Hi Guys & Gals
I just went from a system running like a dream to a catastrophe, in about 5 minutes. How did I do that? I downgraded AVAST Home Free 4.8 to AVAST Home Free 5. Is there anyway I can change back, System Restore doesn’t do it?
I’ve been using the FREE AVAST for some years, without a hitch till now. This is what happened, I saw the ‘Are you still using 4.8? well 5 is now available’ and leapt right in! Right from the word go my PC went belly up. I couldn’t get on line. I turned off AVAST and everything was just fine, except of course I didn’t have any AV protection. So I turned it back on, but turned off all the shields. This too was fine, as on the face of it my PC was running as usual. But not however AVAST, because whatever it’s problem is it’s backfiring on itself, because it’s unable to connect to the Internet to update the AV definitions. Everything else on my PC can connect without problem.
Uninstall avast from Control Panel (if possible). If, for any reason, you can’t run it, try booting in Safe Mode and doing it from there. Anyway, boot after that.
Run the avast! Uninstall Utility saved on 1. If, for any reason, you can’t run it, try booting in Safe Mode and doing it from there. Anyway, boot after you’ve run it.
Install avast! using the setup saved on 2. Boot.
Register your free copy or add the license key for Pro.
I did as you instructed, followed it to the letter. The result is as follows…
It was/is exactly the same as when I initially uninstalled 4.8 and reinstalled 5 myself the first time. Without downloading and running the additional utility… ERROR: Cannot connect to server
Neither could I, untill I made the same changes I made when I installed it - without instruction - yesterday. Those were to the shields, as follows…
File System Shield - ON
Mail Shield - OFF
Web Shield - OFF
P2P Shield - OFF
IM Shield - OFF
Network Shield - ON
Behaviour Shield - ON
Either way my initial question stands ‘Can I have 4.8 back please’
Because even with these changes, regarding…
‘Update engine and virus definitions’ & ‘Update Program’ AVAST is still saying… ERROR: Cannot connect to server
Even though I now can!?
Regarding the move from 4.8 to 5. have you ever heard the saying…
‘If it aint broke, don’t fix it’. Well it wasn’t, but now it is and sadly it looks as though I - as hitherto one of it’s staunchest supporters - may have to say, ‘It would seem that some good things have to come to an end’. Unless of course I can get 4.8 back?
I only use Spyware Terminator’s spy ware blocker. Even though it also has ‘Clam Anti Virus’ on board. Which I have disabled and have never used. But I am looking into enabling it now and giving it a trial run. Failing that I’ll take a look at AVG.
Ashampoo FW is known to make troubles, so I would drop it.
I would also drop the 2 Spyware programs and replace it with Mbam.
Also get rid of any other resident AV, as this could also lead into problems…!
asyn
Thanks for your insight, opinions and suggestions. But I’ve been running this set-up now for a few years and quite frankly everything has been running like a dream. Never better. I may be classed as a ‘Newbie’ on this site, but when it comes to PC’s I help and advise others. I think that your suggestion would be - pardon the pun - a sin.
Just because AVAST has decided to go down this road I don’t see why the other cogs in an otherwise super engine should be blamed and/or be discarded. In favour of something, that on the face of it has had its day! Why am I saying this, because even when I tried turning off all three of the other protection ware, AVAST still wasn’t firing on all cylinders and still couldn’t connect to the internet?
Who should we choose next to be named and shamed, as being at fault. Perhaps the usual scapegoat, Microsoft Updates?!
From what you describe, it’s pretty likely that your firewall is blocking avast! from the Internet.
So, have you tried adding the rules to permit such communication?
“From what you describe, it’s pretty likely that your firewall is blocking avast! from the Internet. So, have you tried adding the rules to permit such communication?”
Thanks for your input, however it would seem that I didn’t make myself clear. Either way, here it is again, in brief…
“even when I tried turning off all three of the other protection ware, AVAST still wasn’t firing on all cylinders and still couldn’t connect to the internet?”
As with you, the Firewall was my first thought, as a potential culprit too. The firewall is set up in such a way that when a new program is installed it always asks if it should be blocked or allowed. I told it to ‘allow’ then - when it couldn’t connect - I checked to make sure. It was/is allowed. But even so, I now know catagorically that it can’t be anything to do with any of my protection ware, for the reason I say above.
As yet I haven’t uninstalled this latest AVAST although I have now disabled it. In favour of SpywareTerminator’s Clam AV. I have to have some protection while I wait and see if you guys can come up with anything to save the day.
Asyn thanks for the link, I’ll give it a go. I’ll have to keep my toes crossed, because I really don’t want to have to lose AVAST.
I tried again and this time it succeded in both downloading and installing. But don’t cheer too soon, because sadly the outcome is no brighter than it was in the first place. We haven’t moved on, we are in fact back to square one, as… ERROR: Cannot connect to server
As before neither could anything else untill I adjusted the Shields, then… ERROR: Cannot connect to server
But everything else can!!?
I believe it is… however, we’ve seen it a number of times anyway. The theory is that:
the corresponding avast! module changes when avast! is updated
the firewall detects the change - and would like to ask about what to do, but it happens too soon during the boot process, so it’s not able to ask
→ it just blocks the connection
What usually helps is to delete the corresponding rules from the firewall, and let them be re-created again.
avast! doesn’t do anything special when trying to update… it simply asks Windows to connect to the particular site. So, either there’s no network connection, or the domain isn’t resolved correctly (shouldn’t be the case, because half of the update servers on the list are in IP format), or a firewall is blocking the connection…
“even when I tried turning off all three of the other protection ware, AVAST still wasn’t firing on all cylinders and still couldn’t connect to the internet?”
I see where you’re coming from. What if I were to turn off the Firewall and then install AVAST. When I turn the firewall on again and it sees AVAST it will ask me if it should block or not? But before I do that I’ll dete any reference to AVAST in firewall?
I would suggest the old firewall test – try to stop all shields, and then manually stop avast antivirus service (verify that avastsvc.exe is not running). Then remove all traces of avast processes from the firewall. Then restart the service, e.g. by clicking the “Fix now” button. During startup, the firewall, if it is configured so, should popup and notify you about this new program (did it already done that?) It should ask you to allow avastsvc.exe to open some ports for listening (the Mail Shield and Web Shield proxy servers are running inside this process) and also for outgoing traffic (this service is also connecting to the web for updates). Other popups you should see if the firewall is doing its job correctly is one for the process “avast.setup” and one for “avastui.exe” - both for outgoing traffic.