I’m using Avast Home Version 0543-2 running on Windows 98SE w/ dial-up. I just installed a Kerio firewall, version 4.1.3. This is the first firewall I’ve ever installed, so I’m just getting used to it, and I actually know very little about the subject.
In trying to set this up, one of the dialog boxes is constantly making reference under the Avast headings to the ad blocker program AdSubtract. I’ve attached a screenshot of this.
I once used AdSubtract but that was quite a long time ago, and as best as I can recall, it was never installed on this machine, which is about three years old.
Coincidentally, I also noticed a couple of days ago for the first time that the hosts file consists of one entry, as follows:
<127.0.0.1 AdSubtract # Added by AdSubtract for auto-dial.>
Are you associated with them or their intellectiual property and therefore these references are actually supposed be there, or is this a mistake?
avast’s email scanner monitors your email ports for traffic, if adsubtract has any activity to pop3/smtp it will inadvertently be routed through the email scanner’s localhost proxy that is what you are seeing.
Check and see if there is an entry to remove adsubtract in the ad remove programs if you aren’t using it.
The hosts file entry is also trying to use localhost that is what the IP signifies. If you aren’t using adsubtract then you can remove that entry. But it would appear that adsubtract is alive and well on your system, you may need to visit their web site to see how to remove/uninstall it if there is no entry in the add remove programs.
Not sure where you got that from as the only thing relating to avast is the VPS version of 0543-2 which is up to date so I would have to assume his program is also up to date.
There is a version reference but that is for Kerio " I just installed a Kerio firewall, version 4.1.3. " There is I believe a later version of Kerio personal firewall.
However, development stops at the end of the year, so the latest version is probably not worth paying for for this short time frame.
CUSTOMER ALERT
Kerio Personal Firewall is being discontinued on December 31, 2005. While Kerio will continue to support this product for all customers through 2006, we will not be actively developing any new features or functionality going forward.
We strongly encourage those customers interested in purchasing Kerio Personal Firewall to download the product and evaluate it free of charge for 30 days before purchasing as our strict no refund policy will continue to apply for the three remaining months the product will be available. We thank you for your understanding.
First, my version is actually 4.6.691, (right click tray icon, select About Avast), which seems to be the latest as it appears on your website. If I’m missing something please let me know - I want to stay up to date.
I must have reinstalled Adsubtract on this machine when I first got it several years ago, otherwise there would be no remnants of it. But I removed it shortly thereafter, and I feel certain that, as a functioning program at least, it’s long gone. There is nothing in add/remove, there is nothing in MSCONFIG, I did a thorough registry search for both “AdSubtract” and “Intermute” (the company that released the product) and each came up negative, and I also checked the listings of non-Microsoft applications under Software in Local Machine and Current User. Since AdSubtract was the first application I had that was run through the 127.0.0.1 proxy, somehow a registry association must have been maintained after it was uninstalled. At least, that’s the only thing I can come up with.
I bookmarked the FAQ section at their website (now part of Trend-Micro), but there are 250 entries and I haven’t had the time to go through them. But I will, and if there is anything interesting in there, or even if there isn’t, I’ll post back.
Deleted AdSubtract from hosts file. Problem seems to be gone now - thank you all very much!
Note: 4.1.3 is not the last version of Kerio firewall, but it is the last version that will support Windows 98.
Your welcome, a pity about the kerio/win98 lack of development, but I guess when even MS don’t support win98 it is likely other manufactures will follow suit.
I keep '98SE on this machine because there is no program I run that it doesn’t run well, including autocad. It has it’s bugs, but so do the rest of them (after all we’re talking Microsoft here), and the level of expertise required work on it vs. say X(tra)P(roblems) is like the difference between working on a car with a carburator vs. a car with fuel injection. IMO, the required regimen is a good newer computer with hardware optimized to 98SE’s capabilities (which was definitely NOT the case in 1998), a good older utility program with a registry cleaner such as Fix-It 2000 (but not the A/V component), and GoBack. With that set-up, I’m a genius, without it, I’m an inept bumbler.
After Microsoft calls it quits, I’m counting on Avast to keep this thing running like a Ferrari!
FWIW, after realizing what a bad match the newer versions of Norton were for this OS, and how it was slowing down the machine and affecting the internet connection, I tried AVG simply because it had a “bigger street buzz”. But I found that it caused a lot of trouble with '98 when GoBack was installed, as it constantly froze up just after boot-up (and in fact there was a discussion of this on the AVG forum). No such problem with Avast, and I hope you will continue to stick with the “lean-and-mean” approach you’ve been taking. Thanks again for your assistance.
Regards,
Roger
PS: Just to be on the safe side and keep up with the times, I bought an OEM Windows 2000 Pro disk on eBay last week
Well, was this any problem at all? If the adsubstract alias for the 127.0.0.1 IP would not be in the host file, the word “adsubstract” would be simply changed to “localhost” and that’s all. On the screenshot you simply see that “Avast! Mail Scanner” has some connections with the local endpoint on your computer (that is: 127.0.0.1, also known as localhost, by your HOSTS file also known as adsubstract). There is nothing suspicious on this fact!
