AVG blocks access to remote computers using PcAnywhere

Vee Mod
I Agree. Depending on which version he has paid for he may have taken over the Firewall setting from XP as AVG 8 is also a Firewall product.
Gary

On the Remote at my home, AVG 8.0 is installed.  At the office (host) AVG Free is installed.  No attempt to deal with  ports 5631+2 has been attempted as AVG Free does not have a firewall.  Other host computers receive my querys and connect just fine but they do not have AVG anything.  NAT must be on as the router talks just fine to the others.  The ports are all laddered for each computer.  All are XP Pro (current patching).  As host with AVG free does not have firewall, each AVG host is on the Microsoft default outgoing only firewall.  No attempt has been made to modify the Microsoft firewall.  Can it BE modified and tweaked by the user?  Thus the three XP offenders are XP Pro on AVG free and the remote at my home is XP Pro running AVG 8.0 paid.  All but the three AVG free computers are interacting fine.  At my home, the remote was using Trend Micro and was switched to AVG 8.0 paid which gave me right to have the AVG Support Team work on this problem.  Their responses take about three days which is no support at all.

I would check just to be sure that the 5631+2 ports are open on the XP firewall.  I've seen instances with installing AVG 8 that those ports have been closed, even though they aren't supposed to be.

Check the Firewall Exceptions and confirm the Ports for PCAw (yours may not be Default 5631/32) are Exceptions. I suggest specifically adding the ports you require.
If that fails to solve the problem then:
From one computer only remove AVG and then check the PCAw connectivity.
If it works then AVG is blocking something. I would need to do some wider testing to isolate that cause but would be surprised if was ports being affected.
GS

Windows Firewall may block some programs from communicating over the Internet after you install Windows XP Service Pack 2

and

How to manually open ports in Internet Connection Firewall in Windows XP

are two port opening Microsoft KB articles that I propose to take to the company on Tuesday to see if your suggestions are correct.   I had not thought of ports being under my control in the Microsoft XP firewall.  We shall see....

Thank you for the clarification of where to find the Microsoft  outgoing default  ports.

Do you have a favorite port scanner?

About 4 hours from now I will be able to test your suppositions.  

Note that I am still able to get to yet another AVG (free) computer that I did not remember went just fine and is still avaialbe for remote PcAnywhere operation without difficulty.  I am still using AVG (paid) (installed about a week ago) on my remote and AVG (free) on four HOST computers - three of them having difficulties.  

Jim
I use IPScan from AngryIP. It's free and easy use.
Just a small note, the ports you are wishing to set check in the Firewall are the incoming ports.

The story is now known.  There was some sort of change in the Windows XP firewall wherein the PcAnywhere requirements have to be set into the Windows XP firewall manually.  The firewall had identified that PcAnywhere was an option by providing the notation with an UNCHECKED box preceding the notation.  All that had to be accomplished was to check the box!  No reboots necessary.  Further, while the capability to do so is present, there was no need to set the TCP and UDP ports to a specific number or direction.

So this mess can be considered answered in full.  Thanks much for the insight you provided - especially in the case that a working procedure before was turned into a non-working procedure, probably by a Microsoft patch.

Jim

GaeyStevens hung in there for the duration.