Hi-
I’m running Windows 7 Pro x64, and the paid version of Avast (7.xx, whatever the most updated version is). About a week ago, when I woke my computer from hibernation, I could not reconnect to the internet (I was physically connected to the router by ethernet cord). After a few restarts and resets of the router/modem, I went into Device Manager, and noticed under Network Adapters that there were a few different Avast items. I left them alone (I’ve been using Avast for a few years now and have never had problems, so assumed these would not be the source of my issues). I tried disabling/reenabling the adapter, but still no luck. I rolled back the driver, eventually even uninstalled the adapter through device manager, as well as update drivers, etc, and nothing worked. I tried an old USB adapter that we have on another computer, and even that would not work. I figured there was an issue with the computer itself, though I couldn’t diagnose it. Finally today I got the USB adapter working, after disabling the Avast item corresponding to the USB adapter under Network Adapters. I uninstalled (but did not delete) all Avast entries under the Network Adapters menu in Device Manager, and now my physical network adapter is functioning like normal too.
I love Avast and would not even be angry if it was the source of these issues. I just want to know whether the Avast Firewall will still function with those entries uninstalled from the Network Adapters menu? It seems to be functioning, and according to Avast itself, the Firewall is up and running fine, but I want to make sure there is no security or functionality that I have interfered with by having uninstalled those entries. If they need to be reinstalled (enabled, whatever), how do I do so (as the entries are no longer listed in the Device Manager).
Sorry for the long question. Thanks for any response. I am a die-hard Avast supporter- you guys are awesome.