[Solved] Avast account login problem

[Pallid Planetoid]

Oh and I should have added this to my post on the previous page (last post on page 1).

I've tried to login into the Avast Forum doing the following:
1) New Private Window
2) Restart with add-ons disabled
3) Start in safe-mode

No luck for multiple browsers, the best I can get is if I click on the login link the forum web page, just for a quick moment the web page acts like it's going to load the login page but the page ends up looking the same as before. Clearly one of those two procedures above should allow a login, especially steps 2 and 3.

So as a "guest" only in the Avast forum there is not any way to use the Avast forum to post issues/comments. Hmm, .... to b sure a really perplexing situation to say the least.

Anyone else having the same problem

[davews]

Just to say that I have just encountered this issue, unable to login to the Avast forum with PM25.7.3. I don't have a 'My Avast' account so can't check that. Can login with Opera 12.17 and have posted a reply to the existing thread on this topic there - https://forum.avast.com/index.php?topic=174762.0
Lots of discussion about deleting cookies there but none of it changed anything. I assume the orange triangle exclamation mark we get is something specific to Palemoon?

[Pallid Planetoid]

Just to say that I have just encountered this issue, unable to login to the Avast forum with PM25.7.3. I don't have a 'My Avast' account so can't check that. Can login with Opera 12.17 and have posted a reply to the existing thread on this topic there - https://forum.avast.com/index.php?topic=174762.0
Lots of discussion about deleting cookies there but none of it changed anything. I assume the orange triangle exclamation mark we get is something specific to Palemoon?

The deleting of cookies was because the Avast cookies needed to be cleared to fix problems for some users regarding all other browsers that could not login to Avast.

In regards to Pale Moon, the Avast login problem using Pale Moon is not fixed by clearing cookies. It would appear that the problem Pale Moon has logging into Avast started when Avast changed their login procedure by merging logins so that my.avast.com and forum.avast.com were no longer separate logins but instead became the same login as of some time in August, 2015. Take a look at this post in a topic in the Avast forum for more details: Re: Forum: Login problem. (refer to the Avast forum link posted in my link posted here that states the following quote:

my.avast.com and forum.avast.com are the same now. My avast change password and manage emails will be integrated into the form as well, but changing it my.avast.com will propagate it to forum.avast.com immediately.

About the time when Pale Moon users started reporting the inability to login to Avast would appear to coincide with about the same time this comment was posted by a moderator in the Avast forum regarding a change Avast made to their login. (I am also suspicious that the cookies problems some users had with all other browsers, possibly longer-term users, was likely related to this change as well)

[Moonchild]

As far as I can tell they are trying to use "promises" without checking for their existence in browsers... Yes, on a login screen -- it makes very little sense to do that.

I think they used a cookie-cutter library for this "single sign-on" and likely have no way to troubleshoot or fix it as a result.

EDIT: If they would use any of the server-side shims available, I'm sure they could extend their browser accessibility a lot...

[Pallid Planetoid]

As far as I can tell they are trying to use "promises" without checking for their existence in browsers...

Considering the likelihood that Avast will never get around to addressing this issue I have a question:

In regards to webpages using "promises"; How difficult and/or practical would it be to include "their existence" in PM or perhaps a better way to say it would be to provide a way for PM to address asynchronous programming

I ask this not only in regards to the Avast login problem, but also the following comment "Asynchronous patterns are becoming more common and more important to moving web programming forward.", found in this linked article on September 2011 titled: Asynchronous Programming in JavaScript with “Promises”.

Thanks

[Pallid Planetoid]

I've discovered what can cause ALL browsers (other than PM) to be unable to login to the Avast forum.

Avast requires a new registration each year for users of FREE Avast. If a user happens to register using an email address different than the email address that matches the email address for the forum account and the user then understandably would create an Avast Account (my.avast.com) under the different (new) email address that they registered the Avast AV account for another year under then once the user is logged into that new Avast Account login (my.avast.com) using the different email address then the user cannot login to the forum. The user will find themselves not logged into the forum and the "login" link in the forum will not work as long as the user remains logged into Avast (my.avast.com) with the email that does not match the email address on file for the forum. What happens in this case when the user clicks on the login link in the forum is nothing.

For the forum to work the user must login using the email account that matches the email account that was originally registered for the forum account, but then the Avast account information will not be in sync with the Avast AV because the new registration is under the different (new) email account in this example. The way I look at it who cares if the Avast account information isn't the same as what it is with the other email address, this information has very little importance anyway because most of this information just amounts to Avast promotional stuff, the free account is still good for AV protection for a year which is what matters so the user should just login to their Avast account (my.avast.com) using the original email address that is on file for the forum to have the forum work as well and then everything that needs to work that really matters then does.

I don't think Avast thought this "all-in-one" login idea out very well. (every other forum is based on a UID and not an Email address and in the case of Avast this email address linkage complicates things in regards to the Avast account login requirements)

As to PM however, no matter what is done none of the Avast logins work including the Avast account (my.avast.com) login as well as the login link in the forum. What happens in any case with PM is that some kind of odd error type page occurs that consists of a partial page and an orange triangle when attempting to login in either case.

Of course using PM without the ability to login to the Avast forum posting is unavailable and therefore we can only view (to some extent) forum posts in a limited way (attachments fail to display unless logged in).

I thought I'd post this to help Avast users with Avast login problems as well as just in case this might offer insight into any ideas as to what can be done to help the Avast login work with PM.

[davews]

I reported this issue to Avast via their ticket system. After the first response ('clear your cookies and history...') I have just been told that they have confirmed the issue with Palemoon and passed it to their developers. Whether they solve it remains to be seen...

[Moonchild]

I've checked and it's not just an issue with promises - even if I get promises working in Pale Moon (which I'm able to on my working copy with some juggling), I still get the very same nondescript exclamation point with no indicator what it wants or needs. They use a (very) specific combination of javascript functions without providing any sort of check or fallback for browsers that just don't happen to support exactly the combination of ES6 functions they need. Of course the default response is the one-liner "we don't support any browsers but the ones we prefer" which doesn't help.

[Moonraker]

Well considering avast always try to sneak chrome on to the end user i would be very surprised indeed if they ever issue a solution.Last version of avast i used personally was v5 on a windows computer,However i use linux now and i dont feel the need for an av.
Pure laziness on their part to only support certain browsers.

[Pallid Planetoid]

I reported this issue to Avast via their ticket system. After the first response ('clear your cookies and history...') I have just been told that they have confirmed the issue with Palemoon and passed it to their developers. Whether they solve it remains to be seen...

Sorry to be the bearer of sad news but I've found out there's not much hope there ever will be an update from Avast on this.

I know the last you've heard from Avast is the following:

Second response from Avast support just received:

"Hello Dave, I have reproduced it and sent to our developers. When I will have any information i will contact you again."

I ALSO submitted a "Support Request" regarding this issue as of 11/8/15 as well - Ticket ID: 21898

After a few days of emails from Avast Support having me try a few workaround links finally I asked the following:

Will Avast be addressing this issue and eventually provide a patch or upgrade to fix this in the future? If so do you know when?

Or will this be something that Avast will not be fixing at all going forward and therefore require users to have to use an alternate browser than Pale Moon for the foreseeable future?

Here's the response from Avast that I got after 5 previous messages from Avast trying out ways to work-around the problem - QUOTE:

... [since] it is an Avast issue, I dont think they would be considering trying to look for a possible resolution anytime soon. Palemoon is quite a small browser in comparison to Chrome, Firefox & Internet Explorer, if they found that this browser became a widely used one, then I am sure they would consider it. But for now, it works in other more popular browsers, so I would suggest using these when you need to login to Avast.

WOW ---- It's really sad that Avast isn't interested in doing anything for Pale Moon users just because Avast doesn't consider Pale Moon "popular" enough for Avast to take the time to look into the problem.

I sure wish there was any possible way that Pale Moon developers could find some way to work-around this problem with the Avast forum login (hint hint) since Avast is offering virtually NO HOPE!!!!

[davews]

Thanks Pale Moon Rising. I have had no further communication from Avast and it looks as if they are not even interested in finding the reason even though it may well be something fairly easy to sort out at their end.

[Pallid Planetoid]

In reference to my post above (2nd post up), I have received an email from Avast Support this morning informing me that my problem ticket is now closed:

Ticket ID: 21898

Subject: Avast forum login problems with Palemoon browser. An error appears as an orange triangle with only a partial forum page displayed. The issue has been well documented in various forum including Avast and Pale Moon forums.

If you do not need any more help, we will consider this ticket closed.

I guess that's the end of it and the last correspondence I got from Avast Support (in my post above, 2nd post up) is all there is to it.

[davews]

Still trying here.... as I have commented on the Avast forum I have replied to the last support email I received asking if there has been any progress. I don't expect it will get us anywhere. There seems to be an awful lot of animosity from the so called 'uberevangelists' in that forum, the ones who are supposed to be there to respond to queries together with a clear indication that they don't understand what the problem is.

[Moonchild]

As long as Avast doesn't tell us what the problem is, there isn't anything we can do. They might not even know themselves because they use a third-party framework that obviously doesn't do due diligence checks on support by browsers. They also have plenty of options to fix this server-side with any of the available frameworks for broad browser support; but it seems they are just going to stick with their "use one of the browsers we think are popular enough to support" and do not want to get off their "shiny framework" trip that, in fact, isn't needed for a login of all things.

Them pointedly not supporting Pale Moon users will likely cost them customers in the long run. Pale Moon is gaining popularity as well; how long do they want to keep playing the "not popular enough" card?

PS: I don't even understand why they want to use FusionJS for it. It's a framework for WebGL 3D; what does that have to do with AV? Of note: it's by far less popular than the browser they don't support. In fact, you'll be hard-pressed to actually find a page for it in search results, as the google code page is no longer there, and fusionjs.com is just a logo and obviously not in use...

[davews]

Latest response from Avast:

"Hello Dave, Developers check it. They are solving many issues with new version now. However the new hotfix will be
released they will solve issue with Palemoon problem.  Best regards, Lukas Havel Technical support specialist"

Not sure what that means, and I expect the hotfix he is referring to is for the AV and not the web interface, but there still seems to be hope...

[Pallid Planetoid]

Latest response from Avast:

"Hello Dave, Developers check it. They are solving many issues with new version now. However the new hotfix will be
released they will solve issue with Palemoon problem.  Best regards, Lukas Havel Technical support specialist"

Not sure what that means, and I expect the hotfix he is referring to is for the AV and not the web interface, but there still seems to be hope...

That's promising news and exactly what I'm hoping for if in fact it will be a "hotfix" (which I've been told would not be the case by Avast forum contributors but instead would be a "fix" included in version updates) because I don't really want to apply a version update to my current version at this time considering all the issues recently reported with recent versions being released lately but clearly prefer a targeted "hotfix" to directly address the Avast forum login issue independently. Crossing my fingers, thanks davews for the hopeful update and please post anything more you hear about this.

[davews]

There seems suggestions on the Avast forums that an update to the AV engine will solve this. But surely this is absolutely nothing to do with the AV apart from having the same login information. I would hazard a guess that people cannot login to the Avast forum even if they have never installed Avast on their machines. This is a web interface problem pure and simple. Maybe one of those on here without Avast installed can check this at https://forum.avast.com/ - you don't even need an account at the forums as with the fault we don't even get a login screen just a little orange triangle with an exclamation mark.
As an aside when I switched my very old XP machine on last night I found I couldn't login to the Avast forum with Firefox 3.6 - the symptoms were a bit different in that I got a little icon saying 'loading' which never went away. It is not exclusively a Palemoon problem.

[LimboSlam]

This is a web interface problem pure and simple. Maybe one of those on here without Avast installed can check this at https://forum.avast.com/ - you don't even need an account at the forums as with the fault we don't even get a login screen just a little orange triangle with an exclamation mark.

Yes this is definitely a web interface problem. I don't have Avast and so tested with Pale Moon v25.8.

Pale Moon v25.8 on Avast login page:

Firefox ESR v38.4 on Avast login page:

As an aside when I switched my very old XP machine on last night I found I couldn't login to the Avast forum with Firefox 3.6 - the symptoms were a bit different in that I got a little icon saying 'loading' which never went away. It is not exclusively a Palemoon problem.

For this particular issue, could it be that this version of Firefox is to damn old!?? Well because every other main line browser that is up-to-date does not this issue, so.....?

[Pallid Planetoid]

There seems suggestions on the Avast forums that an update to the AV engine will solve this. But surely this is absolutely nothing to do with the AV apart from having the same login information. I would hazard a guess that people cannot login to the Avast forum even if they have never installed Avast on their machines. This is a web interface problem pure and simple. Maybe one of those on here without Avast installed can check this at https://forum.avast.com/ - you don't even need an account at the forums as with the fault we don't even get a login screen just a little orange triangle with an exclamation mark.
As an aside when I switched my very old XP machine on last night I found I couldn't login to the Avast forum with Firefox 3.6 - the symptoms were a bit different in that I got a little icon saying 'loading' which never went away. It is not exclusively a Palemoon problem.

I got the same thing trying it on my old XP machine as well the first time (hangs at loading and no little orange triangle) but I seem to recall on the 2nd attempt I eventually did get the "little orange triangle" (could be wrong but that's what I recall). I would add however I have Avast AV installed on the XP as well. I'm also pretty sure I had a much more recent version of Firefox than 3.6 (probably a release somewhere in the late 30's), but it's just not worth taking the time to check out because my XP is on dial-up since it has no wireless connection capability.

Note: At one stage I was getting the "little orange triangle" on the laptop I normally use on ALL browsers (FF, Chrome, IE and PM) for a time until I cleared cookies for each browser which then left Pale Moon the only browser with the problem. (I have to say I'm very pleased with Pale Moon so it by all means remains my default browser regardless. I have problems with all three of the other browsers that are more irritating; FF occasional blank page instead of start-page when browser is launched, Chrome virtually never blocks ads on start-up, IE never blocks ads period even w/ ABP due to filter subscriptions limit of one on IE. Oh and I think Pale Moon support is far better than the other three browsers as well )

[New Tobin Paradigm]

This has NOTHING to do with their Antivirus product.. It has to do with their javascript and/or server side scripting. THIS MUST BE WHAT YOU COMMUNICATE TO THEM.