Just finished uninstalling the latest release of Zone Alarm Pro from my system. It had caused so many conflicts. I was actually locking up my computer to the point that the only way to shut down was to unplug!!! I couldn't properly access normal browsers, I couldn't properly use AOL, other programs would fail to function properly. I couldn't even CTRL+ALT+DEL to get the system to shutdown programs. Low and behold I uninstall ZAP and everything's hunky dory. I may go back to the old v4.5, but the 'net is rampant with problems with this newest release. If you don't have it, or use it now, don't start any time soon until we're sure they've gotten the bugs out. It's rare I've had this much frustration with my system. :evil2: :computer:
I did not experience quite as many problems as you did, but it did disable the Norton Anti Virus email scanning on both incoming and outgoing mail. There has been a vigorous discussion of the shortcomings of the 5.0 version on the Zone Labs User Forum in the past few weeks.
Still have a phone dial-up access to the internet, but when I do move to DSL and an "always on" internet link, I'm planning on buying one of the router/firewall "appliances". All-in-one, and it masks your IP address from the rest of the world.
i use a linksys router. pccomputing had done some tests a while back and they found the hardware firewall harder to defeat than the software one, and obviously there is no chance of it messing up your software system
Zone Labs finally made available tonight a new version, 5.0.590.043. It fixed the problem with the Norton Anti Virus email scanning. So far I have found no new glitches. For the information of those who commented about using a hardware firewall, my D-Link 624 router has one built in. I have had no intrusions detected by the Zone Alarm program since I started using the router. It just gives me an extra measure of comfort to know that I have double protection.
Well, locking up your PC is a sure way of no-one getting access to it. So maybe it just works too well!
Evan, If you don't want to crawl on the floor and unplug the computer when it locks up and C-A-D doesn't work, try holding the power button in - about 5 seconds. That should shut it down. Then of course it will do a scan disk when you restart it and you can get some laundry done or something ;-) . I'm only using the free version of ZA but our machine tends to slow down (normal Windows tones are more like a dragged out, stuttering da da da da da). I wonder now if it has anything to do with ZA, I had thouhgt IE was causing memory leaks since it happens most often when we surf the web. We also have a LinkSys router. If it's firewall really is sturdy enough, I might try to convince my wife one wall is enough and see if the problem goes away.
Ultimately I uninstalled ZAP. lived without a firewall for a few days, but couldn't stand it so I installed a McAfee firewall that's included free with AOL. So far it seems to be working great (i.e. no conflicts)--not sure if it's as secure as ZAP, but it's something and I don't keep too many National Security secrets on my system.
To test your computer's exposure to online security threats and learn how to make your computer more secure, try the Symantec site at this URL Symantec Security Check. It's considered a safe site to have probe your computer.
Thanks for the link, Don. I had been using Shields UP!! here but I feel a lot more comfortable using a site operated by Symantec for this purpose.
There are too many free security applications out there to worry about purchasing one that may or may not work. I've found that programs like Norton Anti-Virus and Zone Alarm are more harmful to computers than what they're supposed to protect against; plus, you're constantly barraged with notifications of updates you have to pay for just to keep your software working. Get Sygate Personal Firewall and AVG (both free) instead. http://www.download.com/Sygate-Personal-Fi...tml?tag=lst-0-5 http://www.grisoft.com/us/us_dwnl_free.php
Don, After installing the 'free' McAfee firewall from AOL I checked my security via your link and got all thumbs up. I'm sure some dedicated hacker that really desperately wanted to see pictures of my kids eating birthday cake could crack my system, but I think I'm safe from casual hackers. Also, I've experiences ZERO conflicts since installing it. I have almost a year left on my ZAP contract...guess that's down the S-hole.
Evan, The latest Zone Alarm version, which was released late Thursday, is performing flawlessly. I have had absolutely no conflicts between it and any other programs thus far. I am not an AOL user, though (EarthLink DSL). I do almost all of my bill payments online, including my mortgage, credit card accounts, utilities and insurance. I cannot take a chance that someone will obtain my account numbers, passwords or expiration dates. I could care less if a hacker saw photos of family events or of my daughter's achievements at school or in soccer and basketball leagues.
Thanks, that's good stuff to know. The photos comment was supposed to be a joke...guess it flopped! :roll:
I've been using Zone Alarm since I got cable internet. I've never experienced problems with it. I upgraded from the free version to the Pro version only because I appreciated the program so much that I decided to give them some money. The (frequent) upgrades are included at no extra cost, and I install them as soon as notified. I was away for a week, and the computer was shut down. As soon as I booted it up, ZA notified me that my Norton Antivirus was out of date (virus definitions not updated while the computer was shut off). I appreciated that. I ran LiveUpdate immediately. Otherwise I might not have had the latest definitions for a while.
I had the same problems with ZA. Aol would lock up and I could not use my defrag. Didn't realize it was the new version till I did some checking out why my defrag kept giving me an error message. I got rid of the new one and put 4.5 back on,problems solved. Now that a newer version is available I'll check it out.
