SUPERantispyware On-Demand only in free version.
2. MalwareBytes Anti-Malware, On-Demand only in free version http://download.bleepingcomputer.com/malwarebytes/mbam-setup.exe, right click on the link and select Save As or Save File (As depending on your browser), save it to a location where you can find it easily later.

[~M1kisa~]

Excuse me if I sound ignorant- as I have very limited experience with these things. The only firewall that I know of is the Windows Firewall. What is ashWebSv.exe internet access? I'm almost sure that malware or something is on there. The popups have taken over. Yesterday I tried adjusting security settings and I don't know if that has made it worse. I've tried to uninstall AVG but it will not.

[DavidR]

Well firstly the windows (XP) firewall provides no outbound protection the (Vista) firewall has outbound protection disabled by default and as such shouldn't be blocking ashWebSv.exe). Check the Windows Security Center, it will say what firewall you have and if it is enabled.

I mean in a firewall with outbound protection, you can allow processes internet access. the ashWebSv.exe is the avast Web Shield, that filters http traffic so it can be scanned, block that and it appears that you have no internet.

We need detailed information to get an idea of how we might help, and 'the pop-ups' have taken over isn't very helpful, do they go to certain sites, adverts, what is the content, etc. ?

Why couldn't you uninstall AVG, what errors were displayed when you ran the tool I suggested ?

If you haven't downloaded the 2 applications I suggest you do it as a matter of urgency and follow the instructions above.

When you are in a hole it is best to stop digging, if you previously didn't adjust the security settings, then that is unlikely to be the cause of the problem.

[DavidR]

deleted wrong topic.