I found that AdMuncher is not compatible with Avast IS 6.0.1203, specifically the Web Shield module. If Web Shield detects a malware file being downloaded, it will generate an alert but still allows the file to be downloaded if AdMuncher is active. If AdMuncher is disabled, a malware alert will also block the download as it should. System is Win7 Ultimate 32-bit, Chrome 13.0.782.107 browser.
That doesn’t surprise me too much as presumably admuncher also uses a proxy to filter ad content. Unfortunately I don’t use admuncher (honestly never found a need), so I don’t know exactly how it works, so this is a bit of speculation on my part.
So if the traffic goes through the admuncher proxy it won’t be going through the web shield proxy to be scanned.
You could try unchecking the ‘Ignore local communication’ option in the avastUI, Settings, Troubleshooting, Redirect Settings (see image) and see if that works.
Personally I wouldn’t use any admuncher style application, most browsers are more than capable of blocking ads. I use Firefox and the AdBlockPlus add-on and that works within the browser and isn’t an issue with avast.
I use avast free and Admuncher for years, with no problems. the avast webshield and Admuncher are doing overlapping tasks, so it could raise some incompatibility. but I didn’t had any problems.
I did try for a short period of time FF+ABP, and must say Admuncher is much better in filtering ads.
Well ABP has been great on my FF installation, but I do have a number of different lists subscribed.
Check the downloaded file properties.Does it show zero bytes?
No, its not a zero-byte download. It downloads the full file.
Edit: BTW, I tried unchecking the “ignore local communication” option that DavidR suggested, and that succeeded in stopping the malware download with AdMuncher active. I installed Ad-Block Plus and it doesn’t interfere with Web Shield at all.
Thanks for the feedback, I though it might resolve it as AdMuncher must be using some sort of proxy to filter out the ads. Whilst that works, it could also mean other local traffic is scanned and that could have a performance overhead.
Personally I find the AdBlock Plus option better as you aren’t having to install another application to filter ads and restore the Ignore local Communication.
Thats interesting to know.There was a thread here a while back ,similar to this ,where the malware was showing it had downloaded through admuncher but was actually zero bytes and could not be executed (only applied to firefox).Im pretty sure ,that it was version 5 when that thread was started.
http://forum.avast.com/index.php?topic=57393.0
Something must have changed since version 6.