firewall problems

Question

I'm running into a problem installing 3rd party firewalls. I've tried two on this new system of mine, an Inspiron 6400, and both firewalls end up blue screening and I have to uninstall the programs in safe mode because windows will no longer boot without a blue screen. Running Windows Home edition. I tried Zone Alarm, and I'm running the same version on my primary machine that I tried installing here. I also tried Kerio. I tried 3 different versions of ZA, one of the last in the 5.x series, and two from the newer 6.x series. The initial install was done on my laptop when I first got it, so it was a clean windows install. Anyone have any insight as to why I'm getting BSODs with other firewalls? I really want to replace the windows firewall. I don't consider it secure enough as it allows outgoing traffic, thus if a trojan installed itself on my machine, I have no way of stopping it from phoning home. At least with another firewall, I stand a slight chance. I've searched on ZA's pages for insight here, and they recommened clean uninstalls followed by clean installs. Already tried that. As soon as the firewall service starts up, BSOD. This is true for install AND uninstall. I could not uninstall in normal windows. Had to enter safe mode, because the service kept starting up to see if it was allowed to uninstall. Thank you for any help anyone may give me. This is a little frustrating. Just wanted to add one other thing. I'm fairly certain this is hardware related, which is why I'm bringing it up here. When I tried installing the Kerio firewall, I did so with the wireless radio disabled. It installed perfectly. As soon as I enabled the wireless radio, it crashed. Message Edited by Maine Gus on 06-25-200612:44 AM

RoHe · Answer

Have you checked the 'wireless radio' website to see if there are any known conflicts between that hardware/software and the firewalls?

There have been BSOD problems with the most recent version of ZoneAlarm. They're recommending that anyone with BSODs caused by ZA stick to v6.1.744.001, until they figure it out. v6.1.744.001 is still available on their site, but you'll have to search around for it.

I suggest you remove any/all non-Windows firewalls currently on the system. Then run Windows system file check to make sure that all XP files are ok.

click start>run
type in: sfc /scannow
(space between sfc and /)
click ok

sfc will replace any missing/damaged XP system files. Insert XP CD if sfc requests it. Reboot when it's done.

Now turn off antiviral software and install ZA. Reboot when that's done and then reactivate antiviral software.

If BSODs continue, post complete and exact wording of the message in the BSOD.

Ron

Windows General

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