Any help with my problem would be welcome! I have a dual boot machine with both Windows XP SP2 and Vista Home Premium installed (on separate drives). I use Avast and ZoneAlarm with Windows XP and connect to the internet through a Netgear wireless router. There are no problems with this setup, Avast works fine.
With Vista I am using the same version of Avast (version 4.7.942) and the built-in Windows firewall. Internet access is with the same Netgear router using the latest Vista drivers. However, although Avast will update itself automatically, web pages will not download in most cases; Internet Explorer just hangs with its revolving doughnut!. I have made sure the Windows firewall has ashWebsv.exe registered as an exception to access the internet, but I can only resolve the problem by stopping the Web Shield provider. Once that’s done web pages load as normal. The problem persists, even if I turn off the Windows firewall! Only stopping Web Shield cures the problem.
Now the only difference between using Windows XP and Vista with Avast, is the different operating system: it’s the same hardware (processor, display, wireless router, etc), so is anyone else having the same difficulties? If so, have you found a way round them other than truning Web Shield off? Lastly, what risks I am taking by surfing the web without Web Shield scanning the urls for me?
Let me back up: I have been using Avast! for a while, and I’ve always been very happy with it. I just got a new laptop running Vista (as a side note, so far it’s been nothing but a big pain in the neck, and it’s really not as impressive as Microsoft’s “Wow” campaign would have you try to believe). At the moment, I’m using the firewall that comes with Windows. Anyway, I installed Avast!, I was unable to view web pages (I’m using Firefox), I got annoyed.
What I forgot is that, like most new computers, this one came loaded with lots of extra junk, including McAfee Security Center. I uninstalled McAfee Security Center, uninstalled Avast!, rebooted, reinstalled Avast!, gave it permission through Windows Firewall, rebooted, and now I’m happily writing an email to my mother.
So, if Webshield is giving you grief, make sure you’ve installed Avast! with no other “competing” software on the computer. If that makes sense.
Thanks for the suggestion Nicole, but I have no other anti-virus or blocking software running apart from Windows Defender. I tried turning that off but it made no difference! This really has me stumped.
Again: is this 32-bit or 64-bit version of Windows?
Also, can you please try an alternative browser - e.g. Firefox? I’m not suggesting to use it permanently, just for the sake of testing if it makes any difference…
I am using the 32 bit version of Vista Home Premium. I have also downloaded the latest version of Firefox and tried that. Again no web pages will download unless Web Shield is stopped. Mind you, Firefox doesn’t seem to be downloading pictures even when Web Shield is off, but that’s probably a different problem altogether!
Is there any further info you want on my machine settings?
Actually if you read my post I said that I am running WIndows Vista 64 bit Ulitmate.
Thanks looking forward to getting this rectified.
If there are two of us who have taken the time and have the knowledge to locate this forum and post to it, then this could be happening to many many more people.
It’s intermittent, not constant, but it’s happened a few times since I downloaded Avast 4 Home yesterday. Occasionally just repeated refreshes work, but generally I have to pause Web Shield to get it to work.
I had a same problem. Web browsing was working ONLY if I disabled WebShield.
Because I had problem with MSN (connecting to server) too , I was searching for solution about MSN. And I found simple fix to repair MSN connection. I used this solution and… ;D my problem with Avast WebShield is resolved by the way :).
Maybe it was an accident ,or maybe not…
I found this solution:
“- Click Start>All Programs>Accessories>Command Prompt
- Right-click on command prompt
- Click Run As Administrator
- Type the following: [b]netsh int tcp set global autotuninglevel=disabled[/b]
- Press enter
- Restart your computer”
I hope ,so it helps you like help me. After restart i don`t disable Avast WebShield and my IE & Firefox works fine. :)
Thanks for the suggestion. I tried it and it has completely solved my problem - Web Shield is now on and all web pages seem to downoad as normal! Brilliant!
We’ll have a pre-release fix of WebShield tonight that will solve the problem even without this hack.
That is, the “netsh” hack is not really recommended because it may slow down your network traffic quite a bit.
The update has cured my problem. I’ve undone the temporary fix by entering netsh int tcp set global autotuninglevel=normal at the command prompt (running as administrator) and Web Shield is back on. All web pages are downloading at the same speed as with Avast and Windows XP. It looks as though early adopters of Vista are really just acting as beta testers for Microsoft (or should we be called gamma testers?).
