Avast Blocking Edge Browser Connections

Earlier today one of my clients contacted me because he couldn’t access outlook.com via the Edge browser to check his webmail. I ended up connecting to his computer remotely through Windows 10’s Quick Assist app– what a great app this is for people such as myself to help others with their problems. Anyway, it turned out that Edge would not connect to any site, which was a very strange issue because his internet connection was working fine in every other respect. Chrome, for example, was connecting okay to every site and we had no problem connecting computer-to-computer through Quick Assist. So, it seemed the issue was directly related somehow to the Edge browser.

The Fruitless Search For A Solution

The machine was malware-free so first cab off the rank I got my client to power cycle his modem– switch it off for a couple of minutes and then switch it back on again. No change. Next, I reset Edge. Still no change. Finally, I downloaded and installed the new Chromium Edge browser and, much to my dismay, still, the issue persisted. At this stage, I was at a bit of a loss as to what to try next. I checked out various settings, ran the network troubleshooter, but everything appeared to be as it should.

The Magic Cure

I had noticed earlier that he had recently installed Avast Free Antivirus and, more in hope than expectation, I accessed Avast Free’s protection settings and under Core Shields, disabled the Web Shield component:

Somewhat surprisingly, that did the trick and Edge was now fully operational again. I have no idea why Avast’s Web Shield would affect only Edge in this manner and not Chrome but that was obviously the case. Now my client had a decision to make, I could either permanently disable Avast’s Web Shield component or uninstall Avast altogether. He decided I should uninstall Avast Free completely, a decision I agreed with. This is not only abnormal behavior for antivirus software, but it is also downright weird. Anyway, my client rang me back several hours later to report that all was tickety-boo and he was a very happy camper.

So, if you’re having problems with Edge not connecting to sites and also have Avast Free Antivirus installed, you now know how to fix it.

FURTHER READING:

• How To Use Quick Assist
• Windows 10’s ‘Quick Assist’ Built-in Remote Access App

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