Author Topic: ZoneAlarm. Easily Brokken. Microsoft. (Read 12515 times)

Abraxas · « **on:** January 17, 2005, 04:01:41 PM »

I posted this thread; in the virus forum.
http://forum.avast.com/index.php?topic=10391.0

I helped out a friend when they were hit with a virus a while ago. I initially cleaned, with Avast! 4.5 Home boot Scan ; Win32:Mopy[Wrm] + a security hole in Internet Explorer 6; using Ad-Aware , Spybot, HighJackThis Log File, on a 2.5 Ghz CPU, 40 Meg Hdd, 256 Meg/ Ram, WinXP SP2 system .
My friend has had further problems, and as I hadn't the time, I said to phone Microsoft Support. She ran all the suggested tests, none of which helped.
Today I contacted Microsoft on Her behalf to resolve the issue. I was surprised that after a Technician spent half an hour reading the ' HijackThis ' log file', and rang back that he said ZoneAlarm was "easily broken" , after a virus attack, and that it had not uninstalled and was still running !
Uninstalling ZA was 1 of the " tests " they had suggested. I checked and a reference to ZoneAlarm client.exe was still in the registry.
In my own experience I've not had any problems with ZoneAlarm. Certainly not to the extent that this situation has developed into.
Any way it seems that there's going to be some late nights for me after the ZoneAlarm problem has been fixed.
Has anyone else had a similar experience ? I feel that XP service pack 2 may have a part to play in this situation.

Spyros · « **Reply #1 on:** January 17, 2005, 04:04:15 PM »

It would be nice if you, or anybody else who's using ZA would send them en e-mail about it, in order to hear their part of the story too. I believe that would be interesting.

Abraxas · « **Reply #2 on:** January 17, 2005, 04:18:05 PM »

Spyros :

Quote

It would be nice if you, or anybody else who's using ZA would send them en e-mail about it, in order to hear their part of the story too. I believe that would be interesting.

Yes, I'm about to do so now and will report back.

GYL · « **Reply #3 on:** January 17, 2005, 04:31:31 PM »

Hi Abraxas.On ZAusers forum,i've seen some issues since windows update KB890830 .Perhaps same reason?

Abraxas · « **Reply #4 on:** January 17, 2005, 04:44:37 PM »

Thanks GYL for that ! Will go there and have a browse.
I'm using '98 se, yeh don't laugh,

I still find it does the job, and ZA works well.
I'll try a different Firewall with XP though I think.

bob3160 · « **Reply #5 on:** January 17, 2005, 08:52:01 PM »

Abraxas
Who did the uninstall of ZA?
I've uninstalled ZA many times to test other Firewalls and never had any problems. Please bear in mind that your info came from MS.
There is no way of knowing how much exoerience the person you talked to had.
MS has enough trouble addressing issues with Windows. Usually the answer is: "I think you should re-install Windows. That will probably
fix the problem"

marauding · « **Reply #6 on:** January 18, 2005, 05:27:47 AM »

bob3160 :

Quote

Who did the uninstall of ZA?
I've uninstalled ZA many times to test other Firewalls and never had any problems. Please bear in mind that your info came from MS.
There is no way of knowing how much exoerience the person you talked to had.
MS has enough trouble addressing issues with Windows. Usually the answer is: "I think you should re-install Windows. That will probably
fix the problem"

Just spent 1/2 an hour with a "Senior Microsoft technician". He lead me through the Registry and told me what to delete , to get ZoneAlarm cleaned off the system manually. It seems to have worked as I'm posting here!

PPPPPPPPHHHHHHHHHEEEEEEEEEEWWWWWWWWWW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
EDIT: bob3160, no just had to re-register winXP, not re-install !

bob3160 · « **Reply #7 on:** January 18, 2005, 03:03:17 PM »

marauding
Since it appears that you don't like ZA, I hope you've at least replaced it with another reliable Firewall.
I hope you're not relying just on the built in Windows Firewall. Remember, the Win Firewall only protects
incoming and does nothing for inormation leaving your computer.

Abraxas · « **Reply #8 on:** January 19, 2005, 03:56:29 PM »

O.K. I've been doing the tech. work for Marauding with this situation. It appears that she didn't uninstal Zone Alarm properly. Maybe the virus I cleaned had something to do with this. I've checked Zone Lab's Forum, and there's a thread about manual un-instalation, posted by the Administrator.
http://nh2.nohold.net/noHoldCust25/Prod_1/Articles55646/ManualUninstall.html
She's using XP Sp2 firewall, for the moment. Personally I'd like to test if it'll protect, if not there's Sygate . I've re-installed Avast! 4.5 Home, Ad Aware SE, Spybot, and Microsoft Anti Syware.
As every computer has it's own peculiarities, trial and error is the basic theory I'm using. I believe this is called the "Emperical Method". We learn through our mistakes. Hopefully not too many

bob3160 · « **Reply #9 on:** January 19, 2005, 06:59:44 PM »

Quote

She's using XP Sp2 firewall, for the moment

That's only half a Firewall. Only protects incoming but does nothing for outgoing protection.

Lisandro · « **Reply #10 on:** January 20, 2005, 01:39:43 AM »

My way on firewalls...

ZA (free) > Kerio 2.5 (free) > Outpost (pro) > ZA (free)* > Sygate (free) + Windows Firewall

ZA (free) with SP2 and Norton Goback (sorry Bob!): DSOD

Sasha will be happy I'm using Sygate again.

pk

Abraxas · « **Reply #11 on:** January 20, 2005, 04:48:08 PM »

Technical :

Quote

My way on firewalls...

ZA (free) > Kerio 2.5 (free) > Outpost (pro) > ZA (free)* > Sygate (free) + Windows Firewall

Technical would you advise running Sygate (free) + Windows Firewall (Enabled) ?
I seem to remember you testing quite a few Firewalls a short time ago, ( I think it was you...) .
As Bob said :

Quote

That's only half a Firewall. Only protects incoming but does nothing for outgoing protection.

And I didn't think you could run the SP2 with another firewall.

bob3160 · « **Reply #12 on:** January 20, 2005, 04:57:31 PM »

Abraxas

Quote

And I didn't think you could run the SP2 with another firewall

The MS Firewall seems to be the exception to the rule.
I know that quite a few people run both the Ms Firewall and a full firewall of their choice.

Abraxas · « **Reply #13 on:** January 20, 2005, 05:29:17 PM »

Quote from: bob3160 on January 20, 2005, 04:57:31 PM

Abraxas
Quote
And I didn't think you could run the SP2 with another firewall
The MS Firewall seems to be the exception to the rule.
I know that quite a few people run both the Ms Firewall and a full firewall of their choice.

Thanks Bob, Much appreciated !
And , sorry Technical, it was techie101 who had the "firewall" test thread...

Lisandro · « **Reply #14 on:** January 22, 2005, 01:31:30 AM »

Quote from: Abraxas on January 20, 2005, 04:48:08 PM

Technical would you advise running Sygate (free) + Windows Firewall (Enabled) ?

No problems until now... no conflicts.
Anyway, you can disable Windows Firewall if you want as Sygate will protect you both inbound attacks and outbound connections.