I just wanted to report some troubleshooting I just went through. Avast v5.1.889 works great on my PC. However, after upgrading from v5.0 on 2 family members’ PCs, both v5.1.864 and v5.1.889 give problems with AOL v9.5 and v9.6 - namely it blocks the software from connecting. I tried a clean install, adding the AOL folder to real-time exclusions, and even disabled ALL shields, yet AOL connections still get blocked. As soon as I uninstall Avast, connections resume as normal. Installing Avast v5.0.677 does not give any problems whatsoever with AOL connectivity on either PC.
If the people at Avast wish to investigate this further and need more info or need someone to test, feel free to contact me with the e-mail address I signed up to the forum with. Thanks!
I updated Avast on 1/14/2011 and now AOL can’t connect. I did a restore point to 1/11/2011, and sure enough, AOL connected. Restored the Avast update and AOL again is not working. So aggravating when things work one day, and then POOF, things are screwed up.
This is happening everywhere with Avast and AOL this weekend. I signed up to see what was being done about the problem, and obviously nothing if they don’t know about it. I have spoken to AOL several times over the weekend (and I haven’t had to contact them in years with any issues)! This has been very frustrating. I actually saw the whole thing unfold. I was online and suddenly Avast alerted me that there was a new version (5.1.889). I clicked yes to go ahead and upgrade as I had done in the past without incident. It asks you to restart your computer as usual, which I did. As soon as I restarted, I let everything load as usual and restarted my AOL. All of a sudden, I find that AOL will not connect. I thought it was a fluke for a moment (no problems with AOL whatsoever prior, and again not for many years). I kept trying. It would say “finding a way to connect” and that would run for an hour that way and do nothing for me. I was able to connect to the internet through Mozilla Firefox and Internet Explorer as usual without incident. I was aggravated as AOL is my main software, and has my e-mail etc, and it would not connect no matter what I tried. I had exhausted all possibilities (I even temporarily turned off Windows Firewall, and that did not help me).
I emptied caches, rebooted, tried all the fixes I could try throughout my computer (Windows 7 PC, and running perfectly otherwise, as it had from the day I received it). I ran Avast and no viruses were found. I ran my SpySweeper and no problems were found. I finally called AOL and braced myself. (hate their customer service). The man I spoke to was honest with me and said that they were fielding many calls like mine, and all from people using Avast Anti-Virus. He tried to do all of the things he could do from his end, but nothing worked.
The next day (yesterday) I tried again and still AOL is not able to connect (but everything else will). I was disgusted. I called AOL and this time I got a woman who asked me what Anti-Virus program I was using. I told her Avast and she said that they are not able to assist me! I was stunned! She said that for liability reasons, she cannot tell me to uninstall the software however the problem is not with AOL. It’s with people using AOL and Avast and that they have been getting calls left and right all weekend. I wanted to pull my hair out. I’ve been using Avast’s free anti- virus for years and tried to find a number to call them, but only found Iyogi…no thank you. I finally caved and uninstalled my Avast and lo and behold, AOL is working again just fine! I kept trying to find an older version to download as apparently AOL had no problems with those, but to no avail (and I would only go through someone I trust).
I did take note of something else. I had a hunch and after AOL had been working for most of the day, I then downloaded free Avast again, and all was fine. My Avast was fine and I was still connected to AOL. Once I turned off my computer, and tried to restart my AOL, I was back to all the problems I was having. So in other words, I would need to uninstall and reinstall Avast daily! I REALLY HOPE THEY GET THIS FIXED!!!
Soooo aggravated.
This is obviously a conflict between AOL and Avast’s newest upgrade.
I am experiencing the same exact problem with trying to use AOL, even more perplexing is i spent hours yesterday trying to figure it out on a brand new Windows 7 computer (just set up yesterday).
Hopefully Avast can resolve their conflict with the AOL software
Whatever you do, don’t make the mistake of altering everything on your end because you think it’s a problem your system has. That’s the first thing companies want you to do. AOL put me through the ringer at first. I have a friend who had to reinstall AOL only to find out that it was all for nothing because the problem lies with Avast, and not her system. I am about to download Avast again for the day now that I am home, but I am sure I will need to uninstall it again tomorrow. This happened to me Friday night. I’m afraid to surf the web without it, but what a mess!
I have had exactly the same problem everyone else is reporting with the latest Avast update in that it stops AOL connecting. Everything else works fine. I removed Avast from my Windows 7 system and AOL now logs in perfectly. I will have to install something else if its not fixed pronto. Any suggestions?
The exact same thing happened to me. I have AvastPro and use AOL as my email and chat forum and it is frustrating to have to uninstall and reinstall Avast to be able to use AOL. I hope they fix this glitch soon. I really do like Avast. I have had absolutely no problem with any malware or viruses.
To answer one of the earlier responders, the only software firewall I run is the built-in Windows firewall (running Windows 7 x64) and I had tried disabling it at the time of troubleshooting but it didn’t help.
I’d simply suggest for all those having the same problem, to install v5.0.677 and wait for a new v5.1 build with this issue fixed. I’m sure there’s probably some place on the Avast servers to download older versions, but I simply went to http://www.oldapps.com/avast_antivirus.php.
I also wanted to clarify that I was going through different builds on 2 different PCs, so I’m not exactly sure which build introduced the bug. I do know for a fact that 889 has the bug, and 677 does not.
I folowed TitaniumDusts suggestion and reinstalled version 5.0.677 and AOL and everthing else now works perfectly. Thanks!
I await anew release of 5.21 that fixes the problem.
There will not be a release of 5.21. The next release will be 6.0. However Avast is aware of the issue and should be working on a fix. If you feel the need to contact Avast regarding this issue, here is the link: http://www.avast.com/contact-form.php?loadStyles - use the drop down menu for “Technical Issues.” Thank you.
I had exactly the same problem signing on to AOL after updating to ver 5.1.889. I’ve since gone to the old version site noted by TitaniumDust (thank you), and reinstalled 5.0.667 which works OK. Also have sent a message to Avast so I hope a fix is on the way. Thanks.
I owe Titanium a debt of gratitude as well. I was frantically searching the web for people talking about this, and you were all I could find at first. Your detailed message made me realize I was not alone (I was furious with AOL at the time). I now understand their position. They know that the problem is Avast’s newest upgrade and if they tell us to uninstall it and we get a virus, they are liable. I found this information very interesting in the link below. This version has had a lot of conflicts with all kinds of programs! What a mess! I’m a little tense because I spent so much time over the weekend doing all these things to my computer only to find out that it was due to Avast’s new upgrade. I want to install the version you listed but because I would rather be safe than sorry, I will wait until they do a fix. I’m sooooo not comfortable with downloading software from a site I am unfamiliar with. It may be perfectly fine, but it would make me a little uncomfortable. I hope they fix this fast! Everything was fine until this update!
I also have this problem. Avast 5.1 does not block IE8, Firefox or Opera. Kaspersky and Microsoft Security Essentials don’t block AOL. There’s no problem with Avast and AOL until I shut down the computer and power up again. If I disable all the shields, it sometimes works. For another day, I will exist without anti-virus software, then I will install the best I can find compatible with AOL.
CharleyO, if you are reading this, I enjoyed your presentation on Thursday,
Just wanted to say that I upgraded Avast to 5.1.889 over the weekend and am also running AOL 9.6.
I had no problem w/either software, my problem is more cosmetic, which I’ll put in my own thread.
No one mentioned what O/S they are running, but I’m on WinXP.
