Avast and windows firewall not happy together?

[reallyold]

Periodically, I find that my web shield is turned off and I cannot start firefox.  I cannot turn the web shield on from the Avast window and I cannot access my windows firewall, it reports that there is something not right and it cannot open.  I have to repair Avast from the "add and remove" menu in the control panel.  The computer will run for a while and it will happen again.

For your reference, I am running Avast 5.0.545 and Windows XP SP3.

Should I turn off the windows firewall and just let Avast run?

I would appreciate any suggestions or comments.

Thanks.

[SafeSurf]

Do NOT turn off your firewall.  Can you please update your signature so we can better help you? 

Did you upgrade to v. 545 or do a clean install of Avast?  I would recommend doing a clean install of Avast.

When did the problem start?  Just after upgrading or installing v. 545 or prior to this?

Did you have any previous AV or firewall installed on your machine?  It is possible you have remnants left behind causing an issue if you did.

When you say you cannot access your WFW, are you going into Control Panel > Windows Firewall?  What does it say?

Have you tried running any on-demand scanners like MBAM http://www.filehippo.com/download_malwarebytes_anti_malware/ to make sure you don't have any malware?

Let's start from there...

[Asyn]

Usually avast and windows firewall get along quite good.
If you have an avast verion with firewall, use it and disable windows firewall.
If not, you shouldn't disable the windows firewall.
Or use a 3rd party firewall. (Outpost, PC Tools, Comodo, etc...)
asyn

[Asyn]

Can you please update your signature so we can better help you? 

No, he/she can't before reaching 20 posts.
But sure more info would be a good idea..!!
asyn

[SafeSurf]

By signatures prior to the 20 posts, I meant manually typing it in.  I know a pain, but more info. would be helpful.  Thanks ;-)

[RedFan]

If your webshield is turned off has nothing to do with your firewall.
windows firewall has no conflict with avast.
you should try a reinstall of avast

[JANEWAY]

Using software with a builtin Firewall or downloading a firewall software will disable Windows Firewall.

[MAG]

AIS firewall doesn't disable my windows firewall (at least not in XP SP3). I would go along with the suggestion of a re-install of Avast as the first thing to try.

[Asyn]

Using software with a builtin Firewall or downloading a firewall software will disable Windows Firewall.

Not necessarily...
asyn

[reallyold]

I'll try to respond to everybody.

1. the install of avast 545 was through a standard software update.

2. in the control panel, WFW says that it cannot display the firewall information because of an internal problem.

3. This is not the first time that this has happened, as I mentioned in the original post, it started about 2 weeks ago.

4. When avast shows the realtime shields are not running, I cannot start my browser (firefox 3.6.3)

5. There is no other protection software running.

6. When I attempt to upgrade the software either through the Avast menu or control panel, it just hangs.

7. fixing the problem before meant uninstalling SP3 and reinstalling it as well as reinstalling avast through the control panel.  This was a LONG and PAINFUL operation.

8. This event was coincident with installing a software package from tomtom (home - updates the tomtom navigator)

9. I am running XP SP3 on an older machine (Thunderbird 1.3GHz, nvidia chip set); Firefox 3.6.3 browser, thunderbird mail

[Asyn]

So, as your last post had a lot of statements and after reading our replies to your questions...
Are there any questions left..??
asyn

[reallyold]

So, as your last post had a lot of statements and after reading our replies to your questions...
Are there any questions left..??
asyn

I am still trying to figure out what is going on and what I can do to prevent it from happening again.

Is this an issue with avast?  Is this an issue with Windows firewall?  Is this an issue with the owner/operator of this computer (high on my list)?

The only other piece of information that might be relevant is that SP3 has only been on this computer for a little over a month.  The disk drives are new, the motherboard is an Epox KT7a raid.

Thanks.

[doktornotor]

2. in the control panel, WFW says that it cannot display the firewall information because of an internal problem.

sounds hardly like Avast problem. IOW, the OS seems to be messed up quite a bit.

[Asyn]

I am still trying to figure out what is going on and what I can do to prevent it from happening again.

Could you please be more precise...? What exactly is your problem?
SP3 is not the problem! Many users of avast are on XP SP3, as I am, without any problems.
asyn

[reallyold]

Could you please be more precise...? What exactly is your problem?
SP3 is not the problem! Many users of avast are on XP SP3, as I am, without any problems.
asyn

***************************************************

Let me try again. 

Periodically, Avast will show that the realtime shields have been turned off.  I cannot restart the realtime shields from the avast window.

At the same time, Windows firewall ceases to work.  When I try to look at the WFW through the control panel, I get this strange message that it cannot display information because of an internal problem.

Also, at the same time, I cannot start firefox.  It shows in the task list but I never see a firefox window.  The computer is still able to get to the internet with UDP packets (SNTP program) and ICMP packets with ping or traceroute.

These are the major symptoms, the question is what is the problem?  Is this an issue with Avast?  Is this an issue with Windows?  What do I do to keep this from happening again?