If you have the built in Windows XP firewall enabled, that may be causing the problem. You should only have one firewall enabled. e.g. disable the Windows XP firewall before installing ZoneAlarm.
If it's still a problem, you may have gotten a bad download. Try downloading it again as ZA is probably one of the most popular firewalls.
I tried your suggestions to no avail. Windows firewall was disabled then ZA was installed. It went through it's configuration process and then I tried to connect to the Internet. Same result -> PC rebooted. Next, downloaded ZA again and reinstalled and retried the connection -> same result. Although this time I was able to capture the files that would have been sent to Microsoft if I had said to send a serious error report - Mini051705-02.dmp and sysdata.xml. Not sure if they are of any help.
I run Zone Alarm in my Dim. 8200 with Windows XP SP 1 No Problems! A friend of mine used Zone Alarm successfully for years. But when he installed SP 2 he encountered problems. Something about SP 2 and Zone Alarm that's incompatible. He uninstalled Zone Alarm and all is well.
Problem running ZA with XP SP2 may be true for your friend, but I have absolutelty no problems with that combination . I have used ZA (free) in its various versions ever since I got this PC in 2003; updated XP SP1 to SP2 last August and ne'er a problem. It seems to me that SP2 is often made the scapegoat for any problems that arise.
I can not address the problem definitively; for what ever it's worth, my friend belongs to a computer club, has built his last two computers and has helped me through several software and hardware problems. Is the Zone Alarm free version somewhat abridged? Just a thought.
The ZA 5.5.094.000 version is current, and dated almost a month ago, so any widespread problems with it should have been reported by now. A quick search on Google reveals some reports of problems, but nothing too unusual.
The ZA forum has some problems reported with the current version, and there is a sticky post mentioning "...if Windows just reboots with no prompting." Seems this could be related. Check it out.
The free version of ZA offers the exactly the same firewall protection as ZA pro, but has fewer options for setting detailed rules to control access. For home users with a single PC (as I have), or a simple home network it is sufficient; you can control the access permissions for different applications (basically 4 options: access to a user-defined trusted zone only or internet, act as server or not). It is a good compromise between flexibility and ease of use. For those with large home networks, or the need to to control more complex connections (e.g. remote access to a corporate network or access home network from remote site) ZA pro may be more flexible. I have not used pro, so I may be missing some additional features that it offers. Others may be able to provide more details.
You seem to this neophyte to make some valid points!! Thanks.
Please allow me to divert a bit here; I don't know if true or false plus my memory isn't what it used to be- but I seem to recall we should not use two software firewalls at the same time. I think MS was one such source. Maybe you could shed some light here. I'm still with Win. XP SP-1. And I think SP-2 has a firewall. If so, do you enable both firewalls (ZA & SP-2) simultaneously or do you just use them singly?
P.S. I'm just now researching hardware firewalls for my single user PC. Man what a job. I'm hoping to eliminate most of the 100+ spam e-mails daily which in turn would block 2-4 virus or worms weekly. I would like to do that for no more that $300. I'm all ears to any and all. Many thanks.
A hardware firewall as provided by a NAT router may be obtained for $20-$50, and this is suitable for a home or small business broadband hookup to cable, DSL, or satellite connection. A hardware firewall designed for a dial-up connection is much less common and is commonly not used. A software firewall on a dial-up connection may be adequate, if not ideal.
One active software firewall at a time. Windows XP SP1 has a firewall, but it is not activated by default. SP2 changes the built-in firewall status to enabled by default. (In addition to many other less-obvious security improvements which reduce the vulnerability of the core code. Windows Critical Security Updates are what the name implies, and SP2 is the most comprehensive Critical Security Update ever. You may remain safe without it, if you are experienced and cautious, and your security program remains flawless, but only the update to SP2 will reduce the core vulnerability. It is a major update and should be performed after proper research and planning.)
One resident anti-virus program installed at a time, running continuously for real-time protection. (Some experienced users may be safe and comfortable disabling real-time protection at times, but most users are better served by leaving it on unless directed by qualified support staff, and only when necessary / only for as long as is absolutely necessary to perform system configuration, maintenance, or troubleshooting. One instance when temporarily turning off the real-time protection offered by resident anti-virus software would be recommended is when a reputable on-line scanner is used to scan the system for viruses and other malware, in case a second opinion or virus removal tools not available with the resident anti-virus software are necessary.)
Several anti-spyware scanners can and should be installed, but most are only used to run a scan of the system for spyware. Some may provide a form of real-time protection, some disallow the acceptance of recognized spyware code, and some provide a list of disreputable sites which the browser uses to disallow (block) connection.
Windows Malicious Software removal tool is a special case. It scans for the most recent and prevalent malware, reports, and removes it.
Microsoft Anti-Spyware (beta) is rated highly effective, but not 100%, at scanning for, detecting, and removing spyware. I believe it also provides some real-time protection.
The free version of AdAware is rated very effective for scanning, detecting and removing spyware. The paid version offers additional features with which I am not familiar.
The free anti-spyware program Spybot S&D is also rated very effective for scanning, detecting and removing spyware. It has an additional blocking feature that offers passive blocking security of known malware, but this additional feature is superceded by the use of Spyware Blaster, noted below.
Spyware Blaster provides a significant ammount of preventative protection by providing a list of known malware code and malicious sites. It is a form of passive blocking, as this program only runs when updating a reference list which the browser checks before allowing connection to a site or allowing active content to be accepted and run from the internet.
A combination of core security applications and components consisting of a dial-up line or a broadband router, a software firewall, a good anti-virus application, the use of all the anti-spyware programs listed below, combined with caution and prudence, is a good start. There are additional anti-spyware applications of merit, and applications like privacy protection and parental blocking may be advisable in some circumstances.
One valuable recommendation is to not enter any information that you would prefer remain private until/unless you are assured the security system is adequately implemented and maintained, and you become familiar with the variety of human and machine vulnerabilities that continue to adversely impact unwary users.
Another important consideration is preservation of system and data files on the PC. In addition to the threat of personal information theft, the loss of use and loss of non-personal data are also hardships that are best avoided. Plan early for how you will recover from a corupted operating system or hard drive failure. Reinstall procedures should be studied and both retail software and user data CDs should be inventoried so the capability to recover can be assured. Backup images of the system configuration and backup copies of user data may be helpful to assure full and accurate recovery.
You are right that it is not necessary nor a good idea to run two software firewalls simultaneously as they might conflict.
In fact the current version of ZA (both free and pro) has an option to turn off XP SP2 firewall when you start ZA (usually ZA would be set to start on boot up).
In fact, it is possible to set things up so that if ZA is shut down, the XP SP2 firewall is turned on by the security centre, and when ZA is started again it turns the XP firewall off again. That way you always have one firewall active. Having said that, however, I must admit that this feature is not entirely stable with the current version of ZA and sometimes has to be reset after a restart (don't know why, it worked flawlessly in earlier versions since 5.1). If ZA is turned off and the XP firewall does not come on, you get a security centre alert in the system tray.
As you are (still) using SP1, you would simply disable the Windows firewall and have ZA start on boot up.
PS ZA (free or pro) would not help in blocking Spam (it does have an e mail virus checker, but I don't use that as it is rather basic and good antivirus software is much preferable). I am not sure whether the pay for security suite that zonelabs offers has a spam blocker. Personally, I use Qurb (works with MS Office Outlook and with Outlook Express), but that is not also not free and because it works using a white list of approved contacts, it is best used if you don't frequently get legitimate emails from new contacts; there are many others, just google.
Thanks again. I appreciate your post; I learned something. Meanwhile I plan to stick with ZA Security Suite; it's AV has served me well. I bought Norton AV; later discovered it wanted me to uninstall ZA before loading Norton AV. No thanks. Also SBC/Yahoo assists in AV scrutiny in e-mail. I'm getting tagged avg. 4 virus weekly; so far they deleted or repaired all with no ill effects to me.
ZA Security Suite contains a utility that corrals all spyware into a folder where I can delete all in a couple of key strokes. It has no blocker. I then scan with AdAware SE, Spy Bot and Spyware Blaster (decent blocker it seems).
My plan now is to wait another year to purchase a new computer complete with XP/SP-2 or whatever MS is offering with 64 bit OS. Thank you again, Sir.
I'm grateful for both your time and expertise. It's a good feeling to know that I'm in partial compliance with your offering. So far I'm content with ZA Security Suite's firewall and AV. Ad-Aware, Spy Bot and Spyware Blaster complement that security as does White Castle's Clean and Scan utilities in addition to Acronis Privacy Expert Suite- a recent addition. P.S. I dare not enter the Internet without ZA and SpyBot enabled. And Spyware Blaster I leave enabled. Also I feel comfortable with a new external hard drive to which I recently imaged my PC's C:\ partition (the only partition) with Acronis True Image. Weekly incrementals are planned.
I hope to get a new computer next year: Windows XP/SP-2 and MS 64 bit OS if that's the "in" team then.
Finally, it's a relief knowing from you that I won't have to spend hundreds of $ for a hardware firewall. Zy XEL and Fortigate products are not cheap. Research has just begun. My "ports and services" knowledge is non-existent so configuration presents a problem. I had reasoned that more money tossed at the firewall would ease configuration. Maybe so; but $400-$500 is too much. I will now explore the NAT routers for my DSL hook up. Many thanks. You have been most helpful.
fireberd
9 Legend
•
33.4K Posts
0
May 16th, 2005 19:00
If you have the built in Windows XP firewall enabled, that may be causing the problem. You should only have one firewall enabled. e.g. disable the Windows XP firewall before installing ZoneAlarm.
If it's still a problem, you may have gotten a bad download. Try downloading it again as ZA is probably one of the most popular firewalls.
gtrux
16 Posts
0
May 17th, 2005 20:00
I tried your suggestions to no avail. Windows firewall was disabled then ZA was installed. It went through it's configuration process and then I tried to connect to the Internet. Same result -> PC rebooted. Next, downloaded ZA again and reinstalled and retried the connection -> same result. Although this time I was able to capture the files that would have been sent to Microsoft if I had said to send a serious error report - Mini051705-02.dmp and sysdata.xml. Not sure if they are of any help.
George
Vandalia
38 Posts
0
May 18th, 2005 14:00
JRosenfeld
2 Intern
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4.4K Posts
0
May 19th, 2005 00:00
Vandalia
38 Posts
0
May 19th, 2005 02:00
JR,
I can not address the problem definitively; for what ever it's worth, my friend belongs to a computer club, has built his last two computers and has helped me through several software and hardware problems. Is the Zone Alarm free version somewhat abridged? Just a thought.
Vandalia
GreyMack
2.2K Posts
0
May 19th, 2005 06:00
The ZA 5.5.094.000 version is current, and dated almost a month ago, so any widespread problems with it should have been reported by now. A quick search on Google reveals some reports of problems, but nothing too unusual.
GM
JRosenfeld
2 Intern
•
4.4K Posts
0
May 19th, 2005 12:00
Vandalia,
The free version of ZA offers the exactly the same firewall protection as ZA pro, but has fewer options for setting detailed rules to control access. For home users with a single PC (as I have), or a simple home network it is sufficient; you can control the access permissions for different applications (basically 4 options: access to a user-defined trusted zone only or internet, act as server or not). It is a good compromise between flexibility and ease of use. For those with large home networks, or the need to to control more complex connections (e.g. remote access to a corporate network or access home network from remote site) ZA pro may be more flexible. I have not used pro, so I may be missing some additional features that it offers. Others may be able to provide more details.
Vandalia
38 Posts
0
May 19th, 2005 16:00
THANKS MUCH, GM!! vERY HELPFUL.
Vandalia
Vandalia
38 Posts
0
May 19th, 2005 17:00
JR
You seem to this neophyte to make some valid points!! Thanks.
Please allow me to divert a bit here; I don't know if true or false plus my memory isn't what it used to be- but I seem to recall we should not use two software firewalls at the same time. I think MS was one such source. Maybe you could shed some light here. I'm still with Win. XP SP-1. And I think SP-2 has a firewall. If so, do you enable both firewalls (ZA & SP-2) simultaneously or do you just use them singly?
P.S. I'm just now researching hardware firewalls for my single user PC. Man what a job. I'm hoping to eliminate most of the 100+ spam e-mails daily which in turn would block 2-4 virus or worms weekly. I would like to do that for no more that $300. I'm all ears to any and all. Many thanks.
Vandalia
GreyMack
2.2K Posts
0
May 19th, 2005 19:00
Message Edited by GreyMack on 05-19-2005 01:48 PM
JRosenfeld
2 Intern
•
4.4K Posts
0
May 19th, 2005 19:00
You are right that it is not necessary nor a good idea to run two software firewalls simultaneously as they might conflict.
In fact the current version of ZA (both free and pro) has an option to turn off XP SP2 firewall when you start ZA (usually ZA would be set to start on boot up).
In fact, it is possible to set things up so that if ZA is shut down, the XP SP2 firewall is turned on by the security centre, and when ZA is started again it turns the XP firewall off again. That way you always have one firewall active. Having said that, however, I must admit that this feature is not entirely stable with the current version of ZA and sometimes has to be reset after a restart (don't know why, it worked flawlessly in earlier versions since 5.1). If ZA is turned off and the XP firewall does not come on, you get a security centre alert in the system tray.
As you are (still) using SP1, you would simply disable the Windows firewall and have ZA start on boot up.
PS ZA (free or pro) would not help in blocking Spam (it does have an e mail virus checker, but I don't use that as it is rather basic and good antivirus software is much preferable). I am not sure whether the pay for security suite that zonelabs offers has a spam blocker. Personally, I use Qurb (works with MS Office Outlook and with Outlook Express), but that is not also not free and because it works using a white list of approved contacts, it is best used if you don't frequently get legitimate emails from new contacts; there are many others, just google.
http://www.qurb.com/welcome/
Message Edited by JRosenfeld on 05-19-2005 09:18 PM
Message Edited by JRosenfeld on 05-19-2005 09:29 PM
Vandalia
38 Posts
0
May 19th, 2005 23:00
JR,
Thanks again. I appreciate your post; I learned something. Meanwhile I plan to stick with ZA Security Suite; it's AV has served me well. I bought Norton AV; later discovered it wanted me to uninstall ZA before loading Norton AV. No thanks. Also SBC/Yahoo assists in AV scrutiny in e-mail. I'm getting tagged avg. 4 virus weekly; so far they deleted or repaired all with no ill effects to me.
ZA Security Suite contains a utility that corrals all spyware into a folder where I can delete all in a couple of key strokes. It has no blocker. I then scan with AdAware SE, Spy Bot and Spyware Blaster (decent blocker it seems).
My plan now is to wait another year to purchase a new computer complete with XP/SP-2 or whatever MS is offering with 64 bit OS. Thank you again, Sir.
Vandalia
Vandalia
38 Posts
0
May 20th, 2005 00:00
Mr. Mack,
I'm grateful for both your time and expertise. It's a good feeling to know that I'm in partial compliance with your offering. So far I'm content with ZA Security Suite's firewall and AV. Ad-Aware, Spy Bot and Spyware Blaster complement that security as does White Castle's Clean and Scan utilities in addition to Acronis Privacy Expert Suite- a recent addition. P.S. I dare not enter the Internet without ZA and SpyBot enabled. And Spyware Blaster I leave enabled. Also I feel comfortable with a new external hard drive to which I recently imaged my PC's C:\ partition (the only partition) with Acronis True Image. Weekly incrementals are planned.
I hope to get a new computer next year: Windows XP/SP-2 and MS 64 bit OS if that's the "in" team then.
Finally, it's a relief knowing from you that I won't have to spend hundreds of $ for a hardware firewall. Zy XEL and Fortigate products are not cheap. Research has just begun. My "ports and services" knowledge is non-existent so configuration presents a problem. I had reasoned that more money tossed at the firewall would ease configuration. Maybe so; but $400-$500 is too much. I will now explore the NAT routers for my DSL hook up. Many thanks. You have been most helpful.
Vandalia