A note to folks running ZoneAlarm v4.5 who decide to upgrade to v5.0:

There any number of issues that can crop up, including "breaking" your internet access (regardless of whether you are dial-up or broadband) and for some few unlucky souls like me, getting a BSOD every time ZA pops up an alert confirming whether or not your favorite proggie should be allowed internet access or not.

I mean EVERY SINGLE TIME, and it didn't matter if it was Outlook, Agent, Opera, Flashget, CuteFTP... whatever. Just choose Allow or Disallow, and watch my system go BOOM!

Zonelabs is looking into the problem and props to their tech staff for responding in less than an hour to my bug report. But a quick glance at their support forum (.http://forum.zonelabs.org/zonelabs) will reveal a long list of serious issues with v50.590.015 that are to this point unresolved.

The only "fix" in most cases is a complete uninstall (using the /clean switch) and re-installing v4.5.594.000 - which also means losing your customizations regarding program access, etc. (You can try copying your 'Internet Logs' folder before uninstalling - then putting it back after the re-install, but there seems to be a 50/50 chance that this will cause issues all by itself.)

Best to wait a few days and see if ZoneLabs can fix the problems.

BTW... these are the first BSODs I've ever had since installing SP1. Gotta love it.

Regards,
-ManX

wow, the newest ZA is really buggy! Why the rush to release it?

I mentioned this problem in this thread: http://www.nforums.net/board/index.php?showtopic=1029 Every day seems to bring a new issue with it.

I'm still checking the Zone Labs site and forum and am amazed that they simply refuse to pull this till it's been fixed.

5.0.590.043 is out. Anyone tried it yet?

sucks to hell and back - installing this killed my editsuite for 4hours. i;ve since moved to sygate and not had a single problem. i'm not switching back till i hear good things about zone alarm again.

Awai.

I'm running 5.0.590.043 and have had every version before that. I've never had any problems while upgrading.

I'm just running the good ole' 4.5.538.000. Don't see much point in upgrading. They all do the same thing.

It's too bad Zone Labs screwed up on version 5 though. It's strange how all these erroneous issues made it through their pre-release testing.

Although I've been a loyal user/supporter of ZoneAlarm for many years, v5.X is a mess. I, too have 'downgraded' to v4.5.5xx and set the upgrade reminder ahead two months. Perhaps by then the ZA folks will get their act together and once again offer a worthwhile product.

~SC

I got messed up with new version too.
Clean install, upgrade from 4.5 nothing helped.
Now happy Sygate usser.

On a more positive note for those of us still running v4.x, it is reported that the new WinXP SP2 firewall settings work around ZoneAlarm being installed. Kudos to M$ for detecting its presence.

From Neowin.net: "Microsoft has saved a lot of hassle for users in that if you have ZoneAlarm installed, they leave the Windows Firewall off to prevent conflicts".

captbics

You're correct, captbics. Further, ZoneAlarm, Sygate and Norton will turn off the SP2 Firewall off (it's on by default) during installation.

The advantage of the SP2 Firewall is that it starts up at a low level, that is, in advance of other programs and prior to Internet connection. A big disadvantage is that it's just one way, blocking incoming but not outgoing.

Let's hope that the third-party software manufacturers are able to implement such a feature or that MSoft gets their head out regarding what a firewall should accomplish.

Best,

~SC

Looks like these experiences were with 5.0.590 .. Anyone have better luck with 5.1.011??

I installed Panda Platinum and like the look and feel of the interface, but the reviews all say to go with ZA v5 ..

Thanks

Upgraded a few days ago...I don't have any problems.

I moved off of Panda nad on the ZA 5 .. Looks and feels great .. Except it broke the interface between Thunderbird and SpamOff ..