DavidR
12
Yes it is relevant as it outlines why the windows firewall is unable to see the redirect (by a program you have a rule for) into the web shield proxy.
Avast version 7 uses supported API of Windows 7, that is created solely for the purpose of redirecting network connections. It uses it to redirect connections. It is new in avast7, however Windows7 is not such a brand new OS and the redirect api (REDIRECT layers in WFP) are there since the Win7 launch (2 years? More?). There is no other supported way of doing it.
The tool can create windows 7 firewall rules to get round the fact that the windows firewall uses an older api for redirects.