Author Topic: Help! Avast Free Antivirus is blocking certain sites, all of the sudden.  (Read 15589 times)

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Fizbin

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Latest Avast V5.1.899, latest definitions.  Windows 7/64 bit.  Chrome browser...But any browser is affected.

It started with Canada Post yesterday.  I was getting an Error 101 (net::ERR_CONNECTION_RESET): Unknown error.  I thought it was Canada Post and I was on the phone with them, acting like an idiot, obviously.  I lost a lot of money because I couldn't calculate postage for ebay auctions.

Anyway this afternoon it's working fine.  Now parts of ebay aren't working, like the search.  But these things work on my other PC (with XP) with the same internet connection...And I mean taking the cable from my Windows 7 PC and putting it in to my XP PC.  So it's not my internet and it's not a specific browsers.  When I deactivate web shield, I have no problems with ebay.

I just ran Malwarebytes (updated) and I get nothing.

Any ideas?

Thanks!

Fizbin

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Re: Help! Avast Free Antivirus is blocking certain sites, all of the sudden.
« Reply #1 on: February 22, 2011, 02:05:34 AM »
No new problems installed, by the way.

Just reinstalled the program, no change.  I'm afraid it's going to have to go.  I can't believe I have to install Norton.  I've uninstalled Norton on tons of machines, and put Avast instead.  If my friends only found out about this...

« Last Edit: February 22, 2011, 02:41:25 AM by Fizbin »

Fizbin

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Re: Help! Avast Free Antivirus is blocking certain sites, all of the sudden.
« Reply #2 on: February 22, 2011, 02:59:14 AM »
Wait!  One thing I have done...Gee am I talking to myself?...Is I went in to settings/troubleshooting/redirect settings and I cleared the HTTP port line.  Now I can access ebay search.  But has this disabled web shield?  Can I do a test and see if Avast can pick up a dummy virus somewhere? 

The http port line was populated with 80, 8080, and a series of 10 other four digit numbers.

Offline DavidR

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Re: Help! Avast Free Antivirus is blocking certain sites, all of the sudden.
« Reply #3 on: February 22, 2011, 03:27:06 AM »
Clearing the http port line is effectively the same as disabling the web shield, you have no web protection.

These are redirects so that the HTTP traffic on those ports are routed through the web shield proxy so that they can be scanned.

I use ebay regularly, just fired of a search and no problem.

Don't know if that is Canada Post and in mail service, if so no problems with that either.
Windows 10 Home 64bit/ Acer Aspire F15/ Intel Core i5 7200U 2.5GHz, 8GB DDR4 memory, 256GB SSD, 1TB HDD/ avast! free 24.2.6105 (build 24.2.8918.824) UI 1.0.799/ Firefox, uBlock Origin, uMatrix/ MailWasher Pro/ Avast! Mobile Security

Fizbin

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Re: Help! Avast Free Antivirus is blocking certain sites, all of the sudden.
« Reply #4 on: February 22, 2011, 03:35:01 AM »
Ok, I just installed a program called Comodo.  Not sure what possessed me to do that.  I also still have Avast running (with the "80" in the port) and all is working fine now.  I'm not sure what Comodo did.  

I have since put 80,8080 back in the port line.  Is there anything else I should put?  There was a whole string of numbers before, but Avast won't let you copy that line, just paste it.

One more oddity...In Explorer, I have to type "www" for many domains now, like ebay.  Before I could just put ebay.com

UPDATE...Comodo did not do anythng but I have kept it installed for now.
« Last Edit: February 22, 2011, 12:25:37 PM by Fizbin »

Offline DavidR

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Re: Help! Avast Free Antivirus is blocking certain sites, all of the sudden.
« Reply #5 on: February 22, 2011, 04:04:54 AM »
This is the full list (see below) copy and paste including the comma separators, they are commonly used http proxy ports, so they are there so that avast can scan the content. Some malware links uses these ports as most web scanners only monitor port 80 and they do it in the hope of bypassing AV scanners.

80,8080,8091,8081,8008,8888,3124,3127,3128

Comodo may have been blocking the web shield, avastSvc.exe, but this would be across all sites other than ftp or https.

Are you talking of windows explorer or internet explorer, presumably IE, you can jsut click the Ctrl (control) key + Enter and that would fill in the www. (and also http:///. I don't know why it is doing it as I don't use IE as my default browser.

Using IE8 I can type ebay.com and it does open ebay, so I have no idea why it is going on in your version of IE.

Have you tried Firefox, Chrome or Opera and do any of those have problems connecting to these sites, etc. ?
Windows 10 Home 64bit/ Acer Aspire F15/ Intel Core i5 7200U 2.5GHz, 8GB DDR4 memory, 256GB SSD, 1TB HDD/ avast! free 24.2.6105 (build 24.2.8918.824) UI 1.0.799/ Firefox, uBlock Origin, uMatrix/ MailWasher Pro/ Avast! Mobile Security

Fizbin

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Re: Help! Avast Free Antivirus is blocking certain sites, all of the sudden.
« Reply #6 on: February 22, 2011, 06:55:50 AM »
Firstly, the original problem is back, even with Comodo...I don't know why it cleared up there for awhile even though it was still slow.

Chrome is the browser I use, which is having the problems but it also effects IE 8 as well.

So I have disabled web shield and everything is back to "normal".  And I don't need to put www for IE8 (another side effect of using web shield).

This all started at midnight yesterday.  It's obvious that Avast made some sort of update that is affecting me.

So for now I'll run Comodo and Avast (minus web shield) and if I go to any unknown sites, I'll activate the web shield.  I don't know what else to do.

Anyway thanks for your help!

Fizbin

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Re: Help! Avast Free Antivirus is blocking certain sites, all of the sudden.
« Reply #7 on: February 22, 2011, 08:20:36 AM »
I decided to just kill Avast and keep Comodo.  So I used the Avast uninstaller and I can't believe how much faster my internet is now.  You don't know how much web shield slows things down until you kill it.  I'll do routine malware checks and if they go up, then I'll try Avast again one day.

SafeSurf

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Re: Help! Avast Free Antivirus is blocking certain sites, all of the sudden.
« Reply #8 on: February 22, 2011, 11:10:32 AM »
I decided to just kill Avast and keep Comodo.
By "killing" Avast, you have no antivirus protection unless you have something else installed in the meantime.  I think your problem was your firewall settings, not Avast. 

When you installed Comodo, did you disable the AV portion?

Did you put Comodo as an exclusion in Avast under Settings and Real-time shields > Expert Settings?  These are just a few troubleshooting things we could have worked with you prior to you uninstalling to help you.  Now without AV protection, you are swimming with sharks. 

BTW, Norton leaves many remnants behind, so if you do install it and decide to come back to Avast, you need to uninstall via the vendor's instructions then reboot.  I also recommend that you search in Safe Mode for remnants as well, and use a system cleaner afterwards (like CCleaner). 

By doing "routine malware checks," I'm assuming you are checking with an on-demand scanner for malware.  Remember Avast is resident protection and will prevent malware from getting into your machine while the on-demand scanners allow the infections to get in your machine and then remove them later.  On-demand scanning compliment resident scanners, but are no substitution.

Please let us know if you have questions so that we can assist you further so that you are protected.  Thank you.

Fizbin

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Re: Help! Avast Free Antivirus is blocking certain sites, all of the sudden.
« Reply #9 on: February 22, 2011, 11:23:39 AM »
I'm done with Avast.  I can't believe how fast my PC is now since I deleted it.  I never even knew my PC was slow when using it.  Comodo did not fix my Avast issues...At first I thought installing it did "something" but it didn't but I've just decided to leave it up for now.

My comment about Norton was out of frustration.  I could be tortured for days and I wouldn't install it.

If it was my firewall settings, then what could have changed it as of Feb 21st/2011? I didn't install any programs then.  All I know is my internet worked with web shield deactivated (both IE and Chrome) and wouldn't work properly with it activated.

The ebay issue was just bizzare.  I could do a normal search but not an advanced search.  Also certain preset search links that I have for ebay would not work, yet I could do the same search if I changed something very slightly.  For example, I could search "Sony stereo receiver" but I could not search "Sony receiver", without getting that error 101.  Essentially, many things that I had prior searches on would not work but new searches would.  Just ridiculous!

I'm not sure what to install to protect from web surfing.  I'm mostly concerned about malware on ad banners.
« Last Edit: February 22, 2011, 12:06:11 PM by Fizbin »

SafeSurf

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Re: Help! Avast Free Antivirus is blocking certain sites, all of the sudden.
« Reply #10 on: February 22, 2011, 11:43:58 AM »
What is your OS?

Sorry...found it in your post....Win7 64-bit.

When you installed Comodo, did you disable the AV or not?
« Last Edit: February 22, 2011, 11:47:12 AM by SafeSurf »

Fizbin

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Re: Help! Avast Free Antivirus is blocking certain sites, all of the sudden.
« Reply #11 on: February 22, 2011, 11:50:28 AM »
It's 64 bit Windows 7.  I don't remember disabling anything on Comodo when I installed it.  How do I find out?  I don't know my way around it yet.

EDIT:  I have sub menus with Antivirus and Defense+.
« Last Edit: February 22, 2011, 11:52:37 AM by Fizbin »

SafeSurf

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Re: Help! Avast Free Antivirus is blocking certain sites, all of the sudden.
« Reply #12 on: February 22, 2011, 11:52:53 AM »
If you right click on the bottom toolbar of Comodo, does it say if it is only a firewall or something else?  Do you remember when you installed it having to disable something on it (like the antivirus portion)?

Fizbin

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Re: Help! Avast Free Antivirus is blocking certain sites, all of the sudden.
« Reply #13 on: February 22, 2011, 12:02:27 PM »
If I hover my mouse over the icon it says Comodo Antivirus.  

When I installed Comodo I did not install something called Geekbuddy.  I deselected that.  I let it do everything else in the install.

SafeSurf

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Re: Help! Avast Free Antivirus is blocking certain sites, all of the sudden.
« Reply #14 on: February 22, 2011, 12:18:29 PM »
Ahh...it sounds like you have 2 AV's on your system and this is a problem.  Comodo and Avast were both on your machine...both AV's.  Now you may have corrupt files with Comodo and it sounds like it corrupted Avast.

But another concern is this "Geekbuddy."  Have you been surfing without AV protection?  It could be malware. 

I suggest the following:

1.  Install MBAM (Malwarebytes) and run a scan to check for malware:
·   Download free http://www.malwarebytes.org/ (the blue button) for an on-demand scanner.
·   Double Click mbam-setup.exe to install the application.
·   After install, click update so you have latest database before scanning.
·   Under Settings:
o   General: Automatically Save File After Scan Completes is checked off
o   Scanner SettingsCheck all boxes
o   Updater: Download and install update if available is checked off
·   Once the program has loaded, select "Perform FULL Scan", then click Scan.
·   The scan may take some time to finish, so please be patient.
·   When the disinfection scan is complete, a log will appear in Notepad and you may be prompted to Restart. (See Extra Note).
·   Click the “remove selected” button to quarantine anything found.  You will find the infection details under the Quarantine tab.
·   The log is automatically saved by MBAM and can be viewed by clicking the Logs tab in MBAM.
·   Copy & Paste the entire report in your next reply.

2.  After your next post, uninstall Comodo via the uninstaller's tool, then reboot your machine.

3.  Clean your machine and remnants with CCleaner Slim version http://www.piriform.com/ccleaner/builds and run the Registry cleaner; make a registry back up in Documents.

4.  Reinstall Avast from scratch, then reboot your machine.  Register it and update the definitions.

5.  Run an Avast Quick scan, then a boot-time scan and report back with your findings.  If an infection shows up, put it in the Virus Check (do NOT delete anything!).

In the meantime, stay off the Internet to avoid picking up malware, and if this machine is on a network disconnect it from the network.  Do you have any questions?