Last week after updating Avast (no problems before) I get asked every reboot for Avast permission to access internet. It says program has changed. I go into ZA setting and give Avast full access for every Avast entry. It doesn’t stick, it goes back to the way it was before. And yes, I have searched and read for hours about it here on this forum and have tried several things but nothing works. I have been using Avast with ZA for about 15 months with no trouble till now. I don’t have webshield activated. Also I’m curious as to why its trying to connect to internet when I have it set to manual updates? There is no reason for it to.
testy:
I have been using Avast with ZA for about 15 months with no trouble till now.You obviously know what your doing . My thought at first was[b] have you checked ( Ticked) the program alert popup [/b]from ZoneAlarm , " Avast (module xxx ) is trying to acess the Internet." I'd say you have ? My advice ; totally remove your installation of ZoneAlarm.
Go HERE ; follow the removal instuctions , and do a clean install.
Goodluck, report back and let us know if that fixes the problem, as others may have an alternate solution .
Sometimes, if you answer the question and check it for remember, the answer is lost when you shutdown.
Maybe, if you set ZA, close it and exit it, boot.
Start it again if it’s not automatic and check that if that setting is saved.
Avast can “change itself”. Avast has internal security checks at startup and if something does not seem right to avast it will, as I understand it, try to revert components back to something it does like and, potentially, try to go out to get a clean version.
That’s why when we get one off updates from avast they are accompanied by a .sum file to prevent avast from reverting the updated component at the next restart.
So, it is just possible that ZoneAlarm, far from being the problem, is just doing what it is supposed to do, noticing that avast has changed and asking for updated permission.
Let’s remember that the change you made to your system was to reinstall avast not ZoneAlarm.
Have you tried an uninstall and fresh install of avast?
Does the problem still exist if you go back to version 691?
Well, I fixed it, I updated ZA and rebooted and the issue seems to be resolved so far. Thanks
This may well be the answer - in my experience ZA can be forgetfull especially if you have fast shutdown. Just close ZA one time before shutdown and that should cure your problem
This may be something the ZA folks have worked on in the latest point release they just issued.
I always prefer to do a complete uninstall/reinstall with ZA updates and so I have had to go through setting all the program permissions, trusted zone entries for my home lan etc. I’ve noticed a couple of times that ZA has popped up a screen (I had not seen before) saying “You have made changes - do you want them saved?”.
Can you be more specific… ?
I never heard about this. avast.setup could ‘change’ but ‘avast change itself’…? What’s that?
Avast has some level of self protection.
That is why when we get zip updates like the one you recently installed (aswEngin) it was necessary for a .sum file to be included. If you did not install the .sum file you would find on the next restart that avast would automatically go back to the previous version.
In such circumstances (which I experienced back during a beta test earlier this year) I installed an update without the .sum file. ZA quite properly recognized the update and asked for updated permission for avast. I restarted my system, avast put back the previous version of the program (because I did not install the .sum file) and ZA recognized it as another change to avast and asked for updated permission for avast.
Now I could have run off and said that ZoneAlarm had lost its brains and did not remember my updated permission. Instead I realized my error, re-installed the avast update and the .sum file and again gave updated permission in ZoneAlarm which it remembered without problem and all was well.
I was speculating that if there had been (for whatever reason) an incomplete update of the of the latest release of avast it could result in confusion for avast about what versions it should have and give rise to the problem encountered by testy.
Great ! 
Avast! and ZA have both released program Updates.There’s no real logic why Updating ZA has resolved your problem.
I always follow the un-install info though with a ZoneAlarm program update . Then do a “Clean” install of the Updated program. I’ve had horrible problems in the past installing ZA without uninstalling the previous version.
Remember that when online, you can go to ADD/REMOVE programs, & Repair Avast!'s installation.
Simply, a vote of support for an open mind and the advice of Abraxas.
Ok Alan, it`s the .sum check while a file is not the default ones. Now I see.
It’s not just that Tech, I’m asking you to imagine what would happen if, for some unknown reason, the installation of an avast point upgrade was incomplete for a user.
I suspect that it would be be possible for avast’s self defense mechanism to become very confused. I may be way off base here and no doubt the avast team will shoot me down, but I have been a software developer and senior IT manager for more years than I care to recall. My basic rule has been:
if your system is running smoothly, you install a product update and your system does not run smoothly then you first suspect the product update (and you do not first blame all the other components of your system).
Many of us are here because we are enthusiastic avast supporters. I think that does not absolve us from having an open mind and being able to question the effectiveness of an avast change. Too many people have experienced too many problems with the 731 update for me to feel that our friends in the avast development team have got this one right yet.
I doubt about this… I think the update mechanism do check this very well. But, of course, everything could happen in computers.
Ok. Good rule.
For sure… But we’re not discussing the whole process, update process and mechanism, just the 731 update. It stayed 2 weeks as beta, no problems of updating… no problems right now…
I’m not defending avast as it does not have any trouble or could not being improved. Being enthusiastic does not make me blind. Something is strange in 731 update, I’ve posted this before… Just that I can’t imagine what, I can’t reproduce ANY update error… so, my answers are theoric, based on avast theory and my experience with it.
no problems right now...
i’m sorry Tech, but you must be blind not to see the many folks who have reported the VPS update problem - and I have yet to see them all coming in to say the problem has gone away.
Admittedly, a fix has been provided for the file scanning pop-up error (along with an admission that it was not known how to make the error happen) and there has been an admission that certain heuristic email warnings are over zealous and need further work.
One thing I can agree with you on (and I have noted it before) none of these problems surfaced in the beta testing. I think that the avast team are going to need to question the number/variety of us who are willing participants in beta testing and the length of the beta “soaking”.
Another point that comes up here.
It may be an issue of proprietary secrecy that the avast folks do not wish to divulge the full list of product changes (that nevertheless affect us the users), however, I notice at least one of the problems I have confirmed elicited the response “Oh, that was one of the changes we made in this release”.
I guess we will have to live with being the guinea pigs of the product and only told of the change if we fall foul of it’s failure.
Without putting words into Tech’s mouth, I think he is talking of his own personal experience, he has had no problem with the beta releases or the 4.6.731 release, neither have I. He recognises as do I that others are experiencing problems, exactly what that problem is the issue. If it was a total error in the 731 update, then surly everyone would be suffering it, so there is some form of interaction/conflict, finding that permutation is the problem.
This is perhaps why the Alwil team have asked some to install a routine that has some debugging/logging incorporated.
Unfortunately when we first hear of a problem with updates and connection problems, like the police, all the usual suspects are rounded up and that is usually firewalls blocking recently updated avast elements. For some this is enough to resolve the problem for others it is something more complex and difficult to pin down.
Yes there would appear to be something in the 731 update that in certain circumstances causes a problem with auto updates, what that is when it doesn’t effect everyone and is hard to replicate makes it more difficult to resolve.
I’m sure that with your experience you will appreciate how difficult it is to track down an intermittent fault. Hopefully Alwil will get to the bottom of it soon as they have in the past.
I do most certainly appreciate the difficulty of tracking down an intermittent fault.
From time to time I go to some lengths to try to recreate and understand the problems other users report in these forums. Sometimes I can, often I cannot, but I do recognize that my inability to recreate a problem does not make that reported by another user less real.
However, for the folks experiencing the VPS update problem it is, at present, permanent.
I am also very aware of the problem of tracking down a problem that, albeit permanent, only affects a proportion of the user population even if that proportion does not include me.
However, I have been made keenly aware in the past that most users distinctly resent being a member of that proportion … which is why I have always made my folks get out there, get on a machine that has a problem and find out why.
By intermittent, I’ve used the wrong word, and an intermittent fault on a single user machine is obviously wrong, for the individule it is permanent. However when talking of multiple user with multiple different OSes and firewalls, etc.
If you take that as a whole that is what I meant by intermittent, not effecting everyone.
David answered my point of view:
I think he is talking of his own personal experience, he has had no problem with the beta releases or the 4.6.731 release. Unfortunately when we first hear of a problem with updates and connection problems, like the police, all the usual suspects are rounded up and that is usually firewalls blocking recently updated avast elements. For some this is enough to resolve the problem for others it is something more complex and difficult to pin down.