ZoneAlarm...!!!

[TJ]

Downloaded the update this morning for Zone alarm and it's all gone tit's up...Anyone else had a problem, I have been on the forum seems a few folk are having issues with the upgrade. I can't get it to unistall properly and when I try and re install it says it can't complete..

May be worth sticking with the old version you have a for a day or two..

TJ

 

[john1215]

Downloaded the update this morning for Zone alarm and it's all gone tit's up...Anyone else had a problem, I have been on the forum seems a few folk are having issues with the upgrade. I can't get it to unistall properly and when I try and re install it says it can't complete..

May be worth sticking with the old version you have a for a day or two..

TJ

If you are stuck then perhaps a system restore would put things back the way they were!!

 

[Bear]

Which version of Windows are you running? I'm holding off installation pending further research.

 

[Slowdown]

IME you'd be best to ditch it and just use the one that comes free with Windows.

If I had 10p for every thread that started 'ZoneAlarm broke my PC' I'd be buying a new GS every year!

 

[Bear]

If I remember correctly the Windows XP firewall only kept stuff out but let anything already on the computer talk to whoever it liked. I'm curious as to whether the Vista version is any different. I run ZoneAlarm under Vista/SP1 and the number of Microsoft applications requesting Internet access for no obvious reason is why I stick to a third-party firewall.

 

[cookie]

IME you'd be best to ditch it and just use the one that comes free with Windows.

If I had 10p for every thread that started 'ZoneAlarm broke my PC' I'd be buying a new GS every year!

as a long time ZA user, i'm starting to agree with this sentiment. later versions seem to be more trouble than their worth.
never put it on a machine for anyone else now, & one more FU and it will be off mine

 

[Slowdown]

If I remember correctly the Windows XP firewall only kept stuff out but let anything already on the computer talk to whoever it liked.

You remember incorrectly.

 

[cookie]

You remember incorrectly.

i don't think you're right there though.

 

[Slowdown]

i don't think you're right there though.

Sometimes Windows Firewall might block a program that you use from connecting to the Internet. If you are experiencing a problem with a program that can’t connect to the Internet, but you are still able to browse the Web (demonstrating that it’s not a general problem with your Internet connection), you can add a Windows Firewall exception for the program that’s having problems. This will allow you to use that program without Windows Firewall blocking it.

From here : http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/using/networking/security/winfirewall.mspx


Just select 'no exceptions'. if you don't want your programs to connect out.

 

[cookie]

i think what Bear was saying is that the widows firewall detects intrusions from outside, but does not detect outgoing connections from from any existing trojans etc.

zone alarm works in both directions.

 

[Bear]

Cookie, thats is exactly what I was saying. I'm not sufficiently trusting of Microsoft to allow any number of Windows applications pass data back to their master. That's why I use a third-party firewall. Issues of ZA free version have at times been troublesome so I'm curiuos to know whether the paid-for versions are any better.

From here : http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/u...nfirewall.mspx


Windows Firewall protects your computer by blocking communications that might actually be dangerous software trying to find a way to connect to your computer, rather than communications from a person or program you want to interact with. Windows Firewall is smart enough to allow connections from computers in your home and to block those connections from computers on the Internet. For example, Windows Firewall will allow you to share files or a printer between two computers in your home, but it will block any attempts from people on the Internet to connect to your computer.

The reference to "to your computer" seems to ignore "from your computer" once something compromising security or privacy has wormed its way past the virus scanner.

 

[cookie]

Issues of ZA free version have at times been troublesome so I'm curiuos to know whether the paid-for versions are any better.

i use ZA Pro on my remaining windows machine. don't have much trouble with it other than it persistently flagging up some Generic Host Process that i've never got to the bottom of. it's done it after a reinstall too.

more annoying is it's ever increasing bloat with every update, and it's insistence on doing cpu intensive scans just when i want to do something productive

not worth paying for. fortunately i didn't.

 

[judge]

ne more FU and it will be off mine

Get a Mac

 

[everywherevirtually]

Get a Mac

I have to agree. I got sick of fighting with windows. I now have a macbook pro and run windows xp in vmware fusion if I have to do cross browser / cross platform testing. Ironically windows runs faster on my my mac than on a dedicated PC.

 

[Rambling Sid Rumpo]

Issues of ZA free version have at times been troublesome so I'm curiuos to know whether the paid-for versions are any better.

For whatever it may be worth I've used Zone Alarm since I started using Win 98 - at first the free version, then as they brought out antivirus versions, running with those. Currently I use ZA Internet Security Suite on 3 Win XP pcs; unfortunately it won't run on Vista x64 yet so had to use Kaspersky on that one. The only issue I ever had was the release earlier in 2008 when an, ah, upgrade knocked out the internet connection, easily resolved by a system restore and waiting for the patch which if I recall actually came from Microsoft. Not a bad record over a 10 year period. Other peoples' MMV of course

Personally, I'm inclined to think most people's problems with ZA start when they try to frig around with security settings. Worth trying for reassurance is Steve Gibson's Shields Up which'll tell you if it can see you.

edit: now I think about it again, the problem with internet connectivity was actually a MS security update which clashed with ZA rather than the other way round /edit

 

[cookie]

Get a Mac

why didn't i think of that



actually, i was deliberately leaving that suggestion out of the thread. i worried people might start thinking i'm some kind of apple fanboi