I am trialling this combination (Avast 5.0.545 & PC Tools 6.0.0.88 /minus Doctor) and so far so good no lock ups, cpu and ram usage are both light. No undue pauses at boot or at shutdown.
I have a quick question to ask please
PC Tools FW has a feature called Enhanced Security Verification (HIPS) which I guess resembles Program Guard in OnLine Armor.
Does Avast 5.x not already include have such a feature or is it different to the one which PC Tools has. If you see what I mean.
I tried the PCTools Firewall in combination with Avast! and I noticed slowdowns in browsing and opening folders and such. I also got one hard lockup when attempting to open one program for the first time. I can’t remember what application it was but I had the same problem (with different applications each time) with both Outpost FW and Online Armor if the HIPS parts of the firewalls and Avast! were active at the same time. I remember one time it was uTorrent and another time it was my Sonic burning application. That locked up the system on first access. Comodo’s Firewall caused me no problems.
I’ve tested on several machines (XP and Vista) combinations of avast with OA and pctools and had no problems with any of them. I also use a cloud AV with all of them and no problem as well. I’ve never had a program lock up or the system slow down.
Reason I am using PC Tools FW is because I had issues with this new install when I originally tried OA. The problem was that I could not access the net.
I am still in a testing phase with Avast / PC Tools so cannot say for sure that it has no issues. However, I have read that HIPS type features can be a source of conflict and have noted that many users (not just Avast) disable it.
Let me ask a final question please, conflict or slowdown considerations aside (and please forgive my stupidity).
If I disabled HIPS on PC Tools, the ‘heuristics and behavior shield’ on Avast would still be a good safety net for checking program / application integrity.
Reason I am using PC Tools FW is because I had issues with this new install when I originally tried OA. The problem was that I could not access the net.
What OS do you have? Some users had an issue similar to yours with OA and avast but this was resolved by installing OA first, then avast.…and making avast “Trusted Always” in OA.
Your other issue may have been that a component within avast was being blocked by OA, and to see this, you would need to untick the “Hidden” box in OA to view everything in the GUI to see if anything was in red (blocked) and then right click it to correct it and make it “Trusted.” What you are describing as not being able to gain Internet access sounds like the firewall was blocking you, but this could have been corrected as I stated above.
XP is the OS. Well looks like my first mistake was that I installed Avast first which I did after I found some posts on this forum from users complaining about an Avast update. I do have OA on another XP system also with Avast were I installed Avast 1st and that runs with no issues.
As regards OA, I did untick the ‘Hidden’ box and made sure all entries were Trusted but still no luck. I also installed with Trust Everything, deleted all the applications from the Trusted page and re-configured, disabled Program Guard (HIPS). Nothing worked (the network adapter was correctly detected and set to Trusted/Green). I also disabled Avast WebShield still no luck.
As I said I installed Avast 1st. I imaged my fresh install to the point prior to the AV and FW installation so perhaps I will try with OA again. Presumably, the latest version 4.0.0.44 is the one to go for.
From what I have seen of PC Tools FW maybe I will give this a go, it does seem nice and I think it performs on par with OA (taking into account my somewhat pedestrian knowledge of this type of app).
If you go with OA, build 45 is the latest one (it may give you 44, but on reboot upgrade you to 45 automatically)…reboot twice. Should you need to uninstall, it does so nicely. Just remember to reboot twice in between uninstall and install and upgrades. After reinstallation, make an OA restore point (in your GUI). Also, making Avast a trusted exclusion in OA, and OA an exclusion in Avast may help.
If you decide to go with pctools and need to uninstall someday, make sure you check for remnants in Safe Mode as you WILL find them in there since it does not uninstall cleanly from testing point of view with build 6.0.0.88.
Looks like I will have to settle for PC Tools as OA is giving me issues and this even without installing Avast. So looks like Avast not the culprit here at all .
I uninstalled PC Tools and Avast, re-installed just OA 4.0.0.44 (configured correctly) but cannot go online.
If I disable OA, internet works fine. The only way to get OA to work for a very short time is to disable the FW, use a browser and go on line, then immediately re-enable OA and then it works but for only a few minutes.
Shame as I like OA (perhaps I had got used to it) and I also like the fact, as you pointed out, that it uninstalls cleanly which is the 1st thing I look for prior to installing either AV or FW.
Unless you have heard of anything like thing before for OA and can suggest something for me to try, I will just settle for PC Tools.
The only other suggestion with OA is to disable the Web shield in OA and make sure you have both programs and trusted exclusions. If this doesn’t work for you, then go with your other plan and see if this works for you. Good luck to you.
The big thing I didn’t like about OA (other than the problems I had running it together with Avast!) was the scan it makes you do at install even if you don’t plan on using the HIPS component. There should be a way to opt out of the HIPS and the scan in the installer. Comodo does it better in my opinion if all you want is the basic Firewall.
Everyone has their own opinion as to what FW will work best for them and their machine. Some will not know what works best until they experiment with it on their machine and find out how it works with other software already on their machine and see how well they play together. As for a software, in this case a FW, having to run a scan, this is not uncommon…some do it silently behind the scenes while others do not.
I think at this time we have addressed the OP’s original issue as posted in their last post and can put this issue to bed.