Windows update seems to have killed internet connection

esbo

It conflicts with ZoneAlarm, setting the ZA internet security slider to medium from high
should also work.

jimjam10

I too have had this connection problem, did a system restore and it all works again. My question is this - my system now does not have the Windows update (which I think was critical) is that bad??? I guess they'll fix the bug soon... well maybe not Microsoft, but someone competent ;-)

isofa

Killed mine too - XP Pro SP-2.

Obviously a problem with ZA, as disabling it allowed it to work correctly.

So should we install the updates again and then KB951748 ?

[Edit, misread the above thought 951748 was a fix, rather than actually the update causing the problem!]

esbo

isofa wrote: »

Killed mine too - XP Pro SP-2.

Obviously a problem with ZA, as disabling it allowed it to work correctly.

So should we install the updates again and then KB951748 ?

If you instal the update it will block internet access again, lowering the security setting
on Zone Alarm from high to medium should allow it to work again with the update.

For the moment I have left it uninstalled as on balance I think reducing the ZA setting
is more of a risk, however I don't know if that is right or not.

I also had to disable the automatic update thing as it kept trying to reinstall it.
I think I will leave it disabled and check whether the updates actually work
properly before I install them in future!!

Stompa

Some more discussion on this here:

http://www.dslreports.com/forum/r20759839-MS-update-KB951748-and-ZoneAlarm-PROBLEM

isofa

esbo wrote: »

If you instal the update it will block internet access again, lowering the security setting
on Zone Alarm from high to medium should allow it to work again with the update.

For the moment I have left it uninstalled as on balance I think reducing the ZA setting
is more of a risk, however I don't know if that is right or not.

I also had to disable the automatic update thing as it kept trying to reinstall it.
I think I will leave it disabled and check whether the updates actually work
properly before I install them in future!!

I'm with you on that one, I'd rather not have the update, but have the firewall set to high.

deejayen

Everything went OK here --using WinXP Pro SP3 -- Dave

Belnahua

This is taken from Zone Alarm's website

By now, everyone who is using ZA, knows that Microsoft's update KB951748 broke ZA. The reason that it broke ZA is that Microsoft had to expand the randomness that the DNS client uses when asking for UDP ports to go to DNS servers. ZA only looks for these requests in a certain range of UDP ports, but with the new DNS client (note that IE has not changed, but some of the base networking programs (svchost.exe)), ZA sees requests outside of this range and blocks them. Therefore, Internet is broken.

Unfortunatly, Microsoft didn't tell firewall manufacturers (hardware and software) that they were updating this. As a note, on one of my computers, I have Norton Internet Security and disabled ZA, and enabled the firewall from Norton until such time as there is an update for ZA.

The Fix :-

Go to Add/Remove Programs in the Control Panel.
Make sure there is a tick in the box to show the Updates (at the top of the window).
Locate KB951748 and remove it.
Reboot.
ZA Internet Zone security can be set to High again.

I think you also need to turn off Windows Update for the time being to stop this update coming down again, until your firewall manufacturer or Microsoft has fixed this problem!

Stompa

Belnahua wrote: »

...but I think it applies to anyone using any 3rd party firewall...

Clearly not any 3rd party firewall since the Norton one works just fine.

superscaper

Stompa wrote: »

Clearly not any 3rd party firewall since the Norton one works just fine.

And I've not had any problems with Eset's firewall at home. (As for non third party, the Windows Firewall works fine as well at work).