Patch Tuesday Update Breaks ZoneAlarm on Windows XP - Updated!

ZoneAlarm+KB951748 = Broken Internet Access

From The Inquirer to DSLReports to our own readers, it seems like everyone's talking about the catastrophic combination of current ZoneAlarm products and Microsoft's KB951748 update for Windows XP from this month's Patch Tuesday. The update (MS08-037), ironically enough, is supposed to improve security for the DNS function of Windows. However, when you combine it with the ZoneAlarm firewall (ZoneAlarm Free, ZoneAlarm Pro, ZoneAlarm AntiVirus, ZoneAlarm Anti-Spyware, or ZoneAlarm Security Suite), you lose all most network/Internet functionality (update: you might be able to ping servers, but you cannot connect to websites).

Solutions Workarounds

In the meantime, what should you do? ZoneAlarm recommends one of the following three options:

• Adjust the Internet Zone security slider to Medium
• Uninstall KB951748
• Add your DNS servers to the Trusted Zone

For complete details, see the ZoneAlarm press release. No word yet about an updated version of the security patch  from Redmond.

Now, Solutions from ZA (updated 10:25PM CDT July 9, 2008)

The ZoneAlarm press release now contains links to updated versions of ZoneAlarm products that will solve this problem. Thanks to reader Block_Dude for providing the heads-up, and to all commentors for your feedback and suggestions.

If you have friends or business associates with this problem, do them a favor and give them the word - after all, until they can solve the problem, they can't even find out why it happened!

Be sure to tell us if you've been affected, and if you have any other suggestions.