I run WinProxy 5.1 R1d on a Win98 machine connected to my cable modem and installed the free Home version of Avast on my own XP machine a few weeks ago (not on the Win98 machine). WinProxy’s settings are plain vanilla, no antivirus, no site filtering, nothing. It has worked well for me since version 2.
A few days ago some pages started coming up with ‘425 Refused’ messages. One example is http://www.winproxy.com/support/, click there on ‘Try our Online Help’.
Sometimes refreshing once, twice, or more will get the page to come through (but not the example above).
Soon as I disabled Avast (after a $39 call to WinProxy!!!), the problem disappeared.
Only thing you have to do is setting things up correctly.
I know there is a thread telling how to setup things if you are using a proxy.
Please use the search option to find it.
Well, the free Avast version has no proxy settings that I can find (it won’t let me in the ‘Enhanced User Interface’). Since it’s downloaded a couple dozen updates, a new version, and hundreds of web pages, I’d say it’s using IE’s settings and they’re okay.
There’s a lot of stuff in the forums under ‘proxy server’. If you have something more specific, that might actually be helpful.
The timing of the problem right after a new version download, with no other recent changes to the machine, points in Avast’s direction.
Program Settings > Update (Basic) > Details > Proxy
Make sure your browser is not set to “Work Offline” (this option is generally in the File menu). If it doesn’t help, try switching the proxy settings from “Auto-detect” to “No proxy” (I’m assuming you’re not connecting to the Internet via proxy).
Left click the avast icon > Settings
Update (Basic) > Details > Proxy
Okay, they sure buried the Proxy settings down there. But I set them manually (they were set to use IE’s) and the Test produces ‘Proxy Server Settings are correct’.
IE is not set to Work Offline.
I rebooted the system in case that mattered, and…nothing has changed. As many ‘425 Refused’ messages as before, maybe more.
So I tried the ‘Direct Connection’ setting. Given that I am connecting to the net via a proxy server, surprisingly, it still tested okay. But there was no change with regard to the ‘425’ messages.
I think this horse is dead. If it were an IP setting, it wouldn’t work at all, rather than barfing on certain pages.
Okay, even though the conversation at ‘This’ was no help in its particulars, it got me to try various combinations of settings in Avast and the browsers on my client machine. Here is what worked:
Avast: Settings…Update (Basic)…Details…Proxy…Check Specify Proxy Server, Address (in my case) 192.168.0.1, Port 80
IE 6: Tools…Internet Options…Connections…Lan Settings…Uncheck ‘Use a proxy server’
Firefox: Tools…Options…General…Connections Settings…Check Direct connection to the Internet
No changes needed to WinProxy 5.1 on the host machine.
Thanks to those who were sure it was the settings. I was wrong that the connection would either work or it wouldn’t. I suspect duplicate packets were going out, both directly from the browser, since it was pointed at the proxy, and from Avast, since it was also pointed at the proxy. Most of the time it worked, but not under some circumstances related probably to timing, since there times that several tries got a result.
I think that the help mentions manual configuration, but doesn’t go into specifics and all the potentialy different proxy programs out there.
There would be more likelihood of a section in the User’s FAQ thread. This too may have to be updated to incorporate the new Web Shield. Since that has been done by Technical (an avast user) he would have to be able to devote the time to it.