I'm having trouble with my Zone Alarm firewall. I've been getting the "Page Cannot Be Diplayed" error a lot. My son plays NeverWinter Nights on-line. He's made a module there for people to play at ( I don't know what that all is about really ). He says that since I installed the ZA his friends can't get into his module. When he tries to shut down the firewall he gets a dialog box that says that even if ZA is shut down, TruVector Monitor will still be in place, that there are other processes using it. I saw the posts below about ZA. I wondering if I should uninstall the ZA and try something different. *sigh* Anybody have any ideas? Thanks in advance.

I do not use Zone alarm, but I have heard nothing but problems about it lately. I uninstalled it from my wife's uncles computer because he was having problems using aol suddenly once he updated it.

I guess the thing to do is uninstall. That might be easiest anyway. Thanks Grinler. I guess it's time to get out the old EasyCleaner. LoL Thanks for your quick reply

What firewall would you recommend Grinler?

Well, I've decided on Kerio. So far, so good. I'll have to wait to see if it works OK for the son. I can't wait to find out. I haven't had a "Page cannot be displayed error" yet. I'm running out of firewalls to try, though. I don't want to buy until I know I've got the right one for me. I'll keep my fingers crossed all day Thanks for the feedback there. Have a great day

Kerio has gotten good reviews. I use black ice defender. Not the best firewall in the world in terms of options and features, but its fine for me.

But kerio, as a free firewall, has gotten some excellent reviews.

Right now i am using Sp2 with the build in firewall + ZA...ZA is working fine for the time being and i have had no problems. But i was trying to get a feel of what are some other good ones. Cause all i heard is negative towards ZA

I have used the free version of Sygate Personal Firewall for several years without a single problem. It has several useful logs, and a built-in backtrace/whois functionality. You make also make rules by applications. Before using any firewall, be sure to completely and carefully read the help section to make the most of its features.
Regards to all,
John

ive been using ZA firewall for over a year, havent had any problems. the reason for pages not connecting is you gotta make sure you have the prompt for outgoing programs on. if not it will just block it.
hmm.. maybe its too complex for people unfamiliar with firewalls? thats all i can think of... cause its a bit tricky to get used to at first.

LoL Acidizd,
I'm satisfied with my Kerio now. It seems to be very user friendly. The only thing is I keep telling it over and over what to allow or deny. It doesn't seem to remember. Even when I check the box to make it remember. I'm familiar with firewalls. They are a pain though. I wish they weren't necessary. May as well cry to heaven. Tee hee. C ya. Cheers

I have used ZA for over a year as well and have never had a problem with it. I will not update it though. If it aint broke dont fix it. I have only updated once I dont know if the pro version is any different from the free( i use the pro version)

I've posted my problems with ZoneAlarm in this forum just recently...

http://www.bleepingcomputer.com/forums/ind...?showtopic=1267

the quick read on it being...

Grinler: If you disable zone alarm do the problems continue happening?

Phawgg: disabling zonealarm (enabling ICF only) eliminates the problem.



My plan is to continue studying the subject, and since it works right now for me, keep the ICF alive...ZA shut off.

I understand from MS that the SP2 has several changes in the ICF, or at least a new buzzword name for it.

I tried Outpost free, but it was in conjuncture with other problems. My uninstall wasn't perfectly clean, but thats not to say it may work fine (if I apply a little more consideration into what I do with it...same for ZA, for that matter.)

Kerio and Sygate are up for trials in the near future.

I'm also going to check to see if there is support or a discussion forum re: zone alarm...maybe the only answer would be to "buy up", like "go pro" as they so consistantly indicate is an option one should exercise.

also, thanks to Acidizd, I'll check into this... "the reason for pages not connecting is you gotta make sure you have the prompt for outgoing programs on. if not it will just block it."

Yes phawgg SP2 from micro$oft does have a little better icf but I still don't trust it. You can download it but it is still a beta version. I have it installed but the first time I installed it..it made a mess with things. The good thing about it is you can uninstall it! But now that things are going fine, I think it is a great SP just some things you need to take off of it but other than that it's descent

BTW, Brunt, I've been meaning to ask... what is a "beta version" and what advantage would I have by downloading/installing it as opposed to waiting for the much anticipated release of (plain old?) SP2?

[back to topic] another thing I considered was that by using the ICF only, the test scan at steve gibson's "Shield's Up" reveals that my PC is in full stealth mode, where by using only ZoneAlarm, only a couple dozen of my ports were in stealth mode, the rest were closed, but visible. ( the scan of the first 1500 TCP ports)

Have you some insight into that?

Software programs go through several stages when they are tested. In the development process, the first stage is called Alpha; generally, this is the first live production of the code. After some initial testing and fixing the bugs, it is released as Beta. In this stage, most of the glaring bugs have been fixed and the program is considered more or less stable; Alpha programs are generally tested internally either by a peer review or by a quality control group, while Beta releases are considered good enough for end-user testing. The expectations are that users will only find minor bugs or things that need fixing, and users are advised not to use the application for mission critical operations. At some point in time thereafter, when all problems are resolved, the software is released to production and general use.
Regards,
John