Avira is a strong package, though I'm not personally too keen on it myself. Much prefer AVG and Zone Alarm or just basic Windows Firewall is enough for me.

Will mark this one as resolved in any case.

I thought the windows firewall only blocks inbound - not outbound

I suspect it's anti virus portion of Avira that is scanning the exe's for virus's before they start. I've mentioned the firewall as Avira Security suite comes with it's own firewall, nothing to do with Stepes issue.

No I only have avira antivir and zonealarm. But yeah thats a plausible explanation

Hey Guys

@Stepes - I really think that if avira is causing you so much grief, you should consider switching to Avast. You may have better results. AVs are persnickety and it's possibly not your personal best choice. Also, Avast does have the tray icon option, and is easier for you to disable should you need to.

You should have your AV, a firewall , and an anti-spyware program. As you have two out of the three, please download AVG AS, to complete your protection. It will not interfere with your .exe files, and may save you trouble later on.

TTFN

LGW