Problem with a Program after last Avast Home Prog Update

This is a very strange thing. I use this program here:

http://www.checkyourlinkpopularity.com/

It’s a great tool and I use it weekly. Well, since the last Avast Program update to home 4.6 this tool cannot access Google, nor can it check for updates of itself. It seems to work fine otherwise, checks AllTheWeb and other services with no problem. I wrote to Arelis and they referred me to a page that had info about AV settings, and basically said it’s a “me” problem, not a “them” problem. This is the page they referred me to:
http://www.axandra.com/support-desk/index.php?sid=9303&lang=en&action=artikel&cat=12&id=47&artlang=en

Following a thread on this board I did check my zone alarm (free edition) and made sure that ashWebSv.exe had permission to access the internet, but that didn’t give me any love. Just so you have complete info, I’m running Win2k. This program, LPC, apparently uses an IE engine for access to the internet.

I’d really love to be able to use this LPC program again, it’s VERY useful-- as long as the google thing is working!

Any ideas? thanks in advance.

avast doesn’t block programs, it scans content and alerts if infected or suspicious.

What errors or warnings are you getting ?

From the link you gave, this may have something to do with the issue.

Adjust the settings in your anti-virus tool so that IBP can remote-control MS Internet Explorer.
This is not something that avast checks but certainly something my firewall (outpost Pro)checks for and would alert me to. So perhaps this is something ZA is doing ?

The only warning I’m getting is from the LPC program itself, which automatically checks for updates when it’s opened. It says something like it’s unable to check for updates at this time and refers me to Arelis support. I’ve already been through that.

There are a LOT of files that are showing up in ZA that are avast av files. Which are supposed to have permission to access the internet in ZA? As you can understand I don’t wanna just give a blanket permission to everything to run wide open :slight_smile: But I would like to get this program working again.

It’s also VERY weird that it accesses all sites EXCEPT google. sigh

The only files that require access are ashWebSv.exe, ashMaiSv.exe and avast.setup that’s it. They are the only ones in my firewal and no problem.

I know nothing of the workings of the LPC program, but does it use other sites other than google to get its link popularity data, if so and they work, then this can’t be just an avast web shield issue otherwise all would experience the same problem.

Do you have any cookie blocking software that may have this effect, no cookies, no access ?

If you terminate Web Shield are you able to connect to Google ?
There have been occasions where ZA Pro with its Privacy settings on high stopped this type of thing but that related to hotmail and that was to do with starting at an http address and being redirected to an https url (which web shield doesn’t monitor).

Does any of this seem familiar to you relating to how you get to google ?

Hi bj,
Your program requires ZA authorization.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v190/bob3160/Avast%20Forum/LPC.png

If you use it often, check the Remember this setting.
If you don’t check the allow option, you’re program will not work.
If you accidently Denied access, you’ll have to remove this item from ZA and try again before you’re going to get it
to connect to the net.
The blockage is NOT caused by avast!
Hope that helps.

Well, the program USED to work. And the program lpc.exe does have permission in ZA and always has. And it does work for every site but goog. And it did work with goog prior to the recent AV upgrade. I guess this is a help in that it seems to be eliminating the AV as the problem, even though it sure looked like it might be the issue.

Bob, did you actually try to run the program and update any of the sites? I’d be curious if it’s just me who can’t access goog through this program or if it’s everybody. Google is doing upgrades on their datacenters, which started right around the same time . . . When I highlight microsoft.com and run an update THEY don’t even have any google backlinks showing! We all know that isn’t right!

Well, the program USED to work. And the program lpc.exe does have permission in ZA and always has.

For the future, there have been occasions that ZA has either corrupted some to the allowed programs database or forgotten them (even though they still appear in the list) so if you ever have a broad non-access issue delete the entry in ZA and have it ask permission again.

It is just strange that LPC works for other sites but not google, which would rule out both the AV and firewall, otherwise all or multiple sites would be effected.

Bob, did you actually try to run the program and update any of the sites?
Sorry, I simply check for connectivity or blockage. It isn't a program I need so that's as far as I went.

Well, it’s official. It’s only MY install that’s affected. ???

I’ll try deleting the entry in ZA, I’ll uninstall the LPC prog, clean the registry, then reboot and start all over . . . wish me luck.

And thanks, everyone! You’re a good bunch!

Stick with it bj, I’m sure you will resolve it in the end, if we can help we will.

A belated welcome to the forums.


Just be sure lpc.exe you have on your computer is the correct one and not the one at the link below:

http://www.bleepingcomputer.com/startups/LPC.exe-8891.html


ooh, that was scary for a minute, Charley! But this is a program being downloaded directly from a software company which actually has a pretty good rep amongst the SEO crowd. The download url is http://axandra.com/LPC-Installer.exe so the filename is different.

I’ve actually gotta work on paying work for awhile, but I also had a thought. When I’m done geeking out for the day I’m going to get offline, delete ALL ZA entries for both LPC and Avast, then uninstall LPC, clean registry and reboot . . . MAYBE the ZA problem is in the Avast permissions and not in the LPC permissions, so if it’s either this SHOULD work. I hope. Please Big Kahuna hear my prayer!

And if anyone has anything to add to my up and coming “fix” give a holler here on the board, this is one of the few forums the email notification actually seems to work on :slight_smile:

MAYBE the ZA problem is in the Avast permissions and not in the LPC permissions
I suggest you take another look at the picture I posted... Avast scans, it doesn't block. ZA reqires permission or it WILL block.
For the future, there have been occasions that ZA has either corrupted some to the allowed programs database or forgotten them (even though they still appear in the list) so if you ever have a broad non-access issue delete the entry in ZA and have it ask permission again.

My point being that it may be the avast permission that got corrupted, not the LPC permission. I’m going to force it to “reset” both.

As has been said many times avast doesn’t do permissions or blocking, so nothing to corrupt.

As I quoted one of you as saying, ZA may have corrupted its own permissions database, thus not allowing avast files (referred to as avast permissions and possibly causing this uproar. again) and/or LPC files to access the web. Since this problem seems to have been initiated with an AV update it may be that that’s what “confused” ZA. Hence it originally appeared to have been caused by the AV, but we’ve already beaten that dead horse into its grave. Now I just have to isolate what’s happened and fix it. Maybe someday I will.

Since this problem seems to have been initiated with an AV update it may be that that's what "confused" ZA. Hence it originally appeared to have been caused by the AV, but we've already beaten that dead horse into its grave. Now I just have to isolate what's happened and fix it. Maybe someday I will.
When a problem is caused by avast!, then the remedy is to fix avast!. When the problem is clearly the fault of something else, then lay the blame on either the other problem or on the party that didn't use that program properly. We all have at one time or another said no when we should have said yes. That's what makes us human. :)

Good News!

Last night before bed I went into Zone Alarm and totally deleted all program permissions for both Avast and LPC. Then I uninstalled LPC. I ran my registry cleaner then shut down for the night.

When I got up this morning I did a fresh boot, then installed LPC into a different directory than it had been in. Got online and ZA popped up the permission screens for Avast- permission granted with the remember box checked. Ran LPC, got the ZA permission box and granted permission with the remember box checked, and knew instantly that things were gonna be better since the LPC program check for new version went through easy as can be, and with a surprise. It’s now showing Google/Earthlink as the resource being checked (google and earthlink? when did that happen?) Did the updates on the 12 domains I track and it works!

So bottom line is that somehow ZA file permissions got screwed up, as was suggested. Even though it was showing permissions for both Avast and LPC as being okay, one or the other of them wasn’t okay. Once they were deleted and re-entered everything is just fine.

Thanks for your help with this. I’m now a happy camper!

Glad you stuck with it, your issue is resolved and the culprit found ;D


Google has been the featured search engine on the Earthlink start page for a couple of years. If I do a search from my Earthlink home page but using the Google search box, the results will show up as having been searched through Earthlink. Here is an example :

http://search.earthlink.net/search?q=Avast&area=earthlink-ws&FD=0&channel=narrowband

And the same search through Google itself in the IE7 Beta2 browser search box:

http://www.google.com/search?q=Avast&rls=com.microsoft:en-US&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&startIndex=&startPage=1

The results pages are the same. :slight_smile: