Avast! Internet Security no traffic through ICS (Internet Connection Sharing)

Avast Free Antivirus / Premium Security
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I’ve used Avast! IS for years but I’ve never had to use it in addition to Internet Connection Sharing.

Currently I have a wired connection into my laptop that I use to make into a wireless network for my phone and my girlfriend’s phone.
Everything worked fine until Avast! IS got installed.

I read around on the internet and found that I should turn on ‘Internet Connecting Sharing Mode’ and “Allow all communications in/out with Friendlies”
I also made some packet rules, enabled IGMP and a bunch of other things as suggested via my google searches.

The connectivity varies so often though. Before Avast! was installed I got no problems at all with running an Ad Hoc on Windows 8.1.

As it stands my network is like this.

Wired eth0 → Ad Hoc Wireless
— Shared Internet —

The eth0 connection shares its internet with the wireless Ad Hoc.

Every boot up the adhoc.bat file that I made runs from the autorun folder and the Ad Hoc is made instantly.
It worked perfectly before Avast! was installed.

After 4 days of intermittent connectivity issues with the Ad Hoc to our phones I had to uninstall Avast! After checking every setting I could and still failing to get it to work.
I double and triple checked them, and then tried to search google and the forums. I can’t find any information at all that could help me out.

Why is it seriously so hard to set up ICS with Avast? It works perfectly without it being installed. Yet barely ever when it is installed.
I get issues with the Ad Hoc always in ‘identifying’ mode when Avast is installed. I also get issues with the connection just dropping out, even though the wireless network is still broadcasting. Certain Android apps on my phone will work but others report that there is no connection etc.

Why is it seriously so difficult? We’re talking about network traffic on the SAME NETWORK. This is a SAFE NETWORK. Why when I turn on ICS mode in Avast! doesn’t it just work? Especially when I check the option to “Enable all connections in and out from friendlies”
Yet even after looking everywhere. My only real option to get no issues was to basically disable/uninstall just the firewall. Or allow ALL traffic regardless of everything (no point having the firewall even installed).

Why can’t you guys at Avast make this more simple? The whole “Internet Sharing Mode” setting does not remotely work at all and even when the service did work (badly) it still took 5 minutes from the time the Ad Hoc was created for the Ad Hoc to actually allow traffic because of Avast…

Not impressed guys. I’m glad I took a trial of Avast before resubscribing… I’m going to need this working 100% (with the Firewall still protecting my system) if I am to reinstall and resubscribe to Avast…

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My only real option to get no issues was to basically disable/uninstall just the firewall.
There is the huge clue. Setup permissions properly.
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What permissions?

ICS worked, although very intermittently. The Firewall settings aren’t comprehensive, concise or easy to understand.
The firewall log goes too fast to read and everything else is split up into pieces.
It’s near impossible to find out how connections are being blocked in Avast through ICS. I couldn’t see any connections anywhere that were not going through despite not having any traffic going to our phones.

The packet rules all seemed to be set and allowed. ICS mode was on. Allow all connections from friendlies was on.
System rules seemed to be set up to allow everything.

Yet ICS half the time wouldn’t work, the other half the time it was always ‘identifying’ and it wouldn’t work. Network mode was set to ‘private’.
When it did work, which was rarely, all I needed to do was simply wait about 5 minutes to see if traffic would start to get to our phones.

I’ve had Avast back since the days that it was a little grey rectangular toolbox of sorts, that looked almost laughable as an AV program.
I’ve used Agnitum Outpost Pro for about 3 and a half years (until it went subscription based) which is far more technical, but at least easier to navigate than Avast! and I’m pretty skilled with computers and software as I have built my life around them.

Navigating Avast’s Firewall options isn’t exactly an ‘easy’ task. Which is kind of ironic seeing as the program has, in recent years become really ‘idiot proof’ with the loud voiceover alerts and big easy to read buttons and text.

Anyway, it’s not easy enough. I would have expected that it would be worked out enough that if I check ‘Internet Connection Sharing Mode’ that it makes the necessary changes for a very basic internet sharing setup from Ethernet to Ad Hoc Wireless, to work properly.

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So I just received an apology email to my email address for this issue, apparently because of this thread I made on the forum. I was also offered 60% off my next subscription to Avast! for 1 year. I must say that it’s definitely a step in the right direction. However it’s obviously in many ways, more important that you actually ensure that the program works correctly in the first place. That way you save money, not having to offer me said discount (though trust me, it is very appreciated) and I save my time and keep my peace of mind.

I hope that at least someone on the development and maintenance side-of-things looked at this thread and that a hotfix will be rolled out so it can simply be as easy as toggling the ‘Internet Connection Sharing Mode’ setting in options, for ICS to work properly.

I do have to give you guys at least 1 thumb up however for apologising to me personally on the matter. I haven’t ever received remotely anything of the sort from any other software companies for their mistakes.

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