Avast update seemed to disable VPN connections

Avast Free Antivirus / Premium Security
1

OS: Win7

The latest Avast update (got mine this morning) seemed to have disabled my VPN connections.

Since we are working remotely our company has set up VPN for employees to access data and use version control with the company’s servers. After this latest update (this morning) I could no longer reach the version control server when connecting to the company VPN. After disabling all of Avast’s shields I managed to connect to the server and download files like normally. Previously I didn’t have to disable Avast’s shields to use VPN to access the version control (Plastic SCM) or other internal sites like company wiki etc.)

2
  • Which Avast…? (Free/Pro/IS/Premium)
  • Which version/build of Avast…?
  • OS…? (32/64 Bit…? - which SP/Build…?)
  • Other security related software installed…?
  • Which AV(s) did you use before Avast…?
3

  • Avast Premium Security

  • Program version: 20.2.2401 (build 20.2.5130.571)

  • Virus definition version: 200421-2

  • UI version: 1.0.505

  • Win7 64-bit Professional, the latest SP (Service Pack 1), basically maxed out since it’s no longer being updated.

  • 32BG RAM

  • Intel Core i7-6700K 4.00Ghz

  • No other security software/firewall/etc. installed

  • Have been using Avast for years now. Always had Avast on this PC from the start.

  • Have had Surfshark installed as an additional VPN but it has not caused any issues since its install (uninstalled it to see if it caused something - didn’t affect anything)

  • Had Hamachi installed yesterday but have never had issues with it (also, uninstalled it as well to see if it caused something - didn’t affect anything)

4

Repair Avast:

  1. Avast GUI → Settings → Troubleshooting
  2. Click on ‘REPAIR APP’.
  3. Follow instructions.
  4. Reboot.
5

Unfortunalely it didn’t help.

Perhaps I need to do a clean install of Avast.

6

OK, let’s try…

  1. Download Avast Premium Security: https://files.avast.com/iavs9x/avast_premium_security_setup_offline.exe
  2. Follow instructions: https://www.avast.com/uninstall-utility (Run this tool for all prior installed Avast versions…!!)
  3. Reinstall Avast with the downloaded installer from point 1.
  4. Reboot.
7

Thanks.

I’ll have to do the uninstall-install at some point when I’m off work. For now, I just have to do with disabling Avast for few minutes when accessing the VPN.

I’ll report back when I have a proper time to go through with the reinstall.

8

You’re welcome. (Sure, take your time…)

9

Hello henkkaart,

can you please check your Firewall mode and change it to private mode if public mode is selected? This could help as a workaround, we are currently looking into this.

Thanks in advance,
HK

10

Hello HK,

I went to Menu → Settings → Protection → Firewall and checked the status and both my normal connection and my VPN connection were both set on private. I also tested turning both to public but the result was the same: it seems to connect to the VPN but it says the VPN doesn’t have internet access and the Plastic SCM doesn’t find the company server and times out. Immediately after I turn the shields off, Plastic finds everything as normal.

11

Avast support got in touch with me due to the support ticket I sent and they figured out what the problem was.

  1. I needed to go to the Settings → Protection → Firewall menu and enable “Internet Connection Sharing Mode”.
  2. Set the network as “Private” (which I had previously).
  3. In the Firewall → System Rules section enable the “Allow remote desktop connections to this computer”.

After this, the VPN/Plastic version control as well as Avast started working as expected.

Thank you, Asyn and HK for your time and help and also thank you Avast support for figuring this out fast!

12

NP, thanks for the feedback.