Zone Alarm slowing Internet Access

[DJ]

I've been having trouble with a couple of PC's I've been building,
namely that they've only been getting 250-280KB/s out of my 4MB Cable
Broadband.

My main PC was getting 460KB/s so I knew the connection was OK. To cut
a long story short, it turns out that Zone Alarm was causing the
problem. I found this out after doing a fresh install of XP Pro (SP2)
and installing the latest Zone Alarm (v6.0.667). My main PC runs Kerio
Personal Firewall which is why it was unaffected.

I've confirmed it by installing and uninstalling ZA several times.
Without ZA I can download a single file @ 460KB/s+ using either Opera
or IE6. With ZA installed I get 280KB/s max irrespective of the number
of downloads.

Shutting down ZA didn't help, nor did uninstalling it at first. Only
after uninstalling it and rebooting was the problem fixed.

Both machines that had the problem (1*HP Vectra VL400 P3 933MHZ and
1*Fujitsu Scaleo P4 2.8Ghz) have onboard NIC's, but I did try putting
the PCI NIC from my main PC in the Vectra and I was still limited to
280KB/s.

I've never noticed any problems with ZA before, but I've been on 1MB
Broadband until recently. It would be a shame if I couldn't use ZA
because it's a nice piece of software to put on machines that are going
to be used by non-technical people, but I don't think they'll thank me
for halving their Broadband speed!

I'm sure if this was a widespread problem it would be well publicised,
so I'm rather baffled as to why it's happening and would be grateful
for any assistance. If you need any more info please ask, because I'm
keen to resolve this problem.

 

[JIP]

I've been having trouble with a couple of PC's I've been building,
namely that they've only been getting 250-280KB/s out of my 4MB Cable
Broadband.

My main PC was getting 460KB/s so I knew the connection was OK. To cut
a long story short, it turns out that Zone Alarm was causing the
problem. I found this out after doing a fresh install of XP Pro (SP2)
and installing the latest Zone Alarm (v6.0.667). My main PC runs Kerio
Personal Firewall which is why it was unaffected.

I've confirmed it by installing and uninstalling ZA several times.
Without ZA I can download a single file @ 460KB/s+ using either Opera
or IE6. With ZA installed I get 280KB/s max irrespective of the number
of downloads.

Shutting down ZA didn't help, nor did uninstalling it at first. Only
after uninstalling it and rebooting was the problem fixed.

Both machines that had the problem (1*HP Vectra VL400 P3 933MHZ and
1*Fujitsu Scaleo P4 2.8Ghz) have onboard NIC's, but I did try putting
the PCI NIC from my main PC in the Vectra and I was still limited to
280KB/s.

I've never noticed any problems with ZA before, but I've been on 1MB
Broadband until recently. It would be a shame if I couldn't use ZA
because it's a nice piece of software to put on machines that are
going to be used by non-technical people, but I don't think they'll
thank me for halving their Broadband speed!

I'm sure if this was a widespread problem it would be well publicised,
so I'm rather baffled as to why it's happening and would be grateful
for any assistance. If you need any more info please ask, because I'm
keen to resolve this problem.

Presume you've looked at the Zone Alarm forums? Since the fiasco with the
release of version 6 screwing up so many computers I avoided updating to it,
and now use Sygate instead - just as easy to use and no problems.

 

[DJ]

Yeah, I've posted a message on the forum but thought I'd ask here in
the meantime. I'll have to check which version of ZA I've got on the
Fujitsu. I don't think it was the latest but it might still have been
v6.

I'll have a look at Sygate as well. Do you have any experience with
Outpost Free and if so, do you think Sygate is easier for a non-techie
user?

 

[JIP]

Yeah, I've posted a message on the forum but thought I'd ask here in
the meantime. I'll have to check which version of ZA I've got on the
Fujitsu. I don't think it was the latest but it might still have been
v6.

I'll have a look at Sygate as well. Do you have any experience with
Outpost Free and if so, do you think Sygate is easier for a non-techie
user?

No experience of Outpost, but Sygate was easy to install and is very little
different to Zone Alarm in its ease of use.

 

[DJ]

Having had a quick look at Sygate, it does look interesting but more
complicated than ZA.

It was working fine at first but then somehow I managed to stop XP
being able to get an IP address from my ISP. I only had two rules, 1
allowing Opera and 1 denying an incoming connection. I probably should
have allowed this but changing the rule back to Ask and Disabling and
Enabling my NIC and power cycling the modem didn't fix it.

Also for some reason, the bandwidth meter was showing that I was
downloading at 800KB/s, when the real speed was around 400KB/S.

As I said, I only had a quick look and it might be suitable for my
non-techie friends and family if I can do the initial setup for them.
It's certainly intriguing enough to make me consider dropping Kerio for
it (with the obvious advantage being that it's maintained and supported
unlike Kerio).

 

[Plato]

My main PC was getting 460KB/s so I knew the connection was OK. To cut
a long story short, it turns out that Zone Alarm was causing the
problem. I found this out after doing a fresh install of XP Pro (SP2)

Generally only may happen if using the zone alarm suites. They should
have just stuck with making a better firewall.

 

[Jock]

Presume you've looked at the Zone Alarm forums? Since the fiasco with the
release of version 6 screwing up so many computers I avoided updating to it,
and now use Sygate instead - just as easy to use and no problems.

Not much use if you've already paid for ZA Pro!

However, thanks for the tip, I won't renew. I've asked for a refund.

--

Jock.

I never believe anything until it's been officially
denied. -- Claude Cockburn

 

[DJ]

Yeah, I agree they should have just concentrated on the firewall.
However I wasn't using a suite, just Zone Alarm Free.

I noticed the other day that Kerio are abandoning their Personal
Firewall (v4) at the end of the year (not that I ever liked v4 anyway).
On the bright side, this might mean that Sygate pick up some new
customers which should give them more incentive to keep their product
updated.

 

[Cathy De Viney]

I thought I read somewhere that Sygate Firewall was being bought out by
Symantec?

 

[Notan]

I thought I read somewhere that Sygate Firewall was being bought out by
Symantec?

<snip>

Too bad.

While Symantec *used to* be a great company, they seem to have done absolutely
nothing but ruin the consumer products they've bought up.

Notan

 

[jt3]

Already have been. As of the last part of October. Monopoly is the modern
mantra, you know.

Joe

 

[Jock]

I thought I read somewhere that Sygate Firewall was being bought out by
Symantec?

Already has been.

--

Jock.

I never believe anything until it's been officially
denied. -- Claude Cockburn