I have avast internet Security (version 8.0.1489) installed and have a problem with ping on my machine. The machine is Windows 7 with all updates up to date.
The windows firewall is disabled, and avast firewall enabled. I am on a network tagged as a “Work” zone.
Looking at the system packet rules under the firewall settings, I have ping and trace ICMP requests enabled for both incoming and outgoing, but when pinging from the command line, it fails with a message “General Failure”:-
$ ping google.com
Pinging google.com [173.194.34.136] with 32 bytes of data:
General failure.
General failure.
General failure.
General failure.
Ping statistics for 173.194.34.136:
Packets: Sent = 4, Received = 0, Lost = 4 (100% loss),
If I stop the avast firewall, ping works:-
$ ping google.com
Pinging google.com [173.194.34.136] with 32 bytes of data:
Reply from 173.194.34.136: bytes=32 time=12ms TTL=52
Reply from 173.194.34.136: bytes=32 time=11ms TTL=52
Reply from 173.194.34.136: bytes=32 time=12ms TTL=52
Reply from 173.194.34.136: bytes=32 time=12ms TTL=52
Ping statistics for 173.194.34.136:
Packets: Sent = 4, Received = 4, Lost = 0 (0% loss),
Approximate round trip times in milli-seconds:
Minimum = 11ms, Maximum = 12ms, Average = 11ms
I have enabled logging of all blocked packets, but no blocked packets are logged when this happens which makes me think that something is broken rather than actively blocked.
I got the same results using Command Prompt, but when I used the Ping Command in IP Utilities in my Router, it was successful.
My router firewall operates in stealth mode, and ignores pings. So I would say the router is stopping the Avast firewall from returning a ping request.