why does my avast 5 home edition blocks my traffic?

[homeoshare]

its been 3 days since  i found out it blocks my traffic. i know it because only when i turn shields off, it allows me to browse on the internet.  i used to have the same problem with former avast 4.8 home edition, and due to this fact i left it for a long time and used other anti virus.
i decided to retry it, but it seems that no one can help me to solve this problem.
i have tried several things by playing and changing the setting, but as i said- they all failed.
hope to find at least one expert that could hep me to figure out why it happens, and how to solve this problem.

please your help a.s.a.p  i'm going slightly mad 

thanks a lot

homeoshare

[Pondus]

Do you have a firewall ?

[homeoshare]

off course i have firewall. but, when i turn the firewall off it is still not working.  when i turn avast's shields off, i can freely browse on the internet.
i believe i am missing something on the settings of this software.
am using xp pro and Nvidia firewall in case it helps someone.

thanks again

homeoshare

[Pondus]

Does this help
http://support.avast.com/index.php?_m=knowledgebase&_a=viewarticle&kbarticleid=21&nav=0,66

http://support.avast.com/index.php?_m=knowledgebase&_a=view&parentcategoryid=66&group=eng

[DavidR]

Well some firewall when you supposedly switch them off, still have drivers/services running and could block previously blocked applications.

Does the Nvidia firewall allow avastSvc.exe internet access ?
- If it does delete the entry for it and reconnect to the internet, this should force the firewall to ask permission again.

Does the Nvidia firewall have a training/learning mode, if so try enabling that also ?

[homeoshare]

thanks a lot guys    .
well, after changing the settings of my Nvidia firewall nothing worked.  therefore i decided to restore to factory settings, and after performing this action the miracle happened!!!
i now can browse freely on the net without traffic jams 
thanks a lot

could never believe it was just a stupid firewall.

all the best

HOMEOSHARE

[DavidR]

You're welcome, glad that you have finally sorted it.