So I use 'free for personal use' Avast Antivirus at home for the past couple of years. It's been mostly good though I've had some reservations about it - namely, nag pop-ups and so on. Some months ago (or maybe was it a year ago?) there was a program update and it wanted me to install 'Avira Internet Security'. Now I had no need for this (I use COMODO firewall which has been quite good) however, there was no way around it. Avira's update process said I could revert back to the free Antivirus version anytime without a re-install or a re-anything!
Not much of an option and you can't blame them for trying to push their products and convert free users to paying ones - so I went ahead with the upgrade. About a fortnight ago, I started getting warnings about 'your trial licenses is about to expire' and so on. The good thing about the internet security product was that it was discreet - in fact, safe to say that I even forgot that I installed it.
Remembering the notices about the trial expiring and reverting back to the free version, I chose to ignore all the warnings till yesterday afternoon when the wife called me up at work about 'internet not working from the home machine'. Now my wifi dongle on the home pc does once in a while show up with a 'Limited connection' that's quickly fixed with either disabling and enabling the dongle or unplugging it and putting it back in the USB port. I offered that up as a solution and a few hours later am told that it hasn't fixed the issue.This morning I finally sat down to see what was up. Turns out that the WIFI just wouldnt connect. So up comes device manager and under Network Devices I see a whole lot of 'avast! NDIS filter' virtual devices showing up. Opened Avast! gui and there are no panels for turning the thing off... Its reverted back to the free version - but has killed my net connection in the process! Not a happy camper at this point - still wasn't worried since I figured there've got to be tons of users with the same problem and it probably has a simple fix. Google did not reveal any simple fixes - Avast's community forum had help! Avast Internet Security trial expired, no internet connection and Avast Internet Security Trial seems to have affected my internet connection. The suggestions offered - buy a license, uninstall and re-install Avast etc were just not Ok. I definitely wasn't the only one affected but looks like a small but sizable user population was affected. If that was so, then Avast! should have done something about it - however, looks like they don't believe much in that. Agreed it's a free product and will not merit levels of support that you'd get for something that you pay for. But:
Not much of an option and you can't blame them for trying to push their products and convert free users to paying ones - so I went ahead with the upgrade. About a fortnight ago, I started getting warnings about 'your trial licenses is about to expire' and so on. The good thing about the internet security product was that it was discreet - in fact, safe to say that I even forgot that I installed it.
Remembering the notices about the trial expiring and reverting back to the free version, I chose to ignore all the warnings till yesterday afternoon when the wife called me up at work about 'internet not working from the home machine'. Now my wifi dongle on the home pc does once in a while show up with a 'Limited connection' that's quickly fixed with either disabling and enabling the dongle or unplugging it and putting it back in the USB port. I offered that up as a solution and a few hours later am told that it hasn't fixed the issue.This morning I finally sat down to see what was up. Turns out that the WIFI just wouldnt connect. So up comes device manager and under Network Devices I see a whole lot of 'avast! NDIS filter' virtual devices showing up. Opened Avast! gui and there are no panels for turning the thing off... Its reverted back to the free version - but has killed my net connection in the process! Not a happy camper at this point - still wasn't worried since I figured there've got to be tons of users with the same problem and it probably has a simple fix. Google did not reveal any simple fixes - Avast's community forum had help! Avast Internet Security trial expired, no internet connection and Avast Internet Security Trial seems to have affected my internet connection. The suggestions offered - buy a license, uninstall and re-install Avast etc were just not Ok. I definitely wasn't the only one affected but looks like a small but sizable user population was affected. If that was so, then Avast! should have done something about it - however, looks like they don't believe much in that. Agreed it's a free product and will not merit levels of support that you'd get for something that you pay for. But:
- I did not ask for the installation of the 'Premium' product trial.
- There was no option to opt out of the 'trial'
- They actively messaged that there's 'nothing to lose' from using the trial.
- Device manager - Remove all 'Avast!' virtual devices with a right click 'Uninstall'
- Restart
- No WIFI still... so open 'Network and sharing center-> Change Adapter settings-> Wifi Connection -> properties'. In the 'This connection uses the following items:' list there was one more avast! filter device. Selected and uninstalled that too and restarted again.
- Back in business...WIFI is back up and running!
I can't find a way to keep my internet connection after Avast Internet Security is uninstalled. Once I install it, it breaks my connection. The only window I have to get online is the time btw reinstalling, rebooting, and then uninstalling again and again. My laptop now freezes or finds some way to make me reboot after uninstalling this POS, and then my connection is down again. I really need some help figuring this out. I've not seen any duplicate Avast drivers under network connections per se, but they do leave some active modules in Device Manager under System devices if you show HIDDEN.
ReplyDeleteI used to LOVE Avast. Recommended it to everyone since early XP as it was lightweight and fast, and seemed to catch everything. Started becoming bloatware around 5 and 6 so I just stopped using, but now this is pretty much a criminal pay enterprise. There is NO WAY I should have a program where I can't easily turn it off from my dashboard. Like Webroot, if they feared a virus was going to compromise the PC, then MAKE THE USER TYPE A CAPTCHA!! Avast techs either deserve a lawsuit or an asskicking for what they've done to the product. You need to make dummy nodes to route traffic through, FINE! But when you do such, MAKE THEM FULLY REVERSIBLE. I have combed all through Avast's tech support and they have been made aware of the problem. If that it the case, why is the same buggy software STILL AVAILABLE TO ME WHEN MY FIRST INSTALLATION WAS JULY 8TH??? I'm still angry that I had System Restore activated, but it doesn't save anything anymore, as I heard all you had to do was uninstall and go back until before. I hate both Win7 (I paid for x64 professional and it's a nightmare) and Avast. Thanks for the write up.
omg omg thank you so much! *cries of happiness*thnk you so much *hugs* i got my intrnt back. i went to university ict centre ths mornng n they told me to format my laptop! such a lot of work to do. anyway thnks a million to you for willing to share this tutorial. again, thank you. no more avast for me too. damn angry with avast.
ReplyDeleteavast paid license killed my outgoing email after it expired. customer service is useless.
ReplyDeleteFree Avast is good, but it has a burden, that you should not greedy about it's other trial/free program/software's which it offers. One Avast! free software is good for non-commercial PC!.
ReplyDeleteTo avoid any calamity, just disable the auto update feature and update manually weekly manually by downloading its free virus definition updates -
http://files.avast.com/iavs5x/vpsupd.exe
http://download69.avast.com/iavs5x/vpsupd.exe
And use Firefox 10 with some Add-ons : WOT; Better Privacy; Adblock; Interclue; No Script; Quick Java etc.
Before you jump to a Link or to any download, please verify them with:
http://safeweb.norton.com
http://www.siteadvisor.com/
If you are using Free Security then please have patience with it and always be careful. AND if you are using Windows then please install "Windows Defender" its free and safe and update its malware definition from:
http://download.microsoft.com/download/DefinitionUpdates/mpas-fe.exe
In this way you will be safe for sure,
@Ram Das - not sure how disabling updates would have helped - Avast would still have killed the net connection.
ReplyDeleteRest of your advice makes a lot of sense - and I've moved to Windows Defender right after this incident..
dear dear Raghu, THANK YOU SOO SOOO MUCH! You saved me with your detailed advice. Thank you thank you thank you. You saved my dissertation! X!
ReplyDeleteThanks Raghu!! Finally got my internet connection/wi-fi back.
ReplyDeleteHi all. Saw the Avast forum and they say it is a known problem. Just disable Self Defense module in Settings > Troubleshooting and restart PC (maybe not one time restart needed) to see if these entries are gone. In my case worked. Good luck.
ReplyDeletebest advice I`ve got off the net yet!!!!!
ReplyDeleteThank-you! Thank-you! Thank-you Raghu!
ReplyDeleteMy wireless connection shut down after I did an official uninstall of the avast internet security and then rebooted. I was in a panic today until I came across your posting here (via my iPad) and low and behold under wireless network connection properties an avast filter driver was still there.
I had found other forum posts that had folks doing all sorts of things and I thought there has to be another way. I'm so grateful to your post with 'another way' that worked for me. Yeah!
I plan to make sure there aren't any other lingering avast items out there as well.
Agree. Best advice ever!
It took a while but I got rid of all avast files. 1 download and install unlocker. 2. Boot to safe mode you know, the f8 routine. When windows is up go to my computer - program files and find avast software and right click. Select unlocker from the menu and another menu shows with a small button saying actions, select delete and it will remove all avast files. Then reboot as normal.
ReplyDeleteRaghu, you sir, are a saviour. Many thanks!
ReplyDeleteAvast has done its job to protect you from malicious things on the net...by completely killing your connection. I had this problem in November 2012, format pc to get things working then fast forward to July 7th 2013 this crap still with same problems and no fix except to uninstall. Avast has gone downhill like Nero became bloated with too many things you dont need. And they want you to pay £29.99 for this junk?
ReplyDelete