Avast Web Shield blocking internet access - Win 7 x64 SP 1

[pukunui]

OK, well at the moment, with everything working, I'm getting these results for the ping:

Ping statistics:
   Packets: Sent = 4, Received = 4, Lost = 0 (0% loss),
Approximate round trip times in milli-seconds:
   Minimum = 244ms, Maximum = 246ms, Average = 245ms


OK, I've found the hosts files location (Windows\System32\drivers\etc). If I open up the one called "hosts" in notepad, I get this:

# Copyright (c) 1993-2009 Microsoft Corp.
#
# This is a sample HOSTS file used by Microsoft TCP/IP for Windows.
#
# This file contains the mappings of IP addresses to host names. Each
# entry should be kept on an individual line. The IP address should
# be placed in the first column followed by the corresponding host name.
# The IP address and the host name should be separated by at least one
# space.
#
# Additionally, comments (such as these) may be inserted on individual
# lines or following the machine name denoted by a '#' symbol.
#
# For example:
#
#      102.54.94.97     rhino.acme.com          # source server
#       38.25.63.10     x.acme.com              # x client host

# localhost name resolution is handled within DNS itself.
#   127.0.0.1       localhost
#   ::1             localhost

[Lisandro]

pukunui,
1. ping worked.
2. Hosts clean.

[YoKenny]

A much better read about the HOSTS file:
Blocking Unwanted Parasites with a Hosts File
http://www.mvps.org/winhelp2002/hosts.htm

I use the MVPS HOSTS file as well as the hpHosts HOSTS file.

[pukunui]

Cool. Thanks guys. It's almost 1am here, so I should hit the sack. I'll let you all know how things go when I turn on the computer in the morning. Fingers crossed it'll all still be fine!

[pukunui]

OK. New day. Computer's on. And Web Shield is blocking webpage access again. So we're back to square 1. Virus definition updater is still working though.

Sigh ...

EDIT: BTW, I pinged www.avast.com before turning off the Web Shield and I still got the same results as last night.

Is there some sort of system log I could check somewhere to see if there's an error being noted or something?

[YoKenny]

Try removing Comodo:
http://forum.avast.com/index.php?topic=74516.0

[pukunui]

You think there's some incompatibility between Avast and Comodo?

The trouble is: because of the intermittancy of this problem, I'd probably end up having to go a whole day without a firewall up, and I'm a little reluctant to do that. I mean, if I uninstall Comodo and then Avast starts working again, I'd need to keep Comodo uninstalled at least until the next day to see if Avast still worked when I turned on the computer again. If that makes sense?

The frustrating thing is that 99% of the time that I have these weird little compatibility issues (and I'm talking over the years with every computer system I've ever had, not just specifically this one I'm using right now), all I have to do is tick or untick something somewhere. Sometimes it's right there in front of my face, other times it's cleverly hidden where I might never find it.

I feel like this might be one of those times, too, it's just that I haven't found the right box to tick or untick yet ...

[MAG]

You think there's some incompatibility between Avast and Comodo?

The trouble is: because of the intermittancy of this problem, I'd probably end up having to go a whole day without a firewall up, and I'm a little reluctant to do that. I mean, if I uninstall Comodo and then Avast starts working again, I'd need to keep Comodo uninstalled at least until the next day to see if Avast still worked when I turned on the computer again. If that makes sense?

The frustrating thing is that 99% of the time that I have these weird little compatibility issues (and I'm talking over the years with every computer system I've ever had, not just specifically this one I'm using right now), all I have to do is tick or untick something somewhere. Sometimes it's right there in front of my face, other times it's cleverly hidden where I might never find it.

I feel like this might be one of those times, too, it's just that I haven't found the right box to tick or untick yet ...

The only recent incompatibility I know of was with the last but one avast beta on w7 64bit - but that stopped windows loading.
I guess you could always use the w7 firewall for a day if you wanted to give it a try though.

[pukunui]

I guess you could always use the w7 firewall for a day if you wanted to give it a try though.

Yeah, I guess. The thing is, when my McAfee subscription expired, I chose Comodo because of this: http://www.matousec.com/projects/proactive-security-challenge/results.php

But I did some surfing on the net last night, and unfortunately there doesn't appear to be a proper clean uninstall utility for Comodo (someone's put together a batch file thing on the Comodo support forums, but the thread is full of people saying it doesn't get rid of everything).

So I'm not sure that just uninstalling Comodo via the Control Panel or whatever will be good enough. If Comodo's what's causing the interference, I won't necessarily know that even after I uninstall it because it could be some of the leftover bits that are causing the problem.

Sigh ...



EDIT: By the way, before I took my daughter to school, I ticked the "start avast after other programs" box again (I forgot to do that last night when I reinstalled Avast) and then restarted the computer. I'm back now and I'm able to access the web while the Web Shield is running. But of course there's no guarantee now that it'll stay that way come tomorrow. 

[MAG]

I guess you could always use the w7 firewall for a day if you wanted to give it a try though.

Yeah, I guess. The thing is, when my McAfee subscription expired, I chose Comodo because of this: http://www.matousec.com/projects/proactive-security-challenge/results.php

But I did some surfing on the net last night, and unfortunately there doesn't appear to be a proper clean uninstall utility for Comodo (someone's put together a batch file thing on the Comodo support forums, but the thread is full of people saying it doesn't get rid of everything).

So I'm not sure that just uninstalling Comodo via the Control Panel or whatever will be good enough. If Comodo's what's causing the interference, I won't necessarily know that even after I uninstall it because it could be some of the leftover bits that are causing the problem.

Sigh ...



EDIT: By the way, before I took my daughter to school, I ticked the "start avast after other programs" box again (I forgot to do that last night when I reinstalled Avast) and then restarted the computer. I'm back now and I'm able to access the web while the Web Shield is running. But of course there's no guarantee now that it'll stay that way come tomorrow. 

Yes - no uninstaller for comodo - one reason I've still got it (not that I have had any problems with it - there are just a few ethical concerns).
Having said that, I did uninstall it on my XP machine and replace it with AIS at one time, with no problem. I just used control panel and ccleaner to remove leftover registry items.

[simonk83]

Hi pukunui,

Just so you know, it's not just you.  I also had this problem on one of my PC's and the only way to fix it was to scrap Avast and install Microsoft Security Essentials.  I didn't want to do this, but after posting my problem on these forums I basically got the same run around you've gotten   Avast was the only AV I'd ever had installed on that machine so it wasn't remnants of other AV's (nor will it be in your case) and everything else worked fine (and still does).  It's an Avast issue, and one they don't seem to want to acknowledge.

http://forum.avast.com/index.php?topic=70218.0
http://forum.avast.com/index.php?topic=70111.0
http://forum.avast.com/index.php?topic=75657.0
http://forum.avast.com/index.php?topic=74768.0

[pukunui]

Thanks for the input, simonk. I am aware that I'm not alone. But it seems odd that some of the other people with problems have been able to fix theirs relatively easily, whereas none of those fixes have helped me.

[Zyndstoff (aka Steven Gail)]

Thanks for the input, simonk. I am aware that I'm not alone. But it seems odd that some of the other people with problems have been able to fix theirs relatively easily, whereas none of those fixes have helped me.

Good morning. 

Well, let's see if the ticking of "start Avast services after other services" solves the problem.

If not, I'ld recommend to drop Comodo and move to another solution like Online Armor, PCTools Fw or Outpost.

[pukunui]

So far it seems to have solved the problem, but I really don't want to jinx it now. I'll let you know tomorrow morning how things are going.

[pukunui]

Nope. It's back today. Except that now it seems like I can do the disable/enable trick to get internet access while the Web Shield is running. Progress? Or just a fluke?