I can't get to avast .com?

Avast Free Antivirus / Premium Security
1

Sorry, I tried to read other posts on this topic, but I am not finding any help.

I can not get to avast.com :cry:

Google keeps saying the link must be broken?

Please, if anyone knows how to help.

2

please try again, I just accessed www.avast.com directly and via Google search without any problem.

3

yes, I know that others can, and I know that the site works…

I think it has to do with the firewall or proxy, and wondered if it was a known error, or if someone had a cure!

(I should have worded it better!)

4

Are you posting here from the same computer?

5

You may be being blocked by a hacked HOSTS file, see below. Can you access the avast.com site using this link, http://67.228.112.194, this is an IP address which bypasses any HOSTS file checking.

HOSTS file redirect a common malware tactic to block AV sites making it difficult to remove malware - 127.0.0.1 check your HOSTS file using notepad or a text editor of your choice, C:\WINDOWS\system32\drivers\etc\hosts or do a search for HOSTS to find it if not there. Once open you are looking for entries with avast.com on the line, you may well see other AV sites, post the contents of the hosts file. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hosts_file

6

I am yes, but the next post explained what I was looking for.
avast.com was blocked (on a host list) by spybot. (as is download.avast.com)
forum.avast.com was not.

I went into spybot, removed the avast sites from the host list, and I am in! :slight_smile:

7

YAY!!! Thank you!! ;D

8

You’re welcome.

I would be very surprised if spybot S&D actually blocked the download.avast.com (avast updates come through there), as I’m sure more avast users would have bumped into this issue. I can see no logic in that at all, but then again on occasion S&D has blocked the avast icon, so it seems to know very little about avast.

9

Having used Spybot for many years, I do not think it would do that without some type of intervention by the user after a scan by Spybot. But, I could be wrong.

10

I have no issues with spybot with avast. I cannot imagine how or why spybot would block access to avast.com. I have no issues so it is not spybot at all. That has to be a spyware or something else related that put the entry in the hosts file to block it. It sounds like the above user is infected…as i can access avast.com with no issues, even after immunizing spybot. (Which is the way that spybot adds bad sites to the host file to block them.)

I am positive it is not spybot. But I’ll keep my eyes posted and if more users report the same thing, I will report it as a false positive to spybot if it is indeed true.

By the way, they are fully aware of avast anti-virus, they even recommend it: http://forums.spybot.info/showthread.php?t=16242

11

I mentioned the awareness of avast in that on a number of occasions in the forums, S&D’s resident Tea Timer killed the avast user startup entry for ashDisp.exe, the avast system tray icon.