avast 6 - Office Click to Run

[hrova]

"Since we can't help or reason"

I think we agree that some here cannot reason....

You are treating me as if I am not open minded on this issue. But all of the replies are focused on only one thing...

The only advice given thus far has been firewall related... What do you want? Screen shots of a disabled firewall and Office Starter still not printing? I mean, seriously, you are all high and mighty that I am not playing along with your little game... What exactly would it take to prove - or even make one of you consider - that it is NOT a firewall issue?

[Rednose]

Hrova,

Why have have you disabled  the Win 7 firewall ?

Greetz, Red.

[Gargamel360]

Screen shots of a disabled firewall

You never said once you disabled the FW, all you said was

1.) I have set up no firewall rules.

and

I am not using a thrid party firewall - just the Windows 7 built in firewall.

None of those implies it was disabled.

You are getting real chippy now, with comments like this

I mean, seriously, you are all high and mighty that I am not playing along with your little game...

Its not a game.....its is looking like you never wanted help from the users to begin with, all you want is a company man/woman to talk to, and we showed you the ticket option for that......for the first time, I am seriously tempted to send someone to iYogi.

And yes, they monitor the forums, but I have my doubts they check every last thread, especially ones that have responses. The devs need to be free to develop, this is not the infant software company it once was.  So if you want to officially report something and make sure it is not missed (it might have been the first time, or it might be something that was fixed but came back), as was said, the ticket is a better option.

[ady4um]

@hrova,

As pointed out, we are not avast employees.

I also mentioned (more than once now) that the firewall rules deletion  and re-creating (for web browsers, avast, and printer drivers / software) is only the first step so to narrow down the source of the problem. That means that the firewall itself is probably not the source of the issue, but it is yet part of the troubleshooting steps.

AFTER the firewall steps (including reboot and re-creating of rules, if the firewall requests them), comes the web shield settings, and the possible configuration of the specific port of the printer (which could be seen by Windows, for example, as an IP port, independently of the real hardware).

Who knows, the problem could be in the specific version of Office, or in the specific Windows version. We haven't even got to questions like "Are you able to print web pages?", just as an example.

One troubleshooting possibility "could" be uninstalling everything involved (avast, office, the printer and its driver and its software and any and all security tools like MSE), cleaning the remnants (http://singularlabs.com/uninstallers/security-software/) and reinstalling the latest stable versions. I don't know if you need to get to that extreme.

Sometimes avast (or some other software) may not be the real source of a problem, but only it "shows" you that there is some issue behind. Since I'm not an avast developer, I have no way to tell you, with the info I / we have right now. If the bottom line problem is (or isn't) avast.

Installing additional security tools can complicate the problems, as seen MANY times here in the forum, even when a user states he is an experienced technician and knows what he is doing. (Please, don't misunderstand me. I'm actually writting about a real case that just happen today in another topic.)

So, there is no need (nor goal) for any kind of aggression, in any level at all, from anyone to anyone. I think the minimal suggestions here were sincere, and opening a ticket request may be the best way to point the attention of the developers to this issue (and to find out whether avast is the real source of the problem, or it is just a coincidence of many little things altogether).

[bob3160]

"Since we can't help or reason"

I think we agree that some here cannot reason....

You are treating me as if I am not open minded on this issue. But all of the replies are focused on only one thing...

The only advice given thus far has been firewall related... What do you want? Screen shots of a disabled firewall and Office Starter still not printing? I mean, seriously, you are all high and mighty that I am not playing along with your little game... What exactly would it take to prove - or even make one of you consider - that it is NOT a firewall issue?

I suggest that if you quote someone, you not take things out of context. 

[claprood]

Sorry if this is repeat..in middle of a post my editor dissapperad...any way I said I don't have a solution but I do have win7 with avast free and office starter and I can print just fine. My printer is networked on a pc server and I print mostly from my wifii laptop. I set no special rules in win7 firewall...The only thing I did do was uninstall microsoft office trial version...
So any way this configuration has worked well for me....

[hrova]

So many responses to reply to... Nice to see there is so much interest in this issue, but, like me, it seems you are all stumped....

I will try to reply to all relevant comments, but if I miss yours, don't take it personally. I have been busy trying to figure the actual issue out...

Unless you really need the Click to Run functionality, I would uninstall that part and see what happens.

If I understand correctly, as a user of Office Starter, if I uninstall Click to Run, it will take away my use of Word and Excel in Office Starter. When I try to Uninstall just Click to Run, it warns that Office Starter will also be uninstalled.

Since we can't help or reason with you, maybe the support ticket is your best option.  

Thank you for at least admitting you can't help and that a ticket is the best option.

Hrova,

Why have have you disabled  the Win 7 firewall ?

Greetz, Red.

Some around here wanted me to eliminate the firewall as a possibility. For the record, I did temporarily disable both Windows 7 firewall and my router's firewall, with no change, which I why I kept saying it was not a firewall issue.

You are getting real chippy now, with comments like this

I mean, seriously, you are all high and mighty that I am not playing along with your little game...

Its not a game.....its is looking like you never wanted help from the users to begin with, all you want is a company man/woman to talk to, and we showed you the ticket option for that......for the first time, I am seriously tempted to send someone to iYogi.

I stated several times it was not a firewall issue. I did come here for help, but so far no one has really listened to what the problem is, but rather wanted to follow some script of steps to take, even when I've clearly stated that certain parts of what was being asked (the firewall) was not the issue.

Sorry you felt my comment was chippy. Perhaps you missed the tone of the non help I've received thus far. Hardly welcoming or helpful. Your own comment about recommending iYogi is exactly the tone of people here that is not only not helpful and equally chippy, but it seems you somehow find that acceptable.

I suggest that if you quote someone, you not take things out of context.  

Guess what? I have a suggestion of my own. I would suggest people not talk down to those asking for help. They were implying I was not being reasonable, I was just trying to get the message back that many of you were not being reasonable, either. I had said several times it was not a firewall issue,  but people kept stuck on that issue. Regardless, thank you for your suggestion.

And finally, about the last post from lloydc. I am glad it is working for you. Based  on your post in the other thread, it appears you are not using Click to Run.


Moving on to the actual issue... I've spent the last several hours trying to narrow the problem down. I have made some progress on it. I am glad to provide you this information if the question comes up again.

Previously, I eliminated the firewall as a possibility and found the problem went away by disabling avast. Moving forward, rather than disable all avast shields, I tried them one by one and found the issue is with the Behavior Shield (verified on two separate computers here). Going even further, in the Expert settings, if I switch it to Ask (as opposed to auto-decide), it does not actually ask, though it does prevent printing. Seems like one bug there...

Beyond that, I tried unchecking the various options under the Expert Settings in the Behavior Shield. The only one that changed things was unchecking "Monitor the system for unauthorized modifications." Again, that held true on two different machines here.

So now I can at least print from Word and Excel, but I apparently do not have the full protection of avast. I suspect there must be something I could add in trusted processes to get going... Winwordc.exe and exelc.exe, as recommended in another thread, did not work. Still, there must be some process that can be added to that trusted processes list that would work.

I hope that avast will, at some point, work to make that an unecessary step so its users can enjoy the full protection avast offers and print at the same time. I don't think that is asking too much.

Any suggestions are still welcome - unless you are still stuck on a firewall issue.

[hrova]

In still searching, I found this thread:

http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/office/forum/office_2010se-word/printing-problem-office-starter-edition-with-avast/1fa7189e-c8de-48f0-ade4-2aef5fa840b2

It says that the auto sandbox is the problem.

I do not have access at the moment to the computers with this issue, but I do have a question....

Assuming things work if I disable auto sandbox, would you recommend I disable auto sandbox and allow all of the behavior shield? What would give me better protection? Disabling that one piece of the behavior shield (Monitor the system for unauthorized modifications) or disable the auto sandbox feature?

Either way,I would hope avast fixes things so neither needs to be disabled to do something so simple as to print a Word or Excel file....

[Gargamel360]

If the autosandbox is at fault, I doubt you need to fully disable it.  A simpler and safer solution would be to switch it to "Ask" mode, then the next time the program it is snagging needs to run, it will ask you via a dialog box.....allow it to run normally, and tick the "remember my answer" box....this should enter needed exclusion/s.

Location of relevant settings; Open Avast! UI>>Real Time Shields>>File System Shield>>Expert Settings>>Autosandbox

[hrova]

If the autosandbox is at fault, I doubt you need to fully disable it.  A simpler and safer solution would be to switch it to "Ask" mode, then the next time the program it is snagging needs to run, it will ask you via a dialog box.....allow it to run normally, and tick the "remember my answer" box....this should enter needed exclusion/s.

Location of relevant settings; Open Avast! UI>>Real Time Shields>>File System Shield>>Expert Settings>>Autosandbox

Agreed that the ask method would be helpful,  but for the behavior shield, that did not work.

I cannot access computers with this issue at the moment. I'll play around more tomorrow and test things and post update.

In the meantime, if I must disable one, would you recommend Behavior shield or auto sandbox?

[ady4um]

Some around here wanted me to eliminate the firewall as a possibility. For the record, I did temporarily disable both Windows 7 firewall and my router's firewall, with no change, which I why I kept saying it was not a firewall issue.

I did NOT requested to disable the firewall!!! I requested to delete the relevant rules of any and all firewalls, whether the firewall is enabled or not. I don't understand why I keep repeating myself. Maybe I imagine I wrote things, but I haven't wrote them really .

I also would like to point out that no really relevant info was provided until now. Is the printer seen in Windows as connected to an IP port? Is there any router / firewall (hardware) involved? Can you print from your web browser?

BTW, I don't understand why you think users here are denying (you) something / anything. We keep offering you suggestions / comments and no one said that avast is for sure not related to the issue (which may or may not be).

Have you tried web shield -> expert settings -> exclusions and excluding the relevant processes (printer software and drivers, word and excel) and / or IP addresses (of the printer port). (Although, this would be the second step in the series, and not the last one either.)

I mean, all this long "discussion"; when it would had been much simpler to delete the relevant firewall rules and reboot as FIRST step from a series of troubleshooting procedures (NOT as the last and only step).

BTW, please stop double posting.

[bob3160]

In the meantime, if I must disable one, would you recommend Behavior shield or auto sandbox?

Nothing was said about disabling anything. Please re-read Gargamel 360's post.
By the way, ask was/is the default settings so you obviously made some setting changes without knowing the consequences.
The default settings are usually designed for smooth operations under most conditions.  
Changes to the default settings should only be made if the default settings present a problem.

[hrova]

In the meantime, if I must disable one, would you recommend Behavior shield or auto sandbox?

Nothing was said about disabling anything. Please re-read Gargamel 360's post.
By the way, ask was/is the default settings so you obviously made some setting changes without knowing the consequences.
The default settings are usually designed for smooth operations under most conditions. 
Changes to the default settings should only be made if the default settings present a problem.

You just keep it coming, don't you? I will not debate whether ask is or is not the default setting or whether I changed anything. Obviously, that is not the point since the fact is that it didn't ask either way it was set up. For the record, however, in the behavior shield, I DIDN"T change anything and it was set up to auto decide by default... The autosandbox was / is still set to its default of ask, but you guys seem so stuck with somehow making this an issue that the user caused, apparently not reading the links I've provided and ignoring the fact that this is happening to many people  who have given up and moved on to other AV's... If we (Or if I, I guess, as it is turning out)can solve this, it will help  not just me, but avast overall....

On to the actual issue...
Perhaps you missed my post where the only way I have been able to print so far was to disable avast, which I then narrowed down to the behavior shield, then narrowed it down to the one particular item in the expert settings.

I agree that in most cases the default settings do / should work. That is obviously not the case here.

Some around here wanted me to eliminate the firewall as a possibility. For the record, I did temporarily disable both Windows 7 firewall and my router's firewall, with no change, which I why I kept saying it was not a firewall issue.

I did NOT requested to disable the firewall!!! I requested to delete the relevant rules of any and all firewalls, whether the firewall is enabled or not. I don't understand why I keep repeating myself. Maybe I imagine I wrote things, but I haven't wrote them really .

I also would like to point out that no really relevant info was provided until now. Is the printer seen in Windows as connected to an IP port? Is there any router / firewall (hardware) involved? Can you print from your web browser?

BTW, I don't understand why you think users here are denying (you) something / anything. We keep offering you suggestions / comments and no one said that avast is for sure not related to the issue (which may or may not be).

Have you tried web shield -> expert settings -> exclusions and excluding the relevant processes (printer software and drivers, word and excel) and / or IP addresses (of the printer port). (Although, this would be the second step in the series, and not the last one either.)

I mean, all this long "discussion"; when it would had been much simpler to delete the relevant firewall rules and reboot as FIRST step from a series of troubleshooting procedures (NOT as the last and only step).

BTW, please stop double posting.

I never said that YOU said to disable the firewall. Nor was that my first / only step in trying to solve this, but it WAS the focus of the issue by many people here despite me saying it was not a firewall issue several times.. You all just refused to believe me... No biggie, but hopefully you can at least learn from this so you don't beat up the next poor user who comes along here.....

I am glad you agree that this information was helpful. These things could have been figured much more quickly if people were not so bent on the firewall, which I had said SEVERAL times was not (and, is not  ) the issue.

Just so I don't get accused of playing along with you, here are some answers to your questions:

1.) We have two printers, one networked, one not. Even on the one connected directly tot he computer, avast blocks its access when trying to print from Word / Excel in Office Starter 2010. There is a router involved for one printer, but obviously not the one directly connected to the computer. Of course i can print web pages fine... The issue is with printing from MS Office Starter 2010.

Finally, I have considered the exclusions list (not web shield though, the issue is with the behavior shield - again, I stated that in a previous post), which is why I already brought it up. However, at this point I do not know which process it is...

Thanks for all your time... Like I said, once I took time off from defending myself on these forums, I made some progress... Now I just need to find the particular process or avast needs to by default let people print from that program...

[bob3160]

I don't know if you'll ever get you personal problem solved but,
You are managing to write a book.
Arrogance is also not the way to continue to receive any attempt to solve your problem.
Since the problem in your mind at least, must be avast!'s fault, there is a simple solution. 
We've already had a reply from another user who has the same program and uses avast! and has no problems.
Maybe it's time to find out the differences between your way of using avast! and the Office Starter program and the way lloydc uses these two programs without any conflict

[hrova]

I don't know if you'll ever get you personal problem solved but,
You are managing to write a book.
Arrogance is also not the way to continue to receive any attempt to solve your problem.
Since the problem in your mind at least, must be avast!'s fault, there is a simple solution. 
We've already had a reply from another user who has the same program and uses avast! and has no problems.
Maybe it's time to find out the differences between your way of using avast! and the Office Starter program and the way lloydc uses these two programs without any conflict

Resorting to personal digs while providing no help? I am not surprised.

To keep the focus on the problem, the other user is NOT using Office Starter 2010 with Click to Run. I pointed that out in my post, which brings up part of  my frustration here. People don't seem to read or believe what I am saying. You are all out to make it a user caused issue..

Disabling the one part of behavior shield allows me to print. How is that NOT an avast issue?