ZoneAlarm acting kooky and preventing me from going online...???

[Heddi]

:)

Hi all!

I'm running Windows XP 2003, have Mozilla Firefox, Norton Antivirus, Spybot S&D and ZoneAlarm (Free version). We have cable internet and it seems that about 4 months ago, when we upgraded to WinXP2003, our ZoneAlarm has been acting really strange.

Here's what seems to be happening:

Since we're on cable internet, we always leave the modem on. Since installing WinXP2003, I can go to the computer, "wake it up" and when I try to go online or check email, we'll have no connection to the internet. I look down at the modem, and all of the lights are off and it's in 'idle' mode (without us ever putting it in idle mode).

For the longest time, I thought it was our cable internet company, so every day I'd call them and hang on the phone for an hour trying to figure out why I couldn't get online. THey could never figure out the problem, and I was getting frustrated.

I found out, though, that if I disabled ZA, within about 5 minutes of ZA going off, the modem would spring to life and I coulc check email/go online.

NOW---right now I don't have ZA turned on. I can go and turn it on and I'll be able to surf online and all that jazz...but once the computer is idle and 'goes to sleep', that's when the modem idles down.

ZA never did this before. I know there's the setting where you can lock your modem if the computer is idle for X minutes/hours or whatever, but we've never turned that setting on and as far as I can tell, it's not been turned on or reset since the upgrade to WinXP.

I really hate not having a firewall while we have cable internet, but having to go through a 15 minute rigamarole every time we want to go online is a hassle, esp. since I have to go online alot of time "spur of the moment" because of school assignments and such that I have.

Any suggestions? I've tried uninstalling and doing a fresh reinstall with ZA but the problem persists.

Thanks so much!

heddi

[RoyGBiv]

1. 2003 and ZA

ZoneAlarm does not officially support Windows 2003. There are security related elements inherent to the operating system that conflict with some of what ZA does. What you're describing is one of those issues.

That said, I've seen discussions from some people on the Zone Alarm forums at the zonelabs.com website indicating ZA can be made to work with 2003, if you have the pro version. You can modify the settings in this version that conflict with the operating system. I do not, however, know how to do this as I've never played with 2003.

Without buying the pro version and figuring out how to tweak it -- and there are no guarantees with this -- you'll need to find a firewall made specificially to work with 2003. As indicated, even buying the pro version might not work, and since 2003 is not in the list of supported operating systems, you'll get no support from ZoneLabs, so you might not want to do that.

Just as a curiosity, why are you running 2003? Are you using your machine as a server?

[Heddi]

2. No, I'm not running it as a server

the IT guy at my old job gave everyone copies since the license covered that (I used to do work from home). He never gave me any indications that I shouldn't use it, and seemed to imply that some of the programs I used at work wouldn't work (or would work better) through 2003.

Sigh....I guess I have to uninstall and reinstall my old version of windows.....

Thanks for your help!

[RoyGBiv]

3. 2003

I never really think I've helped just when I tell someone it's broken and will probably remain broken without a lot of changes. :-)

From what I've read, 2003 is a bit more stable and quite a bit more secure than XP, which is why a lot of IT guys recommend it. How you got the copy is how a lot of people seem to get it. Nothing wrong with that, but the unfortunate problem is that the people who give it out aren't thinking in terms of your needs when they do so. 2003 was developed for a specific purpose, which does not commonly fit the home user.

Anyway, if you like it, don't just give it up entirely. Do a search for firewalls that work with 2003 and see if you can find some discussion of them. Since you have no dollars invested in ZA but do have a lot of time invested in your Windows install, that might be worth the effort. I'm sure the firewalls are out there. I just don't know if you can find free versions of them.

[reprobate]

4. Heddi, I'm running ZA pro with XP pro and SP2 and it did same to me.

I had the cable guy out here a couple of times and there was no problem on their end.

One of the support techs at roadrunner finally asked if I had ZA installed. He advised me to not just turn it off, but uninstall it. That solved the problem immediately.

Of course, I'm behind a router so it's not as critical as for some others. And since getting my iMac G5 I don't worry about it at all.

After so many years I've just given up on wintel machines. I looked at the directory on my windows machine and it struck me that just too many of the programs on it did nothing but correct for the inadequacies of the operating system. I know some swear by windows, but AFAIC they can have it. I'll stick to the mac from now on.

[RoyGBiv]

5. I understand what you're saying ...

But I can tell you without too much fear of error that the tech at RoadRunner was giving you a quick way out and not fully exploring the problem. I've dealt with this issue in the context you describe, and it is not a problem with ZA specifically. It's a problem with the level of security ZA provides combined with the way RR administers its network. They are taught to do this; deflect the problem rather than expose the weakness in their own system.

Zone Alarm tech support could have solved the issue for you. It is simply a matter of a few settings. The tradeoff is that your Windoze based machine won't be as secure because RR requires your connection not to be as secure as ZA allows it to be.

I wish I had the courage to go to a Mac and applaud your decision.

[reprobate]

7. I don't doubt that you are right. I just got tired of the windows hassle.

As far as moving to a Mac, my only hesitation was in transferring my data over. Quicken and Outlook were my main worry but I found a program that moves all the outlook data no hassle (outlook2mac).

Quicken was not too much more trouble. The one thing I found out was that you should move accounts one at a time, or they will combine in mac quicken. Wound up with my checking an savings accounts on the same register. Deleting and redoing separately fixed it.

Of couse, the apple store will do it for you if you bring them a disk with the data. They'll transfer to the new machine and put the data where it belongs for you. That is, if you aren't as independant minded as me.

And it didn't take courage. Just years of built up frustration with windows. This iMac is a beautiful machine. It's what computing should have been all along, if the market really worked.

[ConsAreLiars]

6. No idea about that particular combo, but try Sygate Personal

Firewall at: http://smb.sygate.com/products/spf_standard.htm

It is free and works fine with XP-sp2. Don't know if Roadrunner will fight with it also, but if neither ZA nor SPF work, then dump them and get Speakeasy or some other ISP.

(I used ZA with no problem, but switched to SPF because it gives the users more info about port scans and such.)