problem and no help from avast support

[Highbred8]

hi,

 normally i hate to make my first post on a board a negative one, but im not sure how else to go about this.

last week my copy of avast 4 home edition stopped going online to update.  i did not change any settings to my internet connection or to avast. it just randomly stopped being able to go online.  after hours of trying to figure it out, i contacted tech support.  I recieved a response two days later asking for more information, which i provided right away. A few hours later the tech wrote back with instructions for setting my connection for avast. i checked everything he asked and the connections were already set up that way.  so i responded to him and asked for further assitance since the first attempts did not yield any results.  two more times i tried to get help from him and got no respnse. 

so i found some threads on here with a procedure on how to remove avast completely and properly reinstall. i followed this procedure and the result was no internet connection at all. so i did a restore point back to the begining of the month and now im back to where i started with only avast not connecting.

finally i decided to try tech support again and filed a new ticket with "urgent" priority selected, hoping to get a new tech since it was obvious the first guy was not going to respond.  this was 4 days ago and i have yet to recieve any further support. both tickets diplay a "open" status and my anti virus no longer updates.

i went with avast after it was recommended by a friend and reading all of the 4-5 star reviews it recieved from users.  at first it was great and would of told everyone i know to try it. now i say thank god i havent because i my self am regretting going with this program over what has worked for me for years.

if anyone can help me get this sorted i would be very greatful. and if a tech reads this and wants to look into this, both of my support ticketswere submitted under the same name as my screen name.

[superhacker]

4 Highbred8:
look brother this forum is the best forum in helping other guys,any help will not take a lot of time,"i my self every day check to see if there is some one need help not just me every evangelist and user and moderator,and in some cases the help will go to you in less than minute,so you cant talk about this wonderful forum
and for your problems may be you have a virus disable avast! and you dont about it so check if a virus in your system and reply,you can check here:http://forum.avast.com/index.php?topic=50106.0,
you welcome to come again and ask any one but if you have a virus so please start a new topic in viruses and worms section

[Yanto.Chiang]

@Highbred8 :

If your avast home edition not working properly :
1. Go to Start - Control Panel - Add/Remove Program
2. Choose avast antivirus
3. Clicked Repair


If your would like to uninstall avast antivirus and faced with trouble :
   1.  Download aswClear.exe on to your desktop
   2. Start Windows in Safe Mode
   3. Open (execute) the uninstall utility
   4. If you installed avast! in a different folder than the default, browse for it. (Note: Be careful! The content of any folder you choose will be deleted!)
   5. Click REMOVE
   6. Restart your computer

Hopefully could solved your problem.

[Highbred8]

thanks for the replies.  i have absolutely nothing bad to say about this forum or its members.  my problem was with the avast support techs who wont help even though ive tried to receive support from them through avast support page.

id like to check for viruses and ive run the avast version i have now and found nothing. but it wont update so if its a new virus avast wont know about it and there is no way for me to update it.  ive used the removal steps the second mentions and it did not help.  i really dont know what to do about this.

thanks for the help, i started my thread here because i thought it was the appropriate section. if it is not then i apologize and the mods should move it.

ill keep trying different things to get it to work.

[norel]

I don't know about avast!, but a lot of times when you have a free product you have to wait a lot longer for tech support and often it just gets relegated to the support forum, so don't be surprised if it happens.

Are you trying to update manually or automatically? Do you have dial-up or a permanent connection?

[BILL G]

    More Info Needed
  Computer Spec.
  OS
  Type of Net Conn.
  Real Time Programs
  Installed or OD Programs

[Yanto.Chiang]

Hi Highbred,

Have you tried to restart your PC?
Have you checked your registry or Microsoft Program Files to clean all of avast data made?
What kind of the trouble that you still facing it now?

Would you share with us in details?

[DavidR]

@ Highbred8
What errors are you getting displayed, as if you can't connect avast should display an warning/error ?

Check the avast! Log Viewer (right click the avast 'a' icon), Warning section Or Error section, this contains information on all avast warnings. C:\Program Files\Alwil Software\Avast4\ashLogV.exe
 
- Or check the source file using notepad C:\Program Files\Alwil Software\Avast4\DATA\log\Warning.log and copy and paste the entry.

What is your firewall ?
Does it allow about.avast internet access ?
- If it does delete the entry for it and do a manual update, this should force the firewall to ask permission again.

[Highbred8]

hi, thanks for the suggestions. ill have to try to figure them out, im ok on computers but i usually dont get that into paying with stuff. more of a just use it person.

the problem im having is on a lenovo s10 with windows xp. my connection is a always connected connection through my iphone tethering. the connection worked fine with avast for over a month before this and its speed is comparable to DSL and currently works for everything else other than avast.  the computer is relatively new so i have not installed much of anything on it other than office.

the error i get is "cannot connect to download770.avast.com (208.43.71.150:80)" when i try to manually update and a red pop up pops up off of the sys tray when avast tries to update automatically.  

ive attempted multiple reboots, tried add remove and the avast uninstall in safe mode method, restore point, i tried turning the firewall off, making sure avast was in the allowed programs list for the fire wall, making sure that the avast connection settings were what the first tech recommended (as well as every other setting possible)

ill try and follow some of your suggestions and see how that works.  again thanks for the help and if you need more info let me know.

[Arup]

Do you have a firewall installed, check to see if its blocking Avast.

[Highbred8]

firewall is windows firewall. avast is on the exception list. ive removed and readded it to the list of allowed programs.  i even tried turning the firewall off all together and it still wont connect. this really makes no sense.

i almost feel like doing a complete reload just to fix this even though theres no other problems with the computer. its that frustrating.

[norel]

Did you register avast! yet? Even though the Home version is free you still have to register within a certain time period. I don't mean to sound insulting, I'm just tossing out ideas. It sounds like you have covered most of the bases so I don't know what it could be.   

[Highbred8]

yup, registered it the day i installed it. i even just ran the avast virus/worm program from the avast website and it found nothing. wtf is going on, it makes no sense to me.  the funny thing is i tried to download a different program (avg anti virus i think its called) and it would not down load. it told me the same thing avast says that i am not connected to the internet. which considering im posting here is obviously not the case.  totally confused now, maybe a boot from start up disk is my only answer. i just feel stupid doing that since nothing else is wrong with the computer.

[.: L' arc :.]

Please take time to answer these questions:

1   What is/are your current and previous antivirus?

• Current:
• Previous:

2   Did you happen to encounter any virus a few days ago?

[Tarq57]

Lenovos seem to typically ship with a trial Norton product installed. (NAV or NIS.)

When you say, in your OP, that:

...am regretting going with this program over what has worked for me for years.

, please advise what it was that has worked over the years, and was it uninstalled?
(Basically a different way of asking what L'arc is asking above, and important to know.)

This could also be typical behaviour as a result of a malware infection. Some of these typically block access to security sites, and disable the AV. So an answer to L'arc's second question is equally important.

I'm pretty sure this can be "got to the bottom of". (Provided the virus/malware isn't too new/nasty. Some of the current crop have some dastardly tricks, I'm afraid.)