Their is a problem/conflict with Avast’s web shield and Battlefield 3’s Battlelog. The issue is that Battlelog (Server platform) won’t update properly if Avast’s web shield is active and no solution is available other than disabling it, which could be a security risk. Adding Battlelog to the exceptions list doesn’t work and enabling the “scan traffic from well-known browser processes only” doesn’t work either.
Is there a solution for this? I find Avast to be a good antivirus but now it seems incomplete with web shield disabled. Also note that a huge amount of users of Avast who are playing BF3 is experiencing this issue and their is simply no solution atm.
I have the exact same problem and I hope there is a resolution on the way. I would love to enjoy the games full potential.
It is mainly a problem with the battle log feature. They make you launch the games from a web browser. Many of the party feature will only work if avast real time shields are disabled.
There are numerous other Web Shield settings to change. You could try turning off Intelligent Stream Scanning. You could try and find what to exclude from scanning. Lower Heuristic sensitivity, etc.
It would be good to figure the cause of this, of course. But disabling the Web Shield for the specific purpose of playing Battlefield? It would be a stretch to even say this is “dangerous”, its what I would consider a acceptable work around…mind you, just the Web Shield, not all protection. You will still have multiple things protecting like the File System Shield and Autosandbox. Thats not to say the Web Shield is all fluff or anything, but it is made to guard your browsing, and while playing Battlefield, you wont be browsing sites.
There are already several topics about this, but only 2 reports giving feedback. One report says that changing “well known browsers only” setting works, and the other saying that it is not enough.
More users simply posting EXACTLY the same, without any feedback nor additional info, is not going to help anyone.
Well, for those saying that the specific setting is not enough, I guess they should describe step by step what they already tried and what not. What fail in their tests. Have they rebooted? Have they set web shield to be active or is it still disabled? Any other security tools (currently installed, and that were installed in the past and they THINK were already uninstalled)?
The possible info needed depends on the reports. More users reporting in detail, then would be easier to track down the problem for those that the specific setting is not working yet.
Clearly, if changing that setting is working for some users but not for others, then either some other Avast setting is involved too, or something else is interfering (re-create firewall rules, drivers, rebooting, other Avast shields active / disabled… ).
The fact that several users simply post the exact same complaint even without reading the previous posts and links offering no new info shows also a simple possibility (no offense to anyone, just a possible fact): “PEBCAC”.
And you are dev? That you are talking about proper way to post feedback?
If I see a Dev posting here with information about steps I should take and logs I should post I will do it.
And I believe that it is: PEBKAC - Keyboard and Chair.
And yes, it is problem with Avast. I tried Eset trial and everything works ok with battlelog and it’s plugin. What worries me it the fact that Avast doesn’t show anything about blocking any behaviour or anything dangerous happening on my PC. Nothing, not a single warning, just blocking.
And I’ve check that if I stop shields it begun to work on all browsers I have on my PC: IE, Opera, FF, Chrome.
And it is not a problem with my PC Tools Firewall. I’ve tried to turn it off and nothing. My friend with Avast and Windows7 built-in firewall got the very same problem, so it is problem with Avast, nothing else.
Yes, its somehow Web Shield related. That much has been narrowed down. And its probably connected to how they recently extended the scope of what it scans, thats why there is an option for not scanning anything except well known browser processes, put in place (smartly) in anticipation of possible problems like this that could arise. Many have reported that ticking that option on fixed whatever problems they where having.
The ones that it didn’t work for? As I mentioned previously, disabling the Web Shield for the specific purpose of playing Battlefield isn’t that big of a risk. Imo.
Since the Web Shield is an Avast! thing, other AVs don’t try to do what it does, naturally most wont give you any hassle as they don’t try to scan your http traffic.
PEBCAC: Problem Exists Between Chair And Computer
PEBKAC: Problem Exists Between Keyboard And Chair
I am not a dev, and I am not talking about any specific way to provide feedback.
I am talking about at least providing any actual info.
For example, now you are actually mentioning that you have or used to have other security tools. You should remove them using their respective removal utilities, even after using “Add / Remove Programs”. A partial list of specific removal utilities is located at http://thewebatom.net/uninstallers/security-software/. Better yet, run them under Windows Safe Mode to reduce potential conflicts.
You should at least try having web shield enabled, but with the relevant EXPERT setting changed. Then reboot and test. Not enough? Change it again, reboot again, test again. Not enough? Change it one more time (I am NOT joking).
Do you have a firewall? Delete the relevant rules, reboot and recreate them. For Avast, you should include avastsvc.exe, avastUI.exe and avast.setup, at least. Delete also the firewall rules related to your game, if there are any. All this is ONLY valid if you are using firewall rules. If you weren’t, then don’t start now.
Many other things can be suggested, but it depends on your particular system, as other users indeed have succeeded with one simple setting.
I would strongly suggest actually reading the related topics. You have a search forum function at the top area of the forum’s pages.
tl;dr: Avast! Devs: Why is Avast! blocking legitimate WebSocket connections?
Here’s the bottom line: The current version of Avast! is blocking legitimate WebSocket connections. Not just some – ALL! This is a clear problem with Avast and not a simple matter of changing settings. BattleLog can be made to work correctly when Web Shield is turned off, true. However this is not a satisfactory solution, as it opens us up to other web-based security threats! Avast need to be updated to correct this problem. As a temporary workaround, we can disable Avast when we’re using BattleLog, however I expect a patch within a week or two to fix this issue. Otherwise, Avast can forget about getting any money at all from me (which is a shame, because it’s the most stable antivirus program I’ve tried!).
FYI: Avast! Free Antivirus 6.0.1289
Chrome 15.0.874.106 m
See also this relevant forum thread on the problem.
