I noticed that before too. I was using v4.0.183 Home with W98SE. It was shortly before v4.0.202 came out. I just uninstalled & reinstalled v4.0.183 & it was able to update again. I’ve got a DSL connection, I hadn’t made any changes to the avast4.ini nor my firewall (Kerio v2.1.4)
I believe that my problem was with my firewall. Do you use one? If it is a run based one, make sure that you have set the FW to allow traffic from that application.
My FW apparently went wacky and if though I had it set to “allow” update, it prevented it. I had to reinstall the firewall. Now it seems to be working…be I will let you know if anything else develops.
dr bill,
I have not used 2000 much, but your files look ok.
I did notice that the program entered a line that the server was down.
NO server… NO update.
Did the program ever update automatically?
Can you right click on the Avast tray icon and manually update the db?
Another remedy which I have found to work for those using IE5 and above is to put the (4) server locations that Avast uses in the TRUSTED INTERNET ZONE.
Unless one of the AVast Gurus has any other help…this is all I can think of at the moment.
My problem lied in a conflict between Sygate 5, Avast4 and W98.
I now use Zonealarm and all is fine.
If you are not using a firewall, try the fix above and if it does not work…uninstall and reinstall.
I don’t like doing that unless necessary…and you may find it so.
I’ve set the program for automatic updates for both and then tried the right-click manual update as well – no luck. Adding the sites to my trusted zones doesn’t help either. Uninstall-reinstall doesn’t help. The only way I get updates to work is if I manually download them and run them myself.
the mere fact that you can access this forum (which is hosted on www.avast.com) contradicts with the logs (which say that www.avast.com is “down”).
Have you tried to play with the proxy settings? What does IE show you about your proxy settings (Tools → Internet Options → Connections → LAN Settings)?
I was able to finally get Avast to update by manually setting my proxy configuration. What still confuses me is that my proxy settings within IE6 are correct yet, when set to pull the proxy settings from IE or to connect directly, updates failed!
To be more specific IE v6.0.2800.1106 with 128 bit encryption, Squid proxy on a separate box, going through a Linksys router. ???
The more I dig into this the more I suspect a DNS problem. Set to DHCP and pulling its info from the same server that Squid resides on I’m able to update without any problems. With static settings – same DNS servers enumerated – I can’t do it.
Regarding the ‘direct connect’, that shouldn’t be a problem. I’m not forcing port 80 traffic through. Instead I opt-in for the proxy use at port 3128 or 8080 (Dansguardian filtering → Squid). VERY curious indeed.
The inability to pull from IE6 is what disturbs me the most. Could be a very sticky one to figure out.