I’m sure this issue was dissected several times, but I just cannot face trawling through all the old topics.
My problem is: firewall is not running (service stopped) and unresponsive.
I have just upgraded from free Avast! to the paid version. First, I had error messages when I tried to start firewall protection: “Shields unreachable” and “Firewall unavailable”. I have read through a couple of topics and surmised that I should uninstall and re-install avast! and check my laptop for “nasties” (using Malwarebytes). I have got rid of a handful of “nasties” and uninstalled Avast! by using uninstall utility, restarted my laptop, re-installed Avast!, restarted again…
Firewall is still “stopped”, but now no matter which option I choose, nothing happens when I press “Start” button. Absolutely nothing, not even error message.
I’m using Windows XP, and I have tried both with Windows’ firewall switched off and on - no difference.
For the time being I have switched on Windows Firewall again, just to have something up.
Can anyone suggest the next step fixing this problem? It’s pretty frustrating that I have paid high pounds for this software and it’s not working properly. Not to mention the useless support site.
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 have done exactly that and that’s when the error messages stopped popping up but firewall was still not running.
I’m not convinced that doing the same thing again would make any difference, but tell me if I’m wrong.
Any other advice?
Zyndstoff:
“posted hijackthis log would be appreciated”: care to elaborate? I’m a newbie here… Thanks.
It is used to analyse running processes, autostarts and so on. Many forums use it to find out about culprits on a system.
You download it, install it and then start it. After it starts, you just click on “Do a system scan and save a logfile”. This logfile is a .txt, it will open in editor automatically. You can copy it on this forum.
So we can see if we can find a clue what might be stopping your fw.
Which was your firewall before AIS? Only Windows firewall?
As an advanced way, maybe searching for “aswNdis” references into C:\Windows\Inf\oem*.inf files. You can use Windows Search or FileSeek (http://www.binaryfortress.com/fileseek/) for that. Then you can move the files to another folder. Boot. Try installing again.
This worked for me in beta phase.
In the Control Panel to to Computer Management and then Devices (sorry, I don’t have an English computer and trying to translate the commands).
Then you right click the faulty NDIS device and uninstall it (you don’t need to remove the driver either, but if you remove, no problems).
When there is no other NDIS faulty device, in Control Panel and Applications, repair your avast! installation. Reboot.