Avast Web Shield component preventing downloads (Windows Vista)

RowanBoatman · 2017-07-02T03:09:51.000Z

Bit of a weird one, so basically I cannot download any files with a web browser on an old machine (Windows Vista 32-bit updated till the end), I initially thought this was a Firefox issue with their latest small update to the ESR release (to 52.2.1 32-bit) but upon trying it with multiple other browsers I saw the same results where it would only get a small amount of KB then stall/stop.

Confused, I slept on it and woke with the logical explanation that Avast was the only thing that updated recently (to 17.5.2302 (build 17.5.3559.0)) so tested a download with it temporarily disabled…and tadaaaa it worked fine again and I could download files.

Upon further testing by toggling each shield I found it was the Web Shield which is causing the issue (no surprises there but still had to test), I also found that by disabling it before loading the webpage of the download I could then download and re-enable the Web Shield whilst it was downloading and it would go through fine.

This is a work around I could use for now and because I barely use te machine for a download this isn’t a huge problem for me, but any idea on whether Avast is aware of this/if other people with an older OS are also having these issues? (I say this because on my main machine I obviously have Windows 10 and haven’t experienced a problem at all), is there even a solution to fix this in some way so I don’t have to toggle it off to download files? or will we have to wait until another program update?
If Avast is aware and something will happen toggling in the meantime isn’t a big deal to me.

Any info appreciated, I noticed some other web shield related posts which maybe somewhat related.

Thanks

Asyn · 2017-07-02T06:29:10.000Z

It should help to disable HTTPS scanning in the web shield.

RowanBoatman · 2017-07-03T03:53:40.000Z

Ok thanks for the reply, just a couple questions.

How much would it hinder the security with it off over time? When I compare that to just toggling off the web shield for 10-15 seconds? Basically is it better to just leave it on for the most part and toggle to load a page initially so I could download from it, compared with having https scanning off.

And a general question for anyone again, is anyone else experiencing this or something similar with a Vista OS or alike? If so do you know any more than me about this?

I mean worst case scenario I have to keep toggling and just hope the next program update fixes it I guess

Asyn · 2017-07-03T05:47:54.000Z

You’re not alone, more here: https://forum.avast.com/index.php?topic=204601.0

RowanBoatman · 2017-07-03T07:05:20.000Z

Thank you for the reply, I will keep an eye on it.
FWIW I disabled HTTPS scanning and it is downloading ok, so that seems like the way to go until this is sorted.
Thanks again

Asyn · 2017-07-03T07:06:20.000Z

You’re welcome.

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