Hello I am new to this forum. I have just installed Avast Home Edition to replace Norton AV. So far I am very impressed with it, in fact it has exceeded my expectations.
There is just one point I would like to clarify and that is the conflict Avast has with Zone Alarm firewall. On installation I received a pop up which informed me of this conflict and gave me the option to allow or not transparent web scanning. What is the best running options and can this be changed at some future date. Also on boot up my Security Center indicated that two firewalls were running. This later changed to show just the Zone Alarm, could this be a false report or has it seen the Avast web scan as a firewall? I have Windows XP installed and the Windows firewall is turned off. Any advice would be most grateful. Regards.
ZONE ALARM - AVAST Web Shield compatibility dialogue - Install/Update Question - YES or NO
If you are using ZoneAlarm Free you should click NO, because privacy features are not present in ZoneAlarm Free this will not turn off web shield transparent mode proxy.
Use a text editor and edit the avast4.ini file, the default installation location is C:\Program Files\Alwil Software\Avast4\DATA\avast4.ini (I would advise you copy avast4.ini before editing it, just in case).
Locate the line containing ZoneAlarmCompatibility= and delete that line. Save the edited avast4.ini file.
If you are using ZoneAlarm Pro and Privacy Control in ZoneAlarm is set to High and if you click YES in avast compatibility dialogue box the transparent mode proxy in web shield will be turned off you have to manually configure browser to access internet. To manually configure your browser watch instructional video
avast isn’t a firewall so I don’t know where WSC is getting that from. It hasn’t reported either web shield or network shield as a firewall on my system. So another hiccup on WSC by the look of it.
I have ZA Free installed. I am sure I answered NO to the compatibility question. (now having doubts that I clicked on the right button). I deleted the line Zone Alarm Compatibility = 1 in the Avast 4.ini file as you suggested. What was the reason for doing this? My main concern now is that the shields are operating correctly I say this because I see that the Network and Web Shields have no scan counts listed yet it states at the top of each that they are currently running. Thanks once again for your help.
If you are using ZoneAlarm Free you should click NO, because privacy features are not present in ZoneAlarm Free this will not turn off webshield transparent mode proxy.
Did you boot after that? It’s ok to delete the line.
Network won’t ‘caught’ anything if your Windows is updated and if you have a firewall (like ZA).
WebShield should be working… which browser do you use?
If that line was present then I think it means you pressed Yes. Have you rebooted since making the changes ?
With compaiibility mode on (=1) then the transparent proxy is disabled and you would have to manually set your browser up to use the proxy. The Privacy function in ZA Pro clashes with the transparent proxy, effectively ZA Pro blocks the passing of data through the proxy. Typically this causes problems in Hotmail, MSN and Yahoo web mail logon. But nothing to worry about with the free version of ZA.
If after a reboot the web shield isn’t scanning http web content, check and ensure the avast4.ini changes you made were in fact saved. If so check this image and ensure your settings match especially the arrowed ones.
DavidR and Tech. Thankyou for your help it has been so much appreciated. I followed your advice and on checking the settings which were shown in DavidR’s graphic I got a pop up re the compatibility issue I clicked on ‘NO’ and then checked the settings which were as shown. I then check the avast4.ini. file and it has changed itself and reinserted the line (I removed?) to read compatibility=0
All appears to be fine now and both Avast and ZA are working normally.