MS update KB951748 & Zone Alarm conflict

Note: This does not apply to Vista users.

Any Zone Alarm users recently install Windows update KB951748 & lose Internet access? Happened to me & a couple friends. Pretty frustrating till we figured it out.

Zone Alarm has recognized the conflict & issued an update to correct the problem.

Now someone is going to ask, "Well how do I get the update if I don't have Internet access?"

Well, you of course shutdown Zone Alarm, activate your Windows firewall, and then download the Zone Alarm fix, eh?

I had that happen. Very funny. Not the first time with patches from MS. I had to go back to the last restore point to get it up again.

Happened to me as well. You realize how dead in the water you are unless you think to exit/close ZA. For those who are still offline and not able to read this post, it is hopeless...and you don't even know it is hopeless because you can't read this.

The MS update affects other security programs to various degrees, and there are those who installed the ZA update and are having other issues related to that.

Got hammered by this one too!

I was on the road and this windows security update downloaded automatically to my laptop. I went ahead and installed it since it was a "security update".
Immediately unable to connect to the www! Went into Zone Alarm and lowered my security profile to medium which eventually allowed me to connect after a reboot.
My laptop began to run kind of creepy though. After getting home the notice came from Zone Alarm that they had a fix. I ran a virus scan after installing it and ZA found exploit dot something or other virus and quarantined it.

Zone Alarm stops an amazing amount of things when I am not on my firewalled home router. The layered approach to security really works. Now if I could just take my router with me when I travel. :tinfoil:

Fwiw: The guys I travel with that have Macs don't have these issues. :thinking:

Practicing safe web surfing, dudes!
Toons

I used ZA when it first came out. Then it went through a bad stage and I switched to Kerio Personal Firewall. It's worked fine for quite awhile now. I think there was a minor issue with it but it didn't apply to my setup. I guess ZA ironed out it's earlier issues or something because I see a lot of people still use it.

StefanFS said:

I had that happen. Very funny. Not the first time with patches from MS.

Click to expand...

The flaw being patched is a flaw in DNS itself. You might say the Internet itself is being patched (I believe about 80 different hardware and software vendors are participating, Microsoft being just one of them). ZoneLabs should've seen that one coming, IMO.

Tangentially, some new security updates have been released recently for software you probably have:

• OS X
• Sun Java Runtime, all platforms (Windows, Linux, Mac)
• Flash Player, all platforms
• Various Apple software for Windows and Mac, such as iTunes/QuickTime
• Windows 2000, XP and Vista

I suggest that home users of Windows check their systems for known vulnerabilities, and apply the patches they're missing. A couple easy ways to do that:

1) Secunia's Personal Software Inspector, a free utility that you install and run. It gives links to the patches you need.

2) Secunia's scaled-down online checkup at http://secunia.com/software_inspector, which uses a Java-driven dealiebob to run inside your browser. You need Sun Java Runtime installed to run it, and the irony is that Sun JRE is a commonly-exploited software that I personally would keep far away from, so whatever. :thinking:


Apple users, run Apple Update and also check your installed software to see if there's security patches or new versions available.

mechBgon said:

The flaw being patched is a flaw in DNS itself. You might say the Internet itself is being patched (I believe about 80 different hardware and software vendors are participating, Microsoft being just one of them). ZoneLabs should've seen that one coming, IMO.

Tangentially, some new security updates have been released recently for software you probably have:

• OS X
• Sun Java Runtime, all platforms (Windows, Linux, Mac)
• Flash Player, all platforms
• Various Apple software for Windows and Mac, such as iTunes/QuickTime
• Windows 2000, XP and Vista

I suggest that home users of Windows check their systems for known vulnerabilities, and apply the patches they're missing. A couple easy ways to do that:

1) Secunia's Personal Software Inspector, a free utility that you install and run. It gives links to the patches you need.

2) Secunia's scaled-down online checkup at http://secunia.com/software_inspector, which uses a Java-driven dealiebob to run inside your browser. You need Sun Java Runtime installed to run it, and the irony is that Sun JRE is a commonly-exploited software that I personally would keep far away from, so whatever. :thinking:

Apple users, run Apple Update and also check your installed software to see if there's security patches or new versions available.

Click to expand...

WOW, that is an awsome program....found 12 programs that were insecure, mostly old flash and java versions. If you have a hard time getting rid of an old macromedia flash player, Adobe has an uninstaller that goes and nukes all its old versions for you.

Thanks to mechBgon I feel better about my chances on the internet. I loaded Secunia and Avira AntiVir Personal on a previous advisory of his and it does its job well. I now, also set restore points myself as I have have never been able to use the restore points that were supposedly set by MS. Avira caught two interlopers that Symantec Corporate Edition never saw.

Thanks again for the patrol mechBgon

Got hit, too. Runs fine with lower security setting though ... but I guess I'll have to install the update.
Thanx for the head-ups!
bk

Geez, I just replied to a possible victim above, as I was. I got to experience the "problem" in concert with my cable modem's power cable finding itself unplugged! I have a poltergeist, considering the loss of my glasses last friday night! May Uncle Bill rot in hell!

Larry