new Avast install blocks port 80 (and 110 and 25)?

Avast Free Antivirus / Premium Security
1

Hello -

I’ve got a Compaq DeskPro EN running W98SE, Outlook 97, and both IE6 and FireFox. DSL connect, systems are all on fixed IPs, also I have an XP system and a MAC.

Was running AVG Free for a long time, kept it updated, but nonetheless got a series of nasty trojans in December.

D2_.exe
af.exe
Internat.exe
DLYY.DLL

D2_.exe and af.exe kept reappearing, and one day’s AVG profile did find them, but the next day’s did not.

So I uninstalled AVG Free, rebooted, and downloaded and installed Avast. I registered and inserted my key. Avast’s 6 services were running. This all happened yesterday. Email and web services were normal.
I ran a C and D drive check, it found a trojan and quarantined it.

Shut the system down for the night.

Today I can send and recieve email - ports 110 and 25 - but port 80, browsing, seems blocked. I shut down all Avast’s services, and was able to reach Google, but only for a couple of minutes.

It fails on both IE6 and FireFox. Won’t find ANY websites on either browser. Normally I’d suspect my ISP’s DNS servers had gone away, except browsers on the Mac and XP systems can browse normally.

AND a bright red error box just showed up from my tooltray:

Information about current update:
Last encountered error: Cannot connect to download66.avast.com

So I tried to shut down all Avast services, still can’t reach the Web via port 80. I’d PING some of these sites, but one of the trojans took out my msdos.exe and command.com.

Then my Outlook decided to not reach my ISP’s mailserver. And since the other two systems CAN see it, so it’s just the Avast W98 system - with all services OFF.

So I was about ready to uninstall Avast and find something which won’t block browsing and email. But I just shut off all Avast services and stomped away from the W98 system, leaving it running. Two hours later, both Outlook 97 and FireFox work perfectly.

Is this a bad profile that got updated while I was away? Right now my Avast services are all shut OFF, there’s a little red ‘international NO’ on the A icon in the system tray. I’m going to post this, and then turn services on… fully expecting to get cut off from the Web again.

Tell me Avast isn’t junk, and help me understand what this system just went through.

thanks

Karl

2
Tell me Avast isn't junk, and help me understand what this system just went through.

OK avast isn’t junk, and what you appear to be experiencing is your firewall blocking avast, ashWebSv.exe avast Web Shield, ashMaiSv.exe avast email scanner, it also looks like it is blocking avast.setup avast update also.

What is your firewall, ensure it allows the above files access ?

I’m sorry since I don’t use MS Outlook I don’t know how the Outlook/Exchange plug-in works with win98.

You also need to set-up your browser to use the web shield proxy also with win98, see image extract avast help file.

3

OK avast isn’t junk, and what you appear to be experiencing is your firewall blocking avast, ashWebSv.exe avast Web Shield, ashMaiSv.exe avast email scanner, it also looks like it is blocking avast.setup avast update also.

What is your firewall, ensure it allows the above files access ?

None. No firewall. My XP box has the internal ‘Firewall’, but this W98 system has none. My assumption was and is that only Avast itself was blocking all these ports.

I’m sorry since I don’t use MS Outlook I don’t know how the Outlook/Exchange plug-in works with win98.

Outlook seems to work fine in and out.

You also need to set-up your browser to use the web shield proxy also with win98, see image extract avast help file.

Uh, no, thanks very much for the info in your post, but I use Mozilla Firefox and didn’t need to add the proxy reference to the loopback IP address:port number. I’m on right now without proxying.

My conclusion is that I had a partially-installed or fully-installed crap Avast profile for a few hours, and that the replacement profiled downloaded when I left the system on for a few hours. Thanks anyhow.

Karl

4
Uh, no, thanks very much for the info in your post, but I use Mozilla Firefox and didn't need to add the proxy reference to the loopback IP address:port number. I'm on right now without proxying.

But is the web shield monitoring content from the internet, I think not, certainly not without setting it to use the web shield proxy. For Firefox users - Tutorial - Web Shield Proxy Set-up for Firefox.

Welcome to the forums.

5

You should have one ;D

Without changing the proxy you won’t have your http (internet) traffic scanned by avast at Windows 98… You’re loosing protection.

6

I followed the bouncing ball to proxy browsing protection – thanks very much

Karl

7

Your welcome, stick around and browse the forums, especially the sticky topics at the top of each of the forums. They provide a wealth of information to help you get the best from avast.