XP SP2 & Zone Alarm

[Richard L Gabriel]

Does SP2 respect already installed third party firewalls such as Zone
Alarm (free version)? I have been dragging my feet on SP2 as I
personally see no need for alternate security schemes. I have I.E.
installed, but use Mozilla's Firefox almost exclusively these days.
Since I started using the latter about a month ago, my AdAware and
Spybot have found the machine absolutely clean! I also use NAV and it
also comes up clean.

Is there any compelling reason to use the SP2 update at this time? I
am inclined to wait until it is time tested for a while. I have all
the other Windows updates.

Comments?

 

[Jerry]

I'm running SP2 with ZoneAlarm 4.5.594.000 just fine. The 5.x.x.x.versions
of ZoneAlarm have been reported as having problems (see the ZoneLabs
forums).

SP2 was tested for many months by thousands of people on a multitude of
systems so I wouldn't be concerned with waiting for even more testing; there
won't be any other than all of us thousands/millions of users that have
upgraded.

 

[Richard L Gabriel]

I'm running SP2 with ZoneAlarm 4.5.594.000 just fine. The 5.x.x.x.versions
of ZoneAlarm have been reported as having problems (see the ZoneLabs
forums).

SP2 was tested for many months by thousands of people on a multitude of
systems so I wouldn't be concerned with waiting for even more testing; there
won't be any other than all of us thousands/millions of users that have
upgraded.

Thanks for the input Jerry. I checked out the ZA formums and found
useful info. A reference to the MS Knowledge Base 884130 did show
some issues with both ZA and Norton System Works 2003 & 2004.

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?kbid=884130&product=windowsxpsp2

Apparently your ZA 4.5x is OK if installed before installing SP2.
After SP2 installation, ZA 4.5 "does not install" ! With ZA 5.0.590
(my version), "you recieve a Stop error message or your computer
restarts before the uninstall program finishes."

Sounds like a PITA to me

Richard