Service Pack 2 vs. Zone Alarm
So, I downloaded and installed Windows XP Service Pack 2 last night. Then I could no longer connect to any websites. I connected to my MUSH just fine. My ISP said I was connected with no problems. But everytime I tried to access a website (using Mozilla or IE) I got the error message " could not be found".
So today I called MS customer service. They told me that Zone Alarm doesn't work with SP2, but we also tried a few other things. Sure enough though, when I uninstalled ZoneAlarm I finally had access.
Seems SP2 has it's own firewall. I haven't found a way to configure it though. It just arbitrarily blocks or allows access to sites and you can't train it like with ZA. Gee, I wonder why? Any guesses to what always gets access?
And the big question: Does anyone know how to work around this? I don't want anyone, not even Microsoft, having access to my computer (or ability to access things from my computer) whenever I'm online. That was the whole purpose of Zone Alarm in the first place.
Grrr!
*Edit: Wow! I posted to ZA's forum about 10 minutes ago and already got the following response (and this for a free user!)...
Gerard-Konijn wrote:
The only thing you have to do is with the SP2 firewall, Click Start>Control Panel>Security Centre. Drop down the firewall section click the button there. Then choose "I have a 3rd party firewall that I'll monitor myself". And take the free ZA back again.
http://download.zonelabs.com/bin/free/information/znalm/zaReleaseHistory.html
With the best regards. Gerard - Konijn. Tilburg. The Netherlands.
I'll try it and see. Gotta log off though.
So today I called MS customer service. They told me that Zone Alarm doesn't work with SP2, but we also tried a few other things. Sure enough though, when I uninstalled ZoneAlarm I finally had access.
Seems SP2 has it's own firewall. I haven't found a way to configure it though. It just arbitrarily blocks or allows access to sites and you can't train it like with ZA. Gee, I wonder why? Any guesses to what always gets access?
And the big question: Does anyone know how to work around this? I don't want anyone, not even Microsoft, having access to my computer (or ability to access things from my computer) whenever I'm online. That was the whole purpose of Zone Alarm in the first place.
Grrr!
*Edit: Wow! I posted to ZA's forum about 10 minutes ago and already got the following response (and this for a free user!)...
Gerard-Konijn wrote:
The only thing you have to do is with the SP2 firewall, Click Start>Control Panel>Security Centre. Drop down the firewall section click the button there. Then choose "I have a 3rd party firewall that I'll monitor myself". And take the free ZA back again.
http://download.zonelabs.com/bin/free/information/znalm/zaReleaseHistory.html
With the best regards. Gerard - Konijn. Tilburg. The Netherlands.
I'll try it and see. Gotta log off though.