*MAJOR* zone alarm issue *HELP*

[*ProteanThread*]

i thought i'd try out zone alarm on my laptop (limited resources on
laptop) now NONE of my streaming programs work: screamer radio player,
winamp, solway's itv / radio player, etc. they *ALL* crash. now even
after uninstalling zone alarm they still crash (though zone alarm still
works for local files). what's going on?

 

[Craig]

...NONE of my streaming programs work...

Protean;

What version of ZA & what flavor of Winderz?

-Craig

 

[John Jay Smith]

what's going on?

Congratulations! You chose one of the lamest, worstest, badest, yuckiest,
moronist programs that has existed since the big bang,
to install on your computer. You could have thrown it off a bridge and you
would have the same result. Total destruction
and loss of your sanity. If you ever read what I post, you would have seen
that I have said that this program you should NEVER had touched this
monstrosity!

Remove this infection from hell from your laptop at once. Format the damn
thing if you have to! Ask your laptop for forgiveness for causing it such
grief.. make sure it understands that you were IGNORANT in doing that.
Install a nice game and nude woman wallpapers so you can restore its
happiness. Then check your email for kerio pf free edition

You dont mention what OS you have... if I can guess correctly, its win2k...
another NO NO to use such an elder OS without some application
that does the function of system restore on XP. Norton Go-Back? I have some
apps I can suggest...

 

[*ProteanThread*]

Protean;

What version of ZA & what flavor of Winderz?

-Craig

Windows 2000 and Zone Alarm 2.6 (last free version I think) -
uninstalled ZA and my streaming programs (viddi player, solway's
player, screamer, winamp) etc. don't work.

no, formatting the hd and re-installing windows is OUT of the question

 

[John Jay Smith]

no, formatting the hd and re-installing windows is OUT of the question

see if there is still s stupid service called truevector... i would tell you
to search google...but
you will be swarmed by trillions of pages with people like you who are
crying for help in dispair after
they installed this monstrosity.
If you want I can send you some viruses trojans and spyware if you want to
live on the wild side ;-)

 

[Brian A Robertson]

Windows 2000 and Zone Alarm 2.6 (last free version I think) -
uninstalled ZA and my streaming programs (viddi player, solway's
player, screamer, winamp) etc. don't work.

no, formatting the hd and re-installing windows is OUT of the question

Hello *Protean Thread*

Some people have reported problems with ZoneAlarm. Their TrueVector service
appears to interfere with the normal use of some computers because of the
amount of resources it uses. It is possible that installing the newest
freeware version (now at 6.?) may solve your problem, you can get it here
http://www.snapfiles.com/reviews/ZoneAlarm/zonealarm.html .

I find when uninstalling auto-startup programs like anti-virus and
firewalls, it is best to do so in safe-mode. This way Windows is able to
eliminate everything. I would suggest you re-install ZA so it can be
uninstalled this way.

HTH

 

[In_Parentheses]

Congratulations! You chose one of the lamest, worstest, badest,
yuckiest, moronist programs that has existed since the big bang,
to install on your computer. You could have thrown it off a bridge and
you would have the same result. Total destruction
and loss of your sanity. If you ever read what I post, you would have
seen that I have said that this program you should NEVER had touched
this monstrosity!

Could you please specify on what your "opinion" is based? I know of
enough systems running ZA without a problem, especially if not
necessarilly running the latest version!

Remove this infection from hell from your laptop at once. Format the
damn thing if you have to! Ask your laptop for forgiveness for causing
it such grief.. make sure it understands that you were IGNORANT in
doing that. Install a nice game and nude woman wallpapers so you can
restore its happiness. Then check your email for kerio pf free edition

I think you go beyond acceptable borders, when calling ZA an
"infection"; you very well may name Kerio (which also had quite some
problems, even in the more present past) so (NOTE: I don't, if some one
uses it and manages to keep the nasties out with it, then it serves its
purpose!)

You dont mention what OS you have... if I can guess correctly, its
win2k... another NO NO to use such an elder OS without some
application that does the function of system restore on XP. Norton
Go-Back? I have some apps I can suggest...

Oh, dear Guru, then please tell me WHAT Windows version has your
preference? Win9x? Win ME? NT4? Surely not XP? FYI: W2K if kept as
up-to-date as possible, and in combination with a PFW is one of the most
stable and secure OS'es in the Windows range. Have you ever had a tuned
up (Black Viper's tutorial on necessary services comes to mind, still to
be found at majorgeeks.com), hardened W2KPro running for a longer period
of time? I bet you don't... well I do, and I still have to get my first
intrusion /infection (and I mean the real ones)!!!

To ProteanThread, I run Screamer too (in fact I am listening to it right
now) on W2K, and after I gave the program permission on the firewall SPF
free), there are no problems with it at all. Having said so, you should
go into the Control Panel, Add/Remove Hardware (as odd as it may sound),
go into "Uninstall/Unplug a device", check "Uninstall a device", in the
next window check "Show hidden devices". Now find every instance of a
ZA-driver (this is tedious, as you will have to go through this for
everything you will find seperately). Also make sure that under
"Services" no ZA-services are active anymore! Also running "CrapCleaner"
may help (the option under "Issues")

Then reboot and install a different PFW and start testing your streaming
software again.

Hope this helps.

 

[Craig]

....
Windows 2000 and Zone Alarm 2.6...

no, formatting the hd and re-installing windows is OUT of the question

Nah, you shouldn't have to. I had ZA v5.x on a couple of my win2k's.
It was annoying to get it cleaned off my system but, really, besides
that <shrug> stuff happens. How to remove it completely depends on how
you "uninstalled" it the first time.

If you are sure that you had shut down ZA before uninstalling,
(Overview->Preferences, unclick "load at startup"), then it's just a
matter of following the directions at the url below. If you think you
may not have shut it down before trying the uninstall, then it's prolly
best to re-install it before proceeding.

<http://www.nohold.net/noHoldCust25/Prod_1/Articles55646/CompleteUninstallNonNT.html>

Btw, nohold.net is the subcontractor that delivers web pages for ZA
support. Dunno why ZA does it like that, but they're legit.

hth,
-Craig

p.s. fwiw, I'm now running Comodo's firewall on my laptop win2k lappy.
Works fine.

 

[John Jay Smith]

I have been watching software and newsgroups very closely for sever years. I
have helped hundreds of people solve technical problems....

My opinion is based on all this information. Its not only me..
if you do some googling you will find that many people have
had overwhelming problems with this software.

If you like it fine.. but I wouldn't be telling other people to install it
if I were you.

 

[q_q_anonymous]

I have been watching software and newsgroups very closely for sever years. I
have helped hundreds of people solve technical problems....

My opinion is based on all this information. Its not only me..
if you do some googling you will find that many people have
had overwhelming problems with this software.

If you like it fine.. but I wouldn't be telling other people to install it
if I were you.

absolutely right!

The first time I installed zonealarm was the last time. It wouldn't
uninstall. Zonealarm recognized the problem. I formatted the hard
drive. It was worse than any virus.

 

[John Jay Smith]

you are not alone...

absolutely right!

The first time I installed zonealarm was the last time. It wouldn't
uninstall. Zonealarm recognized the problem. I formatted the hard
drive. It was worse than any virus.

 

[q_q_anonymous]

absolutely right!

The first time I installed zonealarm was the last time. It wouldn't
uninstall. Zonealarm recognized the problem. I formatted the hard
drive. It was worse than any virus.

And it's advertised by that Scam Artist, Steve "Mr Stealth" Gibson!
Mr Un Plug and play. / Mr 'shoot the messenger' Or Mr nanoprobes, Mr
whatever other obfuscation he has going. Maybe he should just be
called Mr Zonealarm. He must be their chief marketter. Though that'd
be a complement

" I set up a deliberate disinformation campaign from the beginning "
Steven Ahab Gibson - XP Raw
Sockets.
(during the interview with thomas green
http://www.grcsucks.com/ )

I used to read Gibson's articles and wonder why I never really learnt
anything. Now I know why - that was his intention!

 

[In_Parentheses]

Could you please specify on what your "opinion" is based? I know of
enough systems running ZA without a problem, especially if not
necessarilly running the latest version!


I think you go beyond acceptable borders, when calling ZA an
"infection"; you very well may name Kerio (which also had quite some
problems, even in the more present past) so (NOTE: I don't, if some
one uses it and manages to keep the nasties out with it, then it
serves its purpose!)


Oh, dear Guru, then please tell me WHAT Windows version has your
preference? Win9x? Win ME? NT4? Surely not XP? FYI: W2K if kept as
up-to-date as possible, and in combination with a PFW is one of the
most stable and secure OS'es in the Windows range. Have you ever had
a tuned up (Black Viper's tutorial on necessary services comes to
mind, still to be found at majorgeeks.com), hardened W2KPro running
for a longer period of time? I bet you don't... well I do, and I
still have to get my first intrusion /infection (and I mean the real
ones)!!!


To ProteanThread, I run Screamer too (in fact I am listening to it
right now) on W2K, and after I gave the program permission on the
firewall SPF free), there are no problems with it at all. Having said
so, you should go into the Control Panel, Add/Remove Hardware (as odd
as it may sound), go into "Uninstall/Unplug a device", check
"Uninstall a device", in the next window check "Show hidden devices".
Now find every instance of a ZA-driver (this is tedious, as you will
have to go through this for everything you will find seperately).
Also make sure that under "Services" no ZA-services are active
anymore! Also running "CrapCleaner" may help (the option under
"Issues")

Then reboot and install a different PFW and start testing your
streaming software again.

Hope this helps.

Hi John Jay

I have been watching software and newsgroups very closely for sever
years. I have helped hundreds of people solve technical problems....

So do I, and for the record: All PFW's are having quirks at time. IMO a
PFW should be installed by someone experienced in doing so. And these
quirky PFWs included SPF, Outpost, ZA, NetVeda, and last but not least
Kerio

My opinion is based on all this information. Its not only me..
if you do some googling you will find that many people have
had overwhelming problems with this software.

If you like it fine.. but I wouldn't be telling other people to
install it if I were you.

Given my experience with many different PFWs I wouldn't advise anyone to
install any of those if I were you. However, instead of telling PT where
to find possible causes for his problem might lurk, you just advised him
to format the system... you must be one of the folks always having a set
of 'recovery CDs' with them ;-) (A Dell or HP support rep???)

Now: Do a Google on GoogleGroups for "Kerio problems"; I have been
lurking here quite some time; I have seen people come and go here, but I
also have seen many threads about Kerio too; and still I think it is a
good PFW

 

[JeffinMS]

you will be swarmed by trillions of pages with people like you who are
crying for help in dispair after
they installed this monstrosity.

On this topic. have used ZA since its inception without a problem. But
lately I have ben readin a lot of negative reviews about it. Its on all 5 of
my computers on my network and used without problems. So what is the
freeware alternative? If I uninstall (Which I fear doing a little now) what
would be a good alternative firewall?

 

[q_q_anonymous]

Hi John Jay



So do I, and for the record: All PFW's are having quirks at time. IMO a
PFW should be installed by someone experienced in doing so. And these
quirky PFWs included SPF, Outpost, ZA, NetVeda, and last but not least
Kerio


Given my experience with many different PFWs I wouldn't advise anyone to
install any of those if I were you. However, instead of telling PT where
to find possible causes for his problem might lurk, you just advised him
to format the system... you must be one of the folks always having a set
of 'recovery CDs' with them ;-) (A Dell or HP support rep???)

Now: Do a Google on GoogleGroups for "Kerio problems"; I have been
lurking here quite some time; I have seen people come and go here, but I
also have seen many threads about Kerio too; and still I think it is a
good PFW

--

they have problems, but you can uninstall them and do so without
ruining windows!!!
Zone Alarm has countless posts on that particular problem

It might have just been one version of zonealarm that had that problem.
But that was the one I downloaded years ago, and it put me off it for
good. I didn't like using it either. I always found Sygate was nice to
use and had a good port logger. Could crash - blocking all outgoing,
but I could always uninstall/reinstall it. Or uninstall it permanently

I did google kerio problems. I saw only one post saying it wouldn't
uninstall.

 

[Craig]

JeffinMS wrote:

....have used ZA since its inception without a problem. But

lately I have ben readin a lot of negative reviews about it. Its on all 5 of
my computers on my network and used without problems. So what is the
freeware alternative? If I uninstall (Which I fear doing a little now) what
would be a good alternative firewall?

Jeffin;

I use Comodo's personal firewall (personalfirewall.comodo.com) for my
travelling laptops. It's relatively new, good at what it does and best
of all...free.


If you're so inclined, I've written down a few thoughts about firewalls
in a local area network setting...

Since you are on a local area network, I am going to assume that you
have a router/firewall sold into the SOHO market. If this is the case,
those client systems on your LAN that are not portable (ie, they don't
leave your LAN) can/should use your router's firewall.

Software-based personal firewalls (PFW's) have as their singular benefit
that they go with the machine. Their singular drawback (IMO) is that
there is no level of separation from the system it is designed to
"protect." In other words, if your system is compromised, your firewall
is compromised, & vice versa.

Some also assert that it is important to use an actively developed PFW.
An acf lurker (forget his name) came out from hiding long enough to
explain this a few months back. In a nutshell, his assertion is that
new attacks are developed, much as with viruses, and therefore
countermeasures must be worked into the PFW on a regular basis to keep
it relevant.

Back to the router/firewall: Learning which ports to lock down for your
entire network and taking a few stolen moments here and there to
actually analyze* common traffic will /here comes the opinion(tm)/ serve
you better than maintaining and configuring 5 separate instances of a
software-based PFW. Again, assuming that these clients are always
behind your hardware router/firewall.

regards,
-Craig

*(the best network stack analyzer I've used is Wireshark (used to be
Ethereal. It's free and more entertaining that television...)

 

[In_Parentheses]

they have problems, but you can uninstall them and do so without
ruining windows!!!
Zone Alarm has countless posts on that particular problem

Hi (e-mail address removed)!

Yes they do uninstall, and then try to install another firewall and run
into problems because the "left something behind" during uninstall
(before you ask: Yes, I did shutdown the firewalls, disabled them from
restarting with the OS and rebooted the systems.)

Not just ZA had those problems.

It might have just been one version of zonealarm that had that problem.
But that was the one I downloaded years ago, and it put me off it for
good. I didn't like using it either. I always found Sygate was nice to
use and had a good port logger. Could crash - blocking all outgoing,
but I could always uninstall/reinstall it. Or uninstall it permanently

In ZA's early days there was a realy messed up version released, and
there were two - or three - versions later that had problems.

I agree with you on Sygate (SPF), but it has its quirks as well (why does
it run on system A with W2KPro SP4, and not on system B with the same
configuration, for example..., or why does a system on which it was
installed screwed up so badly that it wouldn't run in normal mode
anymore, and SPF had to be uninstalled in "Safe Mode"...)

I did google kerio problems. I saw only one post saying it wouldn't
uninstall.

Funny, searching on those two keywords in Google Groups brought up no
less than 6.640 results in ACF only...

 

[*ProteanThread*]

I agree with you on Sygate (SPF), but it has its quirks as well (why does
it run on system A with W2KPro SP4, and not on system B with the same
configuration, for example..., or why does a system on which it was
installed screwed up so badly that it wouldn't run in normal mode
anymore, and SPF had to be uninstalled in "Safe Mode"...)

so what is the best freeware firewall? keiro? what version? what about
tpfw?

 

[In_Parentheses]

so what is the best freeware firewall? keiro? what version? what
about tpfw?

Hi PT!

Depends on a few of factors in the equasion:

* How fast is the system (IOW "How old is it")
* How much RAM is available?
* What level of protection would you agree to?
* Is the system behind a NAT-router while on the Internet?

My config for the three systems here:

* W98 box, 70 MB RAM ---> Outpost 1
* W2KPro system 1, 366 MHz, 160 MB RAM --> Outpost again (*)
* W2KPro system 2, 667 MHz, 256 MB RAM --> Sygate SPF

(*) Necessary since this is a laptop and Sygate slows the system down way
too much for my liking, and second because it crashes the system when on.
DUN... I would have prefered SPF here too, though!

As for TPFW (Tiny Personal Firewall); from the Last Freeware version page
at:

http://www.321download.com/LastFreeware/page3.html

<quote>
While you are formally correct that this is the last free version under the
name of "Tiny", the story is that the original developers of Tiny Personal
Firewall splitted from TinySoftware, and opened a new company named Kerio.
The rights of the source code of Tiny Personal Firewall 2, remained with
them, and the continued to develop it, but under the name "Kerio Personal
Firewall 2", rather than "Tiny personal Firewall 2". Thus you may see that
Kerio 2, is really the same as Tiny 2, and is still free for home on-
commercial use (just as Tiny 2 was). It has a different icon, and they
added an internal help, but the interface and features are the same, and so
is the engine.
Kerio 2 can still be downloaded from Kerio's site. Last free version is
2.1.5 (they no longer develop version 2, version 3, has not publically
released, and version 4, is written from the scratch.
</quote>

This IMO also answers the Kerio question for that matter. "Which version"
you ask regarding Kerio; well, if you're in for the freeware version then
Kerio 2.1.5 is your last resort, all others are $-ware (and therfore OT
here.)

 

[*ProteanThread*]

why sygate over tpfw? my laptop is Windows 2000 320 Meg Ram 1G
Processor.