Maximum PC ZoneAlarm RSS Feed

Patch Tuesday Update Breaks ZoneAlarm on Windows XP - Updated!

Mark Edward Soper — Wed, 09 Jul 2008 16:59:03 -0500

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.

Performance and Reliability Fix for Windows Vista SP1

Mark Edward Soper — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 14:20:17 -0500

Stability Issues with Vista SP1? KB952709 to the Rescue!

Yesterday, Microsoft released a reliability and performance update, KB952709, for Windows Vista SP1. It takes a broom to the following problems, from the Knowledge Base article:

• This update improves the stability of Windows Vista SP1-based computers by addressing some crashes that may occur when you try to check e-mail by using a POP3 e-mail client such as Windows Mail or Mozilla Thunderbird. The crashes may occur on a Windows Vista SP1-based computer in the following scenario:

• Incoming POP3 and outgoing SMTP traffic monitoring is enabled.

• Both a third-party antivirus application and an antispyware application are installed, such as the following applications:

• ZoneAlarm Internet Security Suite by Check Point Software Technologies Ltd.

• SpySweeper by Webroot Software, Inc.

• This update improves the reliability of the Windows Vista SP1 based-computers by addressing some problems that occur when you delete user accounts by using the User Accounts item in Control Panel. When this problem occurs, the system may stop responding (hang).

• This update improves the reliability of Windows Vista SP1-based computers that experience issues in which large applications cannot run after the computer is turned on for extended periods of time. For example, when you try to start Excel 2007 after the computer is turned on for extended periods of time, a user may receive an error message that resembles the following: EXCEL.EXE is not a valid Win32 application

• This update improves the reliability of Windows Vista SP1-based computers by reducing the number of crashes that may be caused by the Apple QuickTime thumbnail preview in Windows Live Photo Gallery.

• This update improves the performance of Windows Vista SP1-based computers by reducing audio and video (AV) stuttering. Such AV stuttering may occur when the audio or video component is streaming high definition content from a Windows Vista SP1-based computer that has a NVIDIA network adapter nForce driver version 67.5.4.0 that is installed to a Windows Media Center Extender device.

If any of these problems sound familiar (or you must want to head off problems in the future), you need this update.

Not Available Automatically! Here's How to Order Download!

The update offered by KB952709 isn't being offered by Windows Update, so follow the link to the article, or save time with these direct links to the 32-bit version and 64-bit version.

ZoneAlarm Internet Security Suite

Michael Brown — Tue, 05 Sep 2006 17:17:00 -0500

Looking for cheap security for your PC? Zone Labs’ ZoneAlarm firewall is available free for the downloading, as is Grisoft’s AVG antivirus, Safer-Networking’s Spybot anti-spyware, and Spampal.org’s anti-spam software. But if you’re looking for an integrated solution offering all these safeguards and more, ZoneAlarm Internet Security Suite 6.5 justifies its price.

And unlike some other vendors in this market segment Symantec, McAfee, ZoneAlarm publisher Zone Labs doesn’t start harassing you for a subscription-renewal fee on the anniversary date of your purchase.

This version of ZoneAlarm Internet Security Suite (let’s call it ZASS) has several new features, including automatic spy-site blocking, a gaming mode, and something the company touts as an identity-theft protection service that protects you “even in the physical world.” This last claim is fulfilled by a one-year enrollment in a third-party service called Identity Guard Card Theft Protection, billed as “a $29.95 value!”

When you’re delivered to this third-party’s website (www.identityguard.com) indirectly from ZASS, you’re entreated to also sign up for one of the company’s other products with this message: “…for more complete identity protection, the ZoneAlarm team recommends upgrading to Identity Guard Fraud Protection….” This service costs nearly three times what you’ll pay for ZASS.

With the free service, you register your credit cards and the company’s web-crawlers—which troll sites known to trade in stolen credit-card numbers—will notify you if yours pop up. So what’s not to like? Identity Guard feels like a come-on: bait to lure you into signing up for the higher-priced product. But if you do find it to be of value, Zone Labs tells us it plans to continue to offer the basic service for free to customers who renew their ZASS subscriptions.

Enough about that; let’s get back to some of the new features of the core product. Few things are more annoying than being interrupted in the middle a game by some specious alert from a program that’s running on your PC. ZASS now includes a game mode that automatically suppresses the program’s alerts that require you to make a decision. It also suspends automatic scans and program updates.

Zone Labs has also added a known spyware site-blocking feature to ZASS. Should you try to visit one of these sites, or should a spyware program running on your PC attempt to phone home to one, ZASS will automatically block the visit and display an alert. Labeling applications or websites as sources of spyware can be problematic, and ZASS cuts vendors a lot of slack in this regard: In a quick test, the program prevented us from visiting www.gator.com, but not the P2P file-sharing site www.limewire.com or even www.eacceleration.com, whose application the program had previously identified as spyware.

On the other hand, ZASS spyware scan did turn up two Windows registry entries from programs we had purged from our test platform eons ago: StopSign, from the aforementioned eAcceleration, and PartyPoker (installed purely in the name of research—honest!). Several other popular anti-spyware programs, including Spybot, had failed to detect these entries.

This latest iteration of Zone Alarm Security Suite offers thorough protection for your PC at a reasonable price. The program’s better-safe-than-sorry alert messages will startle novices, but experienced users will take them in stride while customizing the program for their environment.

Month Reviewed: September 2006

+ INSTALLING A FIREWALL: Jam-packed with well-integrated security features.

- INSTALLING DRYWALL: Third-party credit-card protection is of dubious value.

VERDICT: 9

URL: www.zonelabs.com