BleepingComputer.com: Firewall Upgrade, Lost Internet

I downloaded an upgrade to Zone Alarm and after installing I am no longer able to get back onto the Internet with my desktop. I have two laptops that are on a wireless connection and they are fine. Desktop is a wired connection. ISP (Comcast) tech came and checked everything and said I had to completely reinstall desktop. He said he has seen this before with firewall and even anti-virus program upgrades. Before I spend so much time reinstalling, does anyone have any ideas. Zone Labs admitted the problem is likely a corrupted file, but are no help, only promises. Thanks a lot for any ideas.

Moderator Edit: Moved topic to more appropriate forum. ~ Animal

This post has been edited by Animal: 06 January 2007 - 09:37 PM

I remember having ZoneAlarm and the internet stopped working, so I uninstalled it.

I uninstalled ZA, even followed the detailed "clean uninstall" procedure on their website, but no avail.

ToDrag, on Jan 6 2007, 10:25 AM, said:

Did you also include the registry items of ZA?

I did not. I am unsure how to clean out software from the registry. I use a registry cleaner, but do not know specifically where to check and how to manually remove registry entries.

Download install and update Ccleaner
After installing and updating go to options - advanced and tick prompt for registry back ups
Now Start up in safe mode
Do two runs

a) Click on problems and tick all. Click on analyse. At the end you will be prompted for storing a backup.
This will be stored, as a default, in My documents.
Click on cleaner click on analyse and accept all files to be removed.

Outstanding! Will do, great info. Thanks, fozzie.

On the right hand side of the page in the link below is another link to Zfix. It has been used successfully to remove all traces of Zone Alarm.
http://www.greenwood.iwarp.com/sgcomputer.html

I took a peek and it looks promising. Thanks & thanks.

hmmmm ic..so many people are having problems with their net connection after installing ZoneAlarm?So is it still safe to continue using? cause ZA is a very good firewall ->better then then one that comes with SP2 microsoft. =D so ZA not so recommanded now?

Aberfocation----------One possibly two users in this topic having a problem does not mean that there is a worldwide epidemic!

Absolutely correct. Zone Labs agreed that it was probably a corrupt file I downloaded, but I'm sure it was fixed quickly. My problem occured on New Years Day and nobody home at ZL. I have used Zone Alarm ever since they first posted the free version of the firewall, and upgraded to the Pro mainly to pay them for what I thought was a great product. I use it on all three PCs at my house and really like it. It is effective and easy to use. I am not planning on making any change, they may be the best thing going and have certainly protected me from much worse for many years. Yeah, man!

hmmm mayb i said e wrong thing sorry.But me and a few of my friends had the same problem. =X so we uninstall it and it went back to normal =X so as ToDrag said..mayb a corrupt file that we d/l=D ya and i agree its really a nice firewall.=D

This post has been edited by Aberfocation: 07 January 2007 - 05:59 AM

A followup on the issue with the Zone Alarm upgrade causing a permanent (apparently) disconnect of my desktop's Internet connection.

I have run chkdsk /r.

I have run disk cleanup.

I have run defrag in Safe Mode.

I have run ccleaner in Safe Mode.

The computer has benefitted from this, it runs better. It has been well worth the time to do these runs. However, still no Internet connection.

I would also make the comment that Zone Labs have been no help at all. Phone calls and emails have generated promises to help, but no action. I have them on three PCs and have used and liked them for years. I probably will continue to use them, I just got the ZA Suite 2007 on a new lap. I am, however, very disappointed with this situation. They used to be very responsive and this is a pretty major glitch. Perhaps they really don't know what to do either and don't want to work through it, but surely I am not the only one.

Thanks again to all who have helped. I am not going to do a complete XP reinstall yet, so I will remain open to any additional suggestions. You are greatly appreciated.