Avast: 2014.9.0.2013
Avast: 140129-1
Win 7/64
Zone Alarm
Chrome
I am at my wits end with this. I de-installed the application (which I have used and recommended for many years) a couple of months ago: terrible browser problems (Chrome) after installing it. Having just re-installed in the hope that incompatibilities are now sorted I discover the same problems. Whilst running the shields the browser displays a blank window irrespective of the site selected. My mail client cannot connect to the servers. Launching the Avast app window reveals a “Loading” looped message but the task bar icon reports “all’s well”. But it ain’t.
Since de-installing it last time I have had some sites’ home pages continually display incorrectly despite having done a complete cleanup. Avast runs OK on my Win 8.1 box and also an old XP box that I have as a spare. What is wrong here?
HELP!
Roy
Zone Alarm is incompatible with Avast at this time so if you want avast then you need to remove ZA
I have both Win7 and Win8 on laptops and desktops.
Avast9 works fine, and zero issues with Chrome.
Since de-installing it last time I have had some sites' home pages continually display incorrectly despite having done a complete cleanup.
Clearly there is a problem in your system then, if avast is not installed and you still have browsing issues like that.
I would remove Zone Alarm and see if that helps.
Also look at Windows Firewall, try resetting that to default values.
He has issues even when avast is uninstalled …
And do what for a firewall? Use the win 7 version, which is pretty primitive? For at least 7 years Avast has been compatible with ZA (apart from one brief collision a couple of years ago).
Also Avast works fine with ZA on Win 8.1 and XP Pro 32 as I mentioned. Is it only on Win 7 that there’s a problem?
But issues which were first manifest IMMEDIATELY after the installation.
I’ve been doing this stuff a long time: the problem is Avast.
There are reports of avast and ZA issues all over the forum which confirms to me that there is a compatibility issue, if you haven’t got any problems on 8.1 or xp then I would say you are lucky.
As AdrianH mentioned you seem to be having issues even when avast is removed so maybe you have some deeper system problems that require attention.
I would beg to differ.
I have no issue on 4 systems here , and in the workshop this week I have installed avast on 17 systems , and 29 last week … no issues of any kind with XP, Vista, Win7 and Win8.
The guy I help out has 11 shops , they install avast on most systems that go through the shops, they are not seeing these issues.
There are firewall control apps available for Windows Firewall and other firewalls available.
Well, all’s well with ZA removed. Deleting the cookies which caused the aberrant home pages also fixed them. However they were definitely corrupted after the first installation of Avast 2014 which, when running alongside ZA, has some strange effects on many, but not all websites. As I said this is the case on a Win 7/64 box, patched up to date for all components. There is no similar conflict seen on my Win 8.1 Surface Pro 2 or an old XP 32 workstation. None.
The box which was exhibiting the problems is absolutely fine, with no suspicion of malware or other corruptions indeed I run it as a primary workstation and I’m very careful about its general health.
Anyway you cut it the cause of these issues was the installation of Avast 2014. The symptoms were immediately apparent both times. Whether the Win firewall was on or off made no difference. Disabling ZA temporarily restored functionality in the sense of being able to access the URLs but I recall seeing some variable degrees of incorrect rendering of sites. Disabling the Avast shields temporarily likewise restored functionality.
Now I’m aware that Avast would like to sell their premium product inclusive of a firewall, as with most other vendors these days: good luck to them as the Czech economy is a real basket case (I have numerous Czech friends suffering there.) However if you’re distributing a free version of the product it would be a big help to (a) alert users that there’s conflict with a widely used security product like ZA and (b) perhaps include a simple diagnostic component in the installer that would identify and warn about the possible conflicts.
Q) How likely would it be that having experienced this problem I’d PAY to potentially experience something similar?
A) Unlikely.
Roy
It’s only ZA that is the problem, Privatefirewall - Comodo - Online Armor and Outpost all work fine with Avast 
Outpost Firewall is “not” free.
The other three have free versions available.
At least the OP got rid of ZA.
I never said it was, it was included for the purpose of being another firewall that doesn’t conflict with avast