Zone alarm problem

redmandarin

I was having problems with Zone Alarm - the usual "cannot connect to internet, connection aborted" page. So I downloaded the Zonelabs patch from MSE to allow for easier use with Microsoft.

The "connection aborted" keeps happening (about once in every 6 times I try to open a new internet page) and also there are now further problems with the Zonelabs firewall. It takes 2 or 3 minutes for the Zone Alarm tab at the bottom of the screen and the icon at the bottom right hand corner to appear - so I have to wait until Zone Alarm starts running before I can connect to the internet.

I also noticed at my last boot up a few minutes ago, that when I brought up the Zone Alarm dialogue box, the padlock icon in the top right had corner is unlocked. Is this normal and is it safe?

Any help on these issues would be most welcome. Thanks

Cat695

get rid of zonealarm its crap.......use AVG

fwor

Last question first: Yes, that's normal - the padlock only shows as locked if you click the "Stop" button to disable the internet connection.

The "fix" for the MS update problem was not a patch but the install of a new release of Zonealarm.

The next thing I'd try is too download the new version of ZA again from

http://download.zonealarm.com/bin/free/pressReleases/2008/LossOfInternetAccessIssue.html

Completely uninstall and then reinstall and see if the behaviour changes. If not it ~may~ be something else - on my laptop, the ZA client is quite low down the list of startup items, so if something earlier is taking a lot of CPU power it could be delaying other items in the list.

aerostar

Cat695 wrote: »

get rid of zonealarm its crap.......use AVG

Zone alarm is a firewall, AVG is an antivirus product, your quote is ridiculous advice.

Cat695

well he is using a router/modem which already has a firewall so no point of having zone alarm

Cat695

Cat695 wrote: »

well he is using a router/modem which already has a firewall so no point of having zone alarm

and smart ar*e!!!! AVG DOES do firewalls!!!

fwor

Cat695 wrote: »

well he is using a router/modem which already has a firewall so no point of having zone alarm

If his PC were infected with malware that his antivirus failed to to detect (it happens) then Zonealarm would warn him if it tried to connect outward onto the internet and stop it.

If he has several PCs on the internal side of his modem/router, Zonealarm would protect them from one another.

Cat695

i'm sure zonealarm doesn't detect everything so why have it....just have a good antivirus and a good antispam/spyware and thats all you need.....the risk of attack by a normal user is very slim....unless you look at !!!!!! all the time...........

redmandarin

Please don't quarrel guys, life's too short!

Thanks for your help, I'm going to try uninstalling then re-installing Zone Alarm and see how I get on with that.

Cheers!

fwor

We're not really quarrelling - it's just that in this specific case cat695 isn't giving very sound advice.

You only have to look at the possibility of the next "zero day attack" - where a hole is exploited before your antivirus/spyware knows about it - to realise that a firewall such as ZA could save your bacon.

other

just use sunbelt firewall, get the 30 day trial and then use the free version. you generally wont need the disabled features. it offers even more control than ZA:)