Internet Security firewall turned off unexpectedly

Avast Free Antivirus / Premium Security
1

Hi there. I’ll keep it short and sweet.

OS:
Win 8.1, fully updated

Avast product:
Internet Security, fully updated

Issue:
Booted computer, left it unattended for 30 mins to run some errands. On returning to the computer I noticed that the Avast icon had changed to indicate that there was a problem. I opened the Avast interface and saw a message reporting that the firewall had been turned off.

Support queries:

  1. Why did Avast’s firewall turn off? I didn’t shut it down myself and I hadn’t made changes to Avast’s settings previously.

  2. Was my computer vulnerable to attack for the 30 mins that the Avast firewall was down? It sits behind two routers, one provided by my ISP and one of my own, both with fully updated firmware and both with their own SPI-NAT firewalls.

2

Repair Avast:

  1. Control Panel → Add/Remove programs → Avast
  2. Click on ‘Repair’.
  3. Follow instructions.
  4. Reboot.
3

Thanks, Asyn. I used the “Restore Factory Defaults” command in the Troubleshooting menu, which reactivated the firewall. Should’ve mentioned that in my first post.

However, I’m still curious as to:

  1. Why this happened (is there a vulnerability affecting my comp that I haven’t noticed?), and

  2. Whether my comp was at risk for the 30 mins when the firewall was down.

4
  1. Probably just a glitch.
  2. Nope, router FW kept you protected.
5

That’s great, thank-you. Going to uninstall and reinstall Avast just to be sure.

6

You’re welcome.