Tech: Zone Alarm Problem

Subject: Tech: Zone Alarm Problem
From: Bev and Jerry
Date: 11 Jun 04 - 11:42 PM

We're using XP and have been running Zone Alarm for about seven months with no problem. Now there seems to be a problem.

Sometimes our system acts like there's no internet connection. We're using cable and should have a connection at all times. Sometimes, we can't get e-mail but most of the time it's fine. Sometimes we can't connect to the internet but most of the time it's fine. When there is a problem, we turn off Zone Alarm and it's fixed.

Anybody seen this before?

Bev and Jerry

Subject: RE: Tech: Zone Alarm Problem
From: DonMeixner
Date: 12 Jun 04 - 12:33 AM

I have the same hook up and the same firewall. And it behaves just like that too. Zone labs can tell you what to do if you send them an email. It can be over protective but then I never have a virus either :-)

Don

Subject: RE: Tech: Zone Alarm Problem
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 12 Jun 04 - 02:51 PM

I couldn't get Zone Alarm to work properly, and I use Win2000 Pro. I dropped it when I realized the only way to send email was to "lower my shields" (disable Zone Alarm). I got Symantec's Firewall and it plays much better with the other programs. The best move was to put in the router. That catches or blocks a lot more of the junk coming through.

SRS

Subject: RE: Tech: Zone Alarm Problem
From: Mark Cohen
Date: 12 Jun 04 - 03:07 PM

I have XP and ZoneAlarm, and don't have that problem. You might try going to the ZoneLabs download page and downloading the latest version of ZA. Just make sure to check "upgrade" rather than "clean install," so your settings are preserved.

Aloha,
Mark

PS, You'll have quite a few opportunities to tell them No, you really don't want to try the wonderful, advanced, full-featured ZoneAlarm Pro. (On some screens you have to look carefully to find the button that says "Download free ZoneAlarm".)

Subject: RE: Tech: Zone Alarm Problem
From: Bev and Jerry
Date: 12 Jun 04 - 03:37 PM

Actually, Mark, we did try the upgrade route and nothing (apparently) changed. Then we uninstalled Zone Alarm and downloaded it from the site again. Still no change.

The good news is that the apparent loss of internet connection seems to be happening less often than when it first started about a week ago.

We'll try an e-mail to Zone Alarm next, as Don suggested.

Bev and Jerry

Subject: RE: Tech: Zone Alarm Problem
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 12 Jun 04 - 05:10 PM

It could be something beyond your firewall. Have you had storms in the region lately? If phone service is messed up or there is too much noise on the line it could cause a problem. I've had a couple of times when the DSL modem seemed to gradually slow down until it wasn't receiving at all properly (pages giving error messages). I turned it off and restarted it to clear up the problem.

SRS

Subject: RE: Tech: Zone Alarm Problem
From: Bev and Jerry
Date: 12 Jun 04 - 11:44 PM

SRS:

We don't use the phone lines for our internet connection. We have cable and, even though we live nowhere, we have had a fiber optic cable to our house for several years. For some reason, the previous cable company installed fiber optic cables all over town and then sold out to another company.

And, the problem seems to have gone away just as mysteriously as it appeared. Do computers get colds? Do they have allergies? Do they get angry with us and behave badly? If we knew what we did wrong, we would apologize to the thing profusely and promise not to do it ever again. Maybe it was the flowers we bought for it yesterday.

Bev and Jerry

Subject: RE: Tech: Zone Alarm Problem
From: Barbara Shaw
Date: 13 Jun 04 - 07:32 AM

Do you have automatic updates set up for Windows or virus protection? Sometimes they disable other programs while downloading, and this may be what has caused the problem. Turning off Zone Alarm may have enabled the updates to run, which enabled the email to work, etc.

Subject: RE: Tech: Zone Alarm Problem
From: Nigel Parsons
Date: 13 Jun 04 - 10:17 AM

Having worked 3 months for an ISP, I came across this a lot. There is often a clash between (e.g.) Zone Alarm & Outlook Express. Given precise details it is usually straightforward to resolve the conflict (without totally removing Zone Alarm). The easiest self-help option (as long as you can still log on to the net, or have a friend who can) is to note the content of any error message ('Print Screen' is good for this!) Then.. Google for the precise error message. Usually just the error code will be sufficient (e.g 0x800ccc0d). And follow the recommendations.

Nigel

Subject: RE: Tech: Zone Alarm Problem
From: Willie-O
Date: 13 Jun 04 - 11:44 AM

Very common problem with DSL.

usually you just remove all the listed programs from Zone Alarm, let it run again and it will query you as to what you want to allow through the firewall. So you let your browser and whatever other internet software you are using, and that usually works.

You also might have to uninstall ZoneAlarm completely. You should try your ISP helpdesk first though for specific compatibility info.
They might or might not support your problems with 3rd party software, but in this day and age most ISP's have an "approved" security software setup.

Subject: RE: Tech: Zone Alarm Problem
From: Bev and Jerry
Date: 13 Jun 04 - 03:02 PM

There is no error message. It just doesn't work. Since we thought it was an ISP problem, we called them and they took us through a short troubleshooting sequence and when they told us to turn off Zone Alarm and it worked, they said "You've got a firewall issue. Talk to Zone Alarm about it."

We don't have any automatic updates although we update Norton Anti-virus at least once a day. It doesn't seem to coincide with that.

Couldn't see how to e-mail Zone Alarm from their site. The only options were a phone call at our expense, a forum, and a "wizard" which took us around and around until we got tired of the ride.

And by the way, the problem occurred once again this morning. We couldn't connect so we disabled Zone Alarm, connected, and turned Zone Alarm on again. Then we could surf to our heart's content with no problem.

Bev and Jerry

Subject: RE: Tech: Zone Alarm Problem
From: Justa Picker
Date: 13 Jun 04 - 04:06 PM

If you are running Windows XP, use XP's built in firewall.
It's just as good as Zone Alarm's but perhaps you have both of them enable and the two of them do not get along. You can never completely unintall Zone Alarm without reformating your hard drive. The problem is with the "vector" system files that Zone Alarm installs.

You can try completely removing Zone Alarm in the Control Panel (Add/Remove Programs) and then just enabling Windows XP's firewall.
Then go to the Shields Up web site and let it test your ports. You will see that Windows firewall protects all the same ports as Zone Alarms.

Subject: RE: Tech: Zone Alarm Problem
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 13 Jun 04 - 05:44 PM

Bev and Jerry,

Perhaps this is the point in the conversation when the adage you get what you pay for comes into play. If you're using the free version of Zone Alarm the support is minimal and the functionality is limited. It really is important enough to protect your computer that it's worth spending the $40 to $60 to protect your work and investment.

SRS

Subject: RE: Tech: Zone Alarm Problem
From: Bev and Jerry
Date: 14 Jun 04 - 12:49 AM

SRS:

You may be right.

Just for completeness, here's a brief history (this material will not be on the exam). We bought this machine about 2 years ago and, prior to hooking it up we bought (yes, bought)Zone Alarm at an office supply store. Then we convinced ourselves that the XP firewall was as good as Zone Alarm (Justa Picker: where were you when we needed you?) so we returned Zone Alarm and got a refund.

About seven months ago we picked up some kind of spyware (that might not be the proper term) on our machine. It produced what looked like links on web sites but when clicked on them it actually called up a file that it had placed on our hard drive. For example, on our own site a new link appeared in which the word "escort" was blue. When we clicked on it we found sources for company for that evening but no one else who went to our site saw the "link". The source code showed no such link.

We located the three files containing the fake links but we could not delete them, rename them, move them to another folder, or delete the folder they were in. So we called in a consultant. He could not get rid of the files either but he installed Ad-Aware and Pest Patrol and one of these (we forget which) found the file which called up the errant links, along with 18 other spyware files, and he eliminated them.

He then installed the free version of Zone Alarm convincing us that it was, in fact, better than the XP firewall. Since we paid him eighty dollars, we had to believe him. For seven months all was well and then the current problem reared its ugly head but, fortunately, it seems to be departing from our machine to go haunt someone else's computer.

Bev and Jerry

Subject: RE: Tech: Zone Alarm Problem
From: Bev and Jerry
Date: 14 Jun 04 - 12:53 AM

And by the way, since we've been using Zone Alarm, neither Ad-Alert or Pest Patrol has found anything.

Does that make Zone Alarm better than the XP firewall?

Bev and Jerry

Subject: RE: Tech: Zone Alarm Problem
From: The Fooles Troupe
Date: 14 Jun 04 - 05:48 AM

One of the recent PC Magazines did a comparison of various firewalls, including XP built-in, when connected to home newtorks connected to a broadband. Many of them were found to be dangerously misleading in claims that they were any sort of real 'firewall' becasue to get the system to work you had to disable parts which left huge holes.

Robin

Subject: RE: Tech: Zone Alarm Problem
From: JohnInKansas
Date: 14 Jun 04 - 07:26 PM

If you are using WinXP you can set it up easily for automatic update, and it is strongly urged that you do so. If, for some reason you don't want to automate it, you should check for Windows and Explorer updates at least every week or so, or about as often as you update your AV signatures.

The vermin can read, so every time a patch comes out, there seems to be a flood of assaults against the hole that's patched, in the hope of catching those who haven't loaded the fix. Updates are easy, and really helpful - and your AV won't have to work so hard.

John

Subject: RE: Tech: Zone Alarm Problem
From: hesperis
Date: 14 Jun 04 - 07:58 PM

Go to program control, main. If the program control slider is set to high then set it to medium or low. Then you'll get notices when any programs try to access the net.

Subject: RE: Tech: Zone Alarm Problem
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 14 Jun 04 - 11:27 PM

Shouldn't that be the other way around, Hesperis? It seems to me the higher the control the more checking the computer will do to see if you really want this or that program or link to be followed.

SRS

Subject: RE: Tech: Zone Alarm Problem
From: DMcG
Date: 15 Jun 04 - 05:21 AM

The ZoneAlarm Support Forum has masses of comments which can be summarised as "version 5.0 is a complete disaster and you need to roll-back to version 4.5"

In my case 5.0 stopped IIS working if it used http: but allowed https: connections. It also stopped PHP mail scripts working, which 4.5 was quite happy with.


Rolling back to version 4.5 is, unfortunately, not simple.

Subject: RE: Tech: Zone Alarm Problem
From: The Fooles Troupe
Date: 15 Jun 04 - 05:32 AM

I've been using Version 5 since it upgraded itself from the previous version - Win998SE. I have no noticeable problems I have traced directly to ZA (free edition) but Windoze does do weird lockups etc from time to time - I thought that was just MickeyCrap...

Subject: RE: Tech: Zone Alarm Problem
From: DMcG
Date: 15 Jun 04 - 05:55 AM

A lot of people seem not have not had problems; it seems to be developers and AOL users who are having most issues. ASP.NET is being reported as not working, for example. Some users have reported that the new ZoneAlarm has silently turned off some of their antivirus protection and at least one person has reported ports being opened they were unaware of.

Here's a few quotes:

"Users of Norton Antivirus Software, MacAfee Software, IIS (Windows XP), Visual Studio.NET etc. (the list goes on) and many more are having HUGE problems with ZoneAlarm 5.0."

"I think I saw this in another post, but I installed the latest Zone Alarm (zlsSetup_50_590_015.exe) and ASP.NET totally stops working. I can't get into my web projects, and IIS won't even serve them. Zone Alarm won't ask me any questions to correct it either, even after a lot of fiddling in the Program Control section. It just silently blocks something that ASP.NET needs to work.

Please don't release stuff like this. Keep it in beta instead of wasting our time. At least put a big warning with known issues on the install screen."

"After upgrading with, by now famous, 5.0.590.015, my ICS doesn't work anymore. Before this, I had a happy configuration with W2000pro like ICS gateway, ZAPRO (paid!), and W98 clients.
All the settings are identical with the previous ones, only shutting down ZA resolve the problem. I've tried medium @ internet zone, 127.0.0.1 @ trusted, DNS outgoing fine..."

" a good number more will be using it and not realizing that there AV software is no longer giving them e-mail protection - considering that the most popular AV out there is Norton's!- SCARY. "

Subject: RE: Tech: Zone Alarm Problem
From: Justa Picker
Date: 15 Jun 04 - 12:24 PM

Bev and Jerry,

The solution as I stated before is very very simple (for Windows XP.)

Ditch Zone alarm and then go into NETWORK CONNECTIONS -right click on whichever icon is responsible for your internet connect - and cick on the ADVANCED tab at the top, and enable the FIREWALL by clicking the box. Problem solved.

By the way I like your ice cream a lot!   :-)

Subject: RE: Tech: Zone Alarm Problem
From: GUEST,tango99
Date: 28 Jun 04 - 07:41 AM

My XP based system was running with no problems until I upgraded Zonealarm to the newest version around 6/24/04. My internet connections were constantly referring to "page not available".

Several tries to most links would eventually succeed with the exception of Yahoo. This would not only freeze my computer but would not let me use Control/Alt/Delete to unfreeze the program. I had no choice but to restart the PC by pushing the on/off swithch for 5 seconds and then rebooting.

I called my cable provider and after some lengthy discussion and checking of various settings, we discovered that Zonealarm was in fact causing the lockup. He also said he had the same problem on his home computer.

Subject: RE: Tech: Zone Alarm Problem
From: GUEST,.gargoyle
Date: 28 Jun 04 - 01:46 PM

Go into your ZoneAlarm control panel (right click)
Restore ZoneAlarm control panel Click
Select MAIN TAB at the top Click
Select Program Control Click
Select AUTOMATIC LOCK

OFF!

Click
(or you may select it to activate after a set time or event)

Sincerely,
Gargoyle