ZoneAlarm Pro and damnit to hell....

[Phaeton]

Here's the deal. Got on my puter today, couldn't get to any online poker sites via their programs. Checked, could browse the web, download, etc. Odd. "server not available". Tried another poker program, it couldn't connect. Tried another, same thing. Downloaded the program and re-installed. Same thing. Checked Cox's status page, nothing about problems except for email being up and down. Checked email, didn't work. Tried the news servers, couldn't connect. How odd. Now, the last time I tried any of these poker programs was a few days ago, when I removed ZoneAlarm Pro because it was pissing me off. It kept interfering every time I wanted to do something. Always telling me a new network was detected, blah blah blah. So I killed it. Checked what programs were running, found a VSMON.EXE or TrueVector Internet Monitor courtesy of ZoneAlarm Pro. I remove it and it leaves this little jewel still running, great cleanup job. So I kill the service by disabling, reboot, delete the files it was accessing in the C:\windows\system32\zonealarm directory, reboot again. Sweet, I can use my poker programs now and can access the news servers. But, I can't browse the web!!@!@#$#%#@%@$!@! Reboot. Now I can browse, how odd. One site, two sites, thr..... damnit, quit working. Enable the service even though the files are no longer there, reboot. Everything works just peachy. Wife tries to use it an hour later and nothing. Reboot, it works once. Reboot, I can access a website with a Cox address, but nothing else. Yet the poker programs still work! So now I can use these programs, but I can't browse. I checked my hosts file, nothing there. Checked for rogue malware, nothing. This is really pissing me off. Considering re-installing ZoneAlarm and see if everything starts working again. Any ideas? Hopefully, one of the few times it decides to work, I will be able to read your replies.

Phaeton

[TripleRLtd]

Zone Alarm is an excellent program, but like all programs, especially those that need to be configured to work right, you need to do some work setting it up. So now that you've disabled and/or removed the "parts" of ZA that do the job, the best bet now is to remove and reinstall the program. When you see the "new netword detected" you need to confirm what ZA has found so it will work with your progs in the future. Better yet, you can preconfig. BTW, what OS are you using? If xp, try using the built in firewall for a bit before reinstalling ZA. But, you have hosed ZA, so remove it. You may have even "damaged" parts of your internet access "parts" and may need to do a repair of IE. I am assuming you are on broadband? Let us know.

[TechZ]

dont say bad stuff about zone alarm pro, its excellent as a popup blocker and a firewall, just love it, sniff

[confus-ed]

dont say bad stuff about zone alarm pro, its excellent as a popup blocker and a firewall, just love it, sniff

.. he's not saying bad stuff, just perhaps demonstrating that he didn't remove it correctly ? & then 'moaning' about that .. lessons learned & all that .. definately try a re-install/de-install

ZA is just like lots of other software firewalls it that it does application whitelisting, this takes a 'learning' spell (which I like muchly but others seem to view as an 'inconvience' & aren't dilligent with - its a firewall of course it needs tinkering with & setting up - its job is to stop everything & you've gotta tell it whats ok !).

You need a firewall - its that simple - so it might as well be configured correctly then hadn't it ?

[Archer]

To but another analogy on it its like a club doorman if you dont set a behaviour and dress code then you get sorts of clientel coming in and out and causing problems on your premesis.

[Phaeton]

Thanks, but apparently you didn't read the entire thing. I said I killed ZoneAlarm, meaning "remove, uninstall, delete, get rid of, etc." I didn't just kill a portion of it. It was nice enough to leave me that little jewel AFTER I uninstalled it. Now instead of bashing me for hating that piece of **** software, how about just giving me an informative answer that I might be able to use?

[bongoman]

Try using this app

[WebHead]

This advice might be frowned upon since it involves spending money and still doesn't correct the ZA problem,.. but why not just ditch ZA all-together and go pickup a Linksys router/VPN/firewall and be done with it. Simple problem, simple solution.

[TechZ]

sorry about that, just a bit sentimental about zap

[confus-ed]

Thanks, but apparently you didn't read the entire thing. I said I killed ZoneAlarm, meaning "remove, uninstall, delete, get rid of, etc." I didn't just kill a portion of it. It was nice enough to leave me that little jewel AFTER I uninstalled it. Now instead of bashing me for hating that piece of **** software, how about just giving me an informative answer that I might be able to use?

Ooooo ! ... 'scuse us for all misunderstanding then what was apparently clear to you, but not us ....

Tell us o/s then please & whether you have actually attempted another re-install/de-install ?

What did you check for malware with ? if it wasn't HijackThis, then lets give that a whirl (don't please post a big fat log ! Clean it up with adaware & spybot first & indicate what keys are required by installed programs you have, do some googling & then post JUST the keys you can't sus) ..

..Always telling me a new network was detected, blah blah blah

... mmmm if it was constantly telling you that, no wonder it went 'mad', it should only do that when it finds a new network connection, so generally only once or after some 'major hardware fiddling' ..

(& since we are all being Frank , {I don't want to be called Frank thank you }can you manage some paragraphs in any reply ? Makes it much more readable & comprehendable )

[edball]

Did you ever consider that ZoneAlarm may have been protecting you and something bad happened because you turned it off ?

[TripleRLtd]

Did you ever consider that ZoneAlarm may have been protecting you and something bad happened because you turned it off ?

Geesh, he didn't simply turn it off: he hosed it, decapitated it, made it useless and corrupt.

I killed it. Checked what programs were running, found a VSMON.EXE or TrueVector Internet Monitor courtesy of ZoneAlarm Pro. I remove it and it leaves this little jewel still running, great cleanup job. So I kill the service by disabling, reboot, delete the files it was accessing in the C:\windows\system32\zonealarm directory, reboot again.

Yeah, great cleanup job. Ever heard of Add/Remove programs?
Then this:

Considering re-installing ZoneAlarm and see if everything starts working again.

I think we agreed with that one and even offered another option: xp's firewall.
Perhaps you should try reading all of our replies as well. I even came out and said I thought you may have corrupted part of your Winsock, and the new member bongoman (welcome to WD, btw) offered a "fix" app for that. Tried it yet?

[Phaeton]

Ooooo ! ... 'scuse us for all misunderstanding then what was apparently clear to you, but not us ....

Tell us o/s then please & whether you have actually attempted another re-install/de-install ?

What did you check for malware with ? if it wasn't HijackThis, then lets give that a whirl (don't please post a big fat log ! Clean it up with adaware & spybot first & indicate what keys are required by installed programs you have, do some googling & then post JUST the keys you can't sus) ..

... mmmm if it was constantly telling you that, no wonder it went 'mad', it should only do that when it finds a new network connection, so generally only once or after some 'major hardware fiddling' ..

Well, whenever the power flickered or i had to reboot the linksys, ZAP(appropriate acronym for what it does to your system) would tell me "new network" and I had to start all over again. And yes, today I re-installed and everything works just peachy. I don't get it. The odd thing was, while it wasn't working correctly, I could only get to sites withing Cox's system, nothing outside of it. I want to try to un-install it again, but i'm kinda hesitant about it.

(& since we are all being Frank , {I don't want to be called Frank thank you }can you manage some paragraphs in any reply ? Makes it much more readable & comprehendable )

And is that more readable for you? Sorry about the previous posts, but I was highly agitated at such a poorly written un-install program that will leave a system disabled like that.

Phaeton

[Phaeton]

Did you ever consider that ZoneAlarm may have been protecting you and something bad happened because you turned it off ?

As stated earlier, it couldn't have been trying to protect me if it was installed to begin with, at least it wasn't SUPPOSED to still be installed after running the un-install ;-)

[edball]

As stated earlier, it couldn't have been trying to protect me if it was installed to begin with, at least it wasn't SUPPOSED to still be installed after running the un-install ;-)

What I mean is that your problems may not have been caused by any remnants from ZoneAlarm, they may have caused you to be attacked because you had no protection.