error message from Avast?????

[sandy55]

 Error message
Information about current update:
Last encountered error: Cannot connect to 75.125.190.114 (75.125.190.114:80).

Total time: 5:49
What does it mean?

When I signed into this forum today it said I had been signed in for 28 minutes and I had just signed in.  Had some problems getting my password to get in prior to this and had to send for a new one.  Is the time just wrong or is somebody else using my avast account?  any ideas?

[DavidR]

Commonly this is an indication of your firewall blocking avast's update.

No one else can use your account without your password and user name, etc. I wouldn't worry about the inaccuracy of the time logged on as there are factors that will impact on that (local time and server time out of sync, etc.) and it isn't a live second by second update.

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

[sandy55]

Would a firewall stop avast after suddenly after over a year of updating without issue I have not changed any settings as I do not know what I am doing. 
Today there is a new error
Information about current update:
Last encountered error: Cannot connect to download774.avast.com (unknown:80).

Total time: 7:50
I have windows XP IE8
The only firewalls I have came with either of these programs again I am a self taught novice older individual that went to school long before computer were invented bare with me.

[DavidR]

I have seen this happen/reported in the forums many times, it has also happened to me, hence suggestion to delete the entry and try a manual update.

The error message is certainly suggestive of firewall blocking, however, the XP firewall provides zero outbound checking so shouldn't be getting in the way.

What happens if you do a manual update (right click the avast 'a' icon, select Updating, iAVS Update), as I suggested in my last post, does that work or not ?

#### Firewalls ####
Whilst the windows XP firewall is usually good at keeping your ports stealthed (hidden) it provides no outbound protection and you should consider a third party firewall.

Any malware that manages to get past your defences will have free reign to connect to the internet to either download more of the same, pass your personal data (sensitive or otherwise, user names, passwords, keylogger retrieved data, etc.) or open a backdoor to your computer, so outbound protection is essential.

- There are many freeware firewalls such as, Comodo (care required now it is a suite not to install the anti-virus element), PCTools Firewall Plus, Online Armor and recently released, Outpost Firewall free 6.5 (2009)

Many forum users are using these:
- PC Tools Firewall seems to have the least user headaches as it doesn't seem to be constantly asking the user questions about this and that.
- Online Armor for the most parts fine but it has caused some users grief after avast program updates and that is something you have to watch out for.
- Comodo is now a suite and you have to do a custom install so as not to install the antivirus element (or use the add remove programs to remove the AV element if already installed), of all the firewalls listed this seems to be the noisiest in asking questions, depending on settings and elements used (Defense+), so it could be daunting for those not to familiar with firewalls or their systems.
- Outpost Firewall 2009 free, a cut down version of the Outpost Firewall Pro version, which should still provide good protection, http://free.agnitum.com/. Download, http://www.filehippo.com/download_outpost_firewall/

[sandy55]

Hi thanks for the help.  I was able to do the manual update.
I tried the link for the outbound messages seems it is not compatable with this avast program as avast sent me different error messages while I was using it essentially the manual update would not work while it was installed.  So I have just uninstalled the outbound message protection and will look for a new avast compatible outbound protector.

[DavidR]

If a manual update works, there is no blocking (as suggested when you mentioned XP firewall), so the problem is that of auto updates.

How do you connect to the internet, dial-up or broadband, etc. ?

Do you use a proxy to connect to the internet ?

####
I would also suggest we stick to the original points of this topic so as to avoid confusing the problem with email issues.
What link for outbound messages ?
Nothing mentioned about that in this topic.

So I have just uninstalled the outbound message protection and will look for a new avast compatible outbound protector.

That is a mistake as the scanning of outbound SMTP traffic is a big plus as it isn't just monitoring emails that you send, but may be your first indication of emails being sent from your system without your sending them (undetected/hidden trojan spambot). So far from disabling this function I would advise setting it to High sensitivity for the additional protection I mentioned.