Upload Issues (Web Shield) [Fix inbound]

Dear Avast,

Since Version 2011 I have been experiencing issues with uploading files to dmcloud and sproutvideo. The uploaders would claim that my upload speed was 3gb/s when the actual speed is kb/s I have found disabling the Web Shield fixes the issue however I wanted to find a simple fix. I installed the new beta hoping this had been fixed only to find that the issue is still active. I have installed a clean version of Windows and have gotten the same issues as before.

Problem:Uploading content to websites using flash and HTML5 uploaders results in the illusion of “ultra fast” speeds when the file is being actively skipped by Web Shield.
OS: Windows 7 64 Bit SP1
Clean Install?: Yes
Clean OS Install?: Yes
Avast Version: 9.0.9.2012
Troubleshooting: Disable Web Shield and attempt to upload file. File Uploads act normally. Reactivate Shield and uploads start to zoom up in gb/s rather than kb/s.
Installs: Installing from version 2011 to version 2012 caused the anti-spam module to disable it’s self. Installing BETA 2012 on clean OS Install has fixed this problem however the web shield issue is still active.

I have installed the latest BETA build and it has become even more unstable after doing a straight install over the previous version.

Should i do a clean install?

Thanks
Oliver

[update 1]: AVAST has offloaded some of the web shield resources onto the “cloud” causing a bottleneck when uploads happen. This was meant to improve performance and provide on-the-fly updates to the latest vulnerabilities however people with slower uploads/connections are finding this problematic. Testing was done on a fast network at AVAST so this bug wasn’t discovered until users started using the product. This has happened in the past with other Avast products and is just part and parcel of modern software development. It has been suggested that making the shield go into “proxy mode” ie without streaming updates should help provide a temp fix
[update 2]: I contacted Lukor to get an update on the progress of the bug, He provided me with an Alpha build which has fixed the issue. This should be passed down to everyone else thru a new software update however you will need to switch off of proxy mode to get the streaming mode back.
[update 3:Build 2013 has been released to everyone http://forum.avast.com/index.php?topic=145192.0;topicseen

Ive had to reformat the machine again, Since installing the beta the following issues have happened.

Flash Player (ActiveX) has removed its self from the uninstall list.
Web Shield crashes Avast after disabling the Web Shield during an upload.
Web Shield is currently causing the computer to provide inaccurate reading of the upload speed of the computer when uploading.
The Anti-spam module has been disabled since installing the beta version of avast. running a repair install has not helped resolve this issue.

OS:Win 7 64bit
Avast Version: 2012

In Version 2011 I also had issues with the Web Shield however I had the ability to disable the shield with less crashes. Since the beta update 2012 the computer has become unstable. I am very disappointed with the changes in Web Shield.

Ok Day 2 of problems (No Response from AVAST yet…)

Have installed a clean copy of windows and a clean copy of avast 2012 (Beta)

Have tried to upload a video to sproutvideo.com using the HTML5 uploader and have had the upload uploading at 6gb/s (which isnt correct) after disabling the web shield I am able to upload again without issues. The same problem also happens with api.dmcloud.net and dmcloud.net’s flash uploader. Disabling the Shield is the only way past this or finding an alternative piece of software until Avast can fix this. I have been using Avast since version 7 without problems. Now with Avast 9 there has been software updater issues and uploading problems.

OliPicard please keep all your posts regarding this issue here in the one topic, posting in multiple areas gets confusing.

Hi Criag, Ok thought that the Web Shield fix post would be the place to post feedback as lukor said "I would be very happy to hear about your experience with the patched driver.
" When i had this issue with 2011 I was informed it was related to that fault posted on the forum. Sorry if i caused any offense.

There is not much I can offer you in explanations I’m afraid, I never had to use any patched driver and the beta functions perfectly for me.

I have reported this topic so hopefully the avast team will look into it for you.

Much Appreciated, I’m confused as well! Hopefully it’s something we can fix

Sorry, but I am really p*ssed off!

Since before Christmas I have problems with the new Avast!
First Dropbox synchronization was and is not possible anymore (upload)
and I hung up with that (also in the Dropbox-Support forums).

Now I habe seen, that it seems to be that generally uploads to websites
are difficult, because that doesn´t work either! With the same problems,
first ridiculous high speeds, but no uploading at all.

I tried repairing Avast, I tried the fix, I tried the beta, nothing helps.

Problem ist the web shield.
Next problem: Avast freezes most of the times, when I try to deactivate
the web shield!!! I event can´t kill the frozen Avast-task with the task monitor!

Then I have a jolly entertainment with rebooting my computer, waiting
for Avast, trying to deactivate the web shield again, freezin´, rebooting
my computer AGAIN and so on and on.

I use:
Windows 7 Home SP 1, 64 bit
Avast Free, 22014.9.0.2012, Version 140114-1

aswstm.sys - file version: 9.0.2012.285
and no aswstm.sys.sum anymore since installing beta

I guess we all have better things to do, than testing this, installing
that, trying something else and so on.

I need my internet connection to share data, it just has to work, which
it does not since before christmas!

I was always satisfied with Avast, for many years. Ok, sometimes there
were updates which gave false positives, but that was mostly repaired
a +few hours later+, so no need to complain.

But this time I am waiting nearly a month for a working update, which
is much too much trouble!

Please: I want a solution and it would be nice, if it came finally!
I really wish I could have the old program back, really!

Cheers,

Monica

P.S. sorry for my English, but in the German forum groups
I found no similar thread.

Hi Parabell,

Glad to see I’m not the only one experience problems :smiley: I am having the same issues as you have described which points to the web shield. Avast has been notified of this thread so hopefully we can get this fixed soon. I can see people from Avast are on the forums at the moment so hopefully it wont be long before we get an official notice back from Avast.

Thanks, Oli for inviting me to this thread!

Yeah, I am really going nut about this problem…
today I found out that many of my uploads to other of my clients had
not succeeded also - like the Dropbox-problems.

I roused their supports, too, who couldn´t find anything.
Quite ashaming to find out that it seems to be Avast in this cases,
too!

Thanks god I managed today after some disabling-webshield-frozen
Avast,rebooting Computer-tries to deactivate the web shield. So I
can redo the uploads of the last week(s).

Besides that I am not quite happy to “surf the net without condome”. :->

Ok, lets wait a little more and hope for the best…

I notified guys responsible and the will look into it. If you gather more information (ideally reproducible by us), we’ll be grateful.

Hi drake127,

Many Thanks, Would you like a support package/log? I would be happy to email the logs over to you.

I have the same problem for days now and with many programs that exchange information with the web.

You should be able to reproduce the web shield bug because I can and it has this behaviour every time.

Windows 8 x64 machine
dropbox latest version: 2.6.2
avast version: 2014.9.0.2011
definitions: 140117-0

With all shields active throw some files in dropbox (in my case more than 350 files total size more than 2GB) because I just migrated my files from box for having sync issues there as well…now I’m starting to believe that it is avast that causes all this.

So… dropbox will try to sync, it will show random/fake/enormous upload speeds, but nothing will be synced.

Then turn off web shield, restart dropbox then everything uploads smoothly with realistic upload speeds reported by dropbox and files appear on the web interface uploaded one by one.

If there is a way to get you guys a log or something go ahead and ask!

I have sent you a support package and screenshots/other logs to try and help. The screenshots show in great depth the issue. If anyone else from AVAST would like a copy of these logs drop me a PM on the forum or post in this thread. Thanks :smiley:

Just out of interest have you noticed this issue only on larger files? Can you Sync small files or is it just all files? I noticed when uploading to websites using HTTP4 and HTML5 that small uploads (less than 10mb) uploaded OK however anything over this amount resulted in Upload issues as described in the original post.

I had the problems with lots of small files (jpgs 2-5mb) and
also with files about 500GB, as well on Dropbox as with some
http/https uploads (not all of them, some Sites work, some not).

My first problems I had with dropbox, uploading the latest
Wedding pics to my boss, which worked always for one or
two pictures after reebooting the computer. After three days
and only some files uploaded, I transferred the files via
network to my Win 7 professional 64Bit, also with Avast on
it, from which i was able to upload the files without probs.

At that time I had no clue and tried all the way down to
deinstalling dropbox, reinstalling, deleting caches and so on.

Since I found out Avast being the cause, I figured out that
after a reboot of my computer dropbox was somewhat quicker
launched and online than Avast, so always a few pics got
out, so that phenomenon made sense.

On my computer it worked few days to exclude all the dropbox
directories from Avast in the settings - but now that doesn’t work
either. No idea, why.

It’s kind of maddening…

Has anybody also a Win7 Home and Prof computer and can confirm
if this problem is existent on both versions or only on the home edition?

I can confirm the issue is on Windows 7 Pro and Ultimate versions. Not sure about the Home one.

Ok, then it is just luck that my win7 prof had none of these issues,
while my Win7 home keeps me swearing… :o

I haven’t really noticed, the only thing I noticed is that if I left avast with shields on (before I realise that this was causing problems), was that when I exited dropbox and then re opened it, it manage to upload 4-5 files that were around 2MB each, then everything stalled even other files that were that small…
I hope this resolves soon…

Ah Ok, Was just checking as I have found smaller files with the flash uploader would upload ok. With normal HTTP and HTML5 uploads however the issue is still active even with smaller files.