W2K security update hosed machine, cannot access internet, My Network Places slow response

M

markpoyser

In reaction to the news about the ZOTOB virus, for which W2K machines
are especially vulnerable, I updated my machine.

Home office: two Compaq computers, both connected to a router, one is
W98 the other W2K.

Computer in question:
Compaq 5900Z, 700MHz, 750Meg, 20Gig - nothing special about it.
System is Windows 2000 Professional, with service pack 4 (SP4)
Connect to ISP via 56K modem.
Zone Alarm firewall - with 'standard' permissions (Internet and Trusted
allowed for MSIE, Firefox).

Anyway, after the update I have the following problems:

(1) When I fire up MSIE, the dialout takes place and a tiny bit of
information goes back and forth (password?, connection up?), but the
browser says it cannot access any web site. Running the Firefox
browser get the same result - no internet access. BTW, in the past,
when a browser was trying to access a website, you could see the green
'outbound' light flicker in the system tray. No flickering any more.

(2) When clicking on My Network Places, it brings up Windows Explorer
with not much (as before): Entire Network, Computers Near Me, and an
entry for my C partition on another computer ("C on Compaq" for the 2nd
Compaq). In the past, clicking on that entry would give me a view of
all the folders in the C partition - and within one or two seconds.
Now it takes about a minute to respond. I'm not kidding, about one
whole minute.

Task Manager does not show high CPU usage or any particularly suspect
process.

Sort of related:

(3) I thought I could remove the updates, via RUN msinfo32, Tools,
Windows, Update Wizard Uninstall - but all it tells me is "No packages
available for uninstall"

I am totally disgusted with this. No changes were made to the firewall
or router. All that was done was install the MS security updates.
Nothing else changed. But the computer is broken in some fashion. I
don't see how I could uninstall the updates. I don't know what to do
next. This is a major disaster for my home office.
 
M

markpoyser

More info and some good
First of all, the update mentioned above was pretty large. 23
elements, 66 Meg.

Anyway, tried the following:

Establish a new Dial-up Connection entry (same username/tel#, just for
grins): NO HELP
Turn off firewall: NO HELP
Uninstall Zone Alarm firewall: MSIE can now get data from Internet
(i.e. a page loads)
Install Zone Alarm: Both browsers (MSIE, FireFox) work as before.

FYI: Zone Alarm is the free version (firewall only).

Remaining problem: very slow response for My Network Places
 
W

Walterius

It's because of problems like that that I abandoned ZoneAlarm for Sygate
Personal Firewall. The problems went away.

Even so, I have to turn SPF off sometimes during manually using Windows
Update.
 
M

markpoyser

Walterius:

Sounds like something worth looking into. Thanks for your input.

It sure was odd that turning off ZA didn't help, but uninstalling it
did.

BTW, the odd thing about the current slow LAN activity is it's
asymmetrical.

It takes about 30-60 seconds to 'see' the old W98 machine from the W2K.
It takes about 10 seconds to move a file from the W98 to the W2K.
But it takes only one second to move a file from the W2K to the W98.

Because the W2K is, and always has been, NTFS, it's the only
machine that can see both sides as it were, and where all My Network
Places activity is performed.
 
T

Torgeir Bakken \(MVP\)

Hi,

You haven't by any chance PowerChute 6.x UPS software (APC) installed
on the computer?

If so, upgrade it to v7 or uninstall it and see if that helps.


PowerChute 6.x cases a lot of issues, much more than what is described
here:

PowerChute Business Edition - Customers Using 6.x Must Upgrade to 7.x
due to Java Runtime Environment expiration
http://nam-en.apc.com/cgi-bin/nam_en.cfg/php/enduser/std_adp.php?p_faqid=7202


This is how you can disable the PowerChute service if you are unable to
uninstall it:

Start Regedit.exe

Locate the key
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\APCPBESERVER
Set the "Start" value to 4 (means disabled)

Locate the key
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\APCPBEAGENT
Set the "Start" value to 4 (means disabled)

Reboot the computer.

Regards,
Torgeir
 

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