Zone or Zonal Alarm-Win XP?

[WizeOne]

Is there such a thing, in Win XP, that can be turned on or off that could affect a Dell Laptops ability to see it's wireless connection?

My SIL has been having trouble, on and off? or out of the blue? with her laptop not seeing their wireless signal. She was advised to try turning off the above named alarm. I tried to find such a thing in my PC, so as to assist her, but I cannot find anything like that, nor can she on her laptop.

We do know there is nothing wrong with the WiFi signal as her hubby's PC runs quite steady on it.

 

[ThumbPkr]

Re: Zone or Zonal Alarm-Win XP?

She may be running the Windows firewall which would have the same effect.If so you will need to either turn it off or allow for exceptions to enable the wireless to pass through.Turning it off will allow you to see if that was the problem.If it was then you will know what needs fixing.Ron G

 

[Xcusme]

Re: Zone or Zonal Alarm-Win XP?

Zone Alarm is a soft firewall program. It's job is to monitor connections to and from the Web. Unlike Microsoft's firewall (which watches only what comes into your computer), Zone Alarm watches what's trying to connect to your computer AND what's trying to leave your machine.

If you didn't install Zone Alarm, you won't find it on your system.

 

[i386]

Re: Zone or Zonal Alarm-Win XP?

^^^

What he said and...

Firewalls manage traffic at the packet level, not the wireless signal level. A misconfigured/broken software firewall can cause you problems even with a full signal.

If you're not getting a full/good signal, it may not be the firewall. If you don't connect at all, it's probably not the firewall. In any case, there should be a way to turn off whichever firewall you have for the purpose of testing/troubleshooting.

Whichever utility you use to connect to the wireless should have some indicator of the signal strength. Is it showing a weak signal to the access point/router you're trying to connect to? How about any other access points/routers it might detect?

Just trying to get some clarification so we can help.

 

[bruceb58]

Re: Zone or Zonal Alarm-Win XP?

Can any other computer connect to the wireless router she is trying to connect to?

 

[WizeOne]

Re: Zone or Zonal Alarm-Win XP?

Can any other computer connect to the wireless router she is trying to connect to?

Yes, her hubby's pc is running off the same signal.


I'll have her check to see if her xp firewall is on or off.

I tried to look up 'zone alarm' on windows help and nothing came up. I think I even tried to google it and did not come away with any understanding. So I guess she does not have it.

 

[Nos4r2]

Re: Zone or Zonal Alarm-Win XP?

Tell her to uninstall zonealarm and install the new version (just released). There's an issue with a windows update that means the old version of ZA simply blocks everything.

 

[Wotknot]

Re: Zone or Zonal Alarm-Win XP?

Is there such a thing, in Win XP, that can be turned on or off that could affect a Dell Laptops ability to see it's wireless connection?

My SIL has been having trouble, on and off? or out of the blue? with her laptop not seeing their wireless signal. She was advised to try turning off the above named alarm. I tried to find such a thing in my PC, so as to assist her, but I cannot find anything like that, nor can she on her laptop.

We do know there is nothing wrong with the WiFi signal as her hubby's PC runs quite steady on it.

Hmmmmmmmm.......odd that she's having the same problem I've had for the past month. I bought a Dell 1720 Inspiron last Feb. Put a wireless card in my desktop and created an ad-hoc network between the two using only the windows firewall.

Couple months ago, I d/l ZoneAlarm and had it working, albeit with some constant agravations almost everytime I wanted to log onto the net with this laptop. Then about a month ago it would not connect to the net no matter what I did. Got so po'd that I stopped trying to fix it for over a month, didn't even try to use the laptop for the net.

The other night I had some free time, so I did a total uninstall of ZA. And after some tweaking around I've FINALLY got it back to where I can connect again.

One thing that may or may not have been part of the problem is my desktop is running XP Pro s/p 2 and my laptop is Vista.......who knows for sure.

Anyway, while I'm not totally blaming ZA, I think I'll pass on re-installing even the latest version.

btw, IF she is running ZA, (or any other firewall program for that matter) Windows firewall needs to be turned off....ya don't need to have 2 firewalls running at the same time.

 

[WizeOne]

Re: Zone or Zonal Alarm-Win XP?

Hmmmmmmmm.......odd that she's having the same problem I've had for the past month. I bought a Dell 1720 Inspiron last Feb. Put a wireless card in my desktop and created an ad-hoc network between the two using only the windows firewall.

Couple months ago, I d/l ZoneAlarm and had it working, albeit with some constant agravations almost everytime I wanted to log onto the net with this laptop. Then about a month ago it would not connect to the net no matter what I did. Got so po'd that I stopped trying to fix it for over a month, didn't even try to use the laptop for the net.

The other night I had some free time, so I did a total uninstall of ZA. And after some tweaking around I've FINALLY got it back to where I can connect again.

One thing that may or may not have been part of the problem is my desktop is running XP Pro s/p 2 and my laptop is Vista.......who knows for sure.

Anyway, while I'm not totally blaming ZA, I think I'll pass on re-installing even the latest version.

btw, IF she is running ZA, (or any other firewall program for that matter) Windows firewall needs to be turned off....ya don't need to have 2 firewalls running at the same time.

SIL lives across the county so, while trying to get my house ready to paint this weekend, I have not been able to get over to her house. It was her son-in-law who works for Intel that set her computer up in the first place. It was he who told her to turn off ZA but gave her no instructions.

This morning I had her look for ZA in add remove programs and it was not there. So why he told her to turn it off, I haven't a clue. I was going to have her turn off windows firewall but my bidna phone kept ringing off the wall this morning.

I might get the opportunity to check it out this weekend.

 

[waterinthefuel]

Re: Zone or Zonal Alarm-Win XP?

Yes, I updated Windows and the internet didn't work. I uninstalled and reinstalled to the newest version and it works like a charm.

You should be able to uninstall it. I've never had zonealarm give me problems.

Oh yea, guys and gals, if you haven't, install AVG 8.0 (whatever the newest one is) that is a mack daddy free program!

 

[arboldt]

Re: Zone or Zonal Alarm-Win XP?

A recent Microsloth security fix conflicts with zone alarm. This is from zonealarm.com:

Workaround to Sudden Loss of Internet Access Problem

Date Published : 8 July 2008

Date Last Revised : 14 July 2008

Overview : Microsoft Update KB951748 is known to cause loss of internet access for ZoneAlarm users on Windows XP/2000. Windows Vista users are not affected.

Impact : Sudden loss of internet access

Platforms Affected : ZoneAlarm Free, ZoneAlarm Pro, ZoneAlarm AntiVirus, ZoneAlarm Anti-Spyware, and ZoneAlarm Security Suite

Recommended Actions -

Download and install the latest versions which solve the loss of internet access problem here (English only):

Once you have installed the new version of your product go to "start > windows update" and re-install the Microsoft patch.

ZoneAlarm Internet Security Suite
ZoneAlarm Pro
ZoneAlarm Antivirus
ZoneAlarm Anti-Spyware
ZoneAlarm Basic Firewall
- or follow the directions below.

Option 1: Move Internet Zone slider to Medium

Navigate to the "ZoneAlarm Firewall" panel
Click on the "Firewall" tab
Move the "Internet Zone" slider to medium
Option 2: Uninstall the hotfix

Click the "Start Menu"
Click "Control Panel", or click "Settings" then "Control Panel"
Click on "Add or Remove Programs"
On the top of the add/remove programs dialog box, you should see a checkbox that says "show updates". Select this checkbox
Scroll down until you see "Security update for Windows (KB951748)"
Click "Remove" to uninstall the hotfix

 

[Wotknot]

Re: Zone or Zonal Alarm-Win XP?

This morning I had her look for ZA in add remove programs and it was not there. So why he told her to turn it off, I haven't a clue. I was going to have her turn off windows firewall but my bidna phone kept ringing off the wall this morning.

I might get the opportunity to check it out this weekend.

If she does in fact have ZA installed, DO NOT use Windows add/remove......use ZA's uninstall option, that way there's not any tentacles left inside the registry.