Dialout issue with ZA (all products) v3.1.395

Discussion in 'other firewalls' started by marti, Sep 26, 2002.

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  1. marti

    marti Registered Member

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    Users that upgraded one of the three ZA products to Version 3.1.395 have noticed that "ZA phones home." This issue seems to be only occurring with DUN users. I recently received some words from Zone Labs about this problem.

    Q: Why is ZoneAlarm Pro causing my computer to dial out?
    A: ZoneAlarm Pro is performing a DNS lookup. Normally, ZoneAlarm Pro waits
    until a user has established an Internet connection before performing the
    DNS lookup. However, an issue with the most recent ZoneAlarm Pro/Plus and
    ZoneAlarm releases is that they don't wait for an Internet connection before
    performing the DNS lookup. On some computers with auto-dialers set up, this
    look-up may cause the auto-dialer to be invoked. We're aiming to correct
    this in the next release of the products.

    Q: Why is ZoneAlarm Pro performing a DNS lookup?
    A: ZoneAlarm products perform automatic DNS lookups on any service addresses
    that a user requests for that session (registration, check-for-update), as
    well as for any Zone Labs Web destinations a user may go to. In addition to
    this, when a user adds a new Web site to a Zone, ZoneAlarm Pro does a DNS
    lookup for that site. But if the DNS name cannot be resolved before the
    session is over, ZoneAlarm Pro tries again the next session until the
    information can be established.

    Q: What is lockout.zonelabs.com?
    A: Your dialer may indicate a destination address of lockout.zonelabs.com.
    This is a landing page with instructions for people who have experienced
    firewall hardening. Firewall hardening is a failsafe security measure built
    in to our products. If a hacker or malware attempts to directly assault
    ZoneAlarm, Plus, or Pro, the software prevents Internet access for any
    applications not already running. When this happens, the user's browser
    automatically displays lockout.zonelabs.com. Firewall hardening is rarely
    triggered, but when it is, it's important for you to know what has happened
     
  2. Mr.Blaze

    Mr.Blaze The Newbie Welcome Wagon

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    try a clean install make sure all traces are gone then install new za

    i know thats the case and that other explination may or may not be the case

    i had the same experinces and its because of a dirty install zap dosent clean up after it self you have to do most of the work manualy im speaking from experince

    i had more run ins with za erros more then any one on this bord and my smite record is my battle scares with za lol.

    get the full clean unistall faq checkout can help you so can alot of people here make sure its for the newest za and the one you previousley install faq
     
  3. TonyKlein

    TonyKlein Security Expert

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    Nope, it's not an installation issue.

    I've heard this complaint about v3.1.395 a lot

    A number of people ended up reverting to the previous version, and their dial up problem disappeared.
     
  4. LowWaterMark

    LowWaterMark Administrator

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    Some people have reported that as a work-around, they've changed their Connections setting in Internet Options to "Never dial a connection" and that prevents the attempt at boot up. They manual click to dial when they want to connect at a later point.

    I was unable to confirm this as I was unable to get ZA 3.1.395 to have the problem in the first place. But, it seems to work for some while they wait for a fix from Zone Labs.
     
  5. TonyKlein

    TonyKlein Security Expert

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    That will always do the trick, but it comes down to dealing with the symptom, instead of the cause.

    However, if all else fails, by all means, why not.
     
  6. Jooske

    Jooske Registered Member

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    Glad you mentioned this part here Marti, as i just got an update alert to this one and i've made it a habit if i'm not already informed here, to first look at comments and other recommendations. As ADSL user i probablyu would not have noticed immediately that call home but my netstat would have alarmed.
    Made it a habit long ago to configure browsers and OE to "never dial" also when still on dial-up, preventing auto-updates and email collection without me first pressing the buttons.
    So i better wait for the next ZAPro fixed update.
    Thanks a lot for posting the matter and answers ftrom ZL here.
     
  7. marti

    marti Registered Member

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    Hi Jooske,

    I have not seen any reports about high-speed users having any problems. It seems to be only the dial-up users.
     
  8. Bethrezen

    Bethrezen Registered Member

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    hi all

    after the desaster up date from 2.6.362 to 3.1.291 which requiered me to reinstall 2.6.362 im a lil wearey about updatin za to the new version v3.1.395 anyone got any info on whats changed whats been improved whats been removed etc

    should i stay with 2.6.362 or should i update ??

    Comments anyone
     
  9. LowWaterMark

    LowWaterMark Administrator

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    Bethrezen,

    If you're talking about the Free version of Zone Alarm (ZAF), I'm not sure that upgrading at this time brings any great advantage. ZAF 3.1 does not include any of what I consider the really good enhancements found in the 3.X versions of Zone Alarm Plus and Zone Alarm Pro. Both of those products have component level program controls, and the Pro version has all the Privacy features.

    On the downside of upgrading, ZAF v3.1.x uses more system resources than 2.6.x, (a concern for many people on Windows 9x systems), has only one attachment type (.vbs) covered in the MailSafe module, (many were covered by accident/bug in earlier ZAF versions), the deskband display has been removed, as has the total upload/download byte meter/counter.

    However, that said, I can only imagine that internal enhancements have been made to the firewall engine, and known bugs have probably been fixed, but, I don't have specific data on what these might be.

    To get the information straight from Zone Labs, see the ZAF Release History information at:

    http://download.zonelabs.com/bin/free/information/znalm/zaReleaseHistory.html

    I know this is not much of an endorsement for ZAF v3, but, this is how I see it. I will say that I think ZA+/ZAP contain features that are well worth upgrading from the 2.6 versions of ZAP.

    Hope that helps,
    LowWaterMark
     
  10. Prince_Serendip

    Prince_Serendip Registered Member

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    :) Hi everyone!

    I've been getting little pop-up boxes from ZA about the new upgrade to v3.1.395 all week. It always happens when I'm busy, so I kept putting it off. Glad I did although I'm on a DLS Router and Dialup is turned off. Seems there's no gain in this update except for Zonelabs phone home?

    Thanks for the info. I won't bother with it now.
     
  11. Primrose

    Primrose Registered Member

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    And just to state it again..Spybot S & D does NOT phone home. ! :oops:
     
  12. Bethrezen

    Bethrezen Registered Member

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    hi all

    well i decided to give the new zaf a go as i got the old version saved to a cd and it would apear that the dial up issue is not only affecting dun usere it also affects dial up users to as i use isdn which is digital dial up

    when ever i start my comp i get the dial up conection box askin if i want to conect to the net so to be sure that it wasnt an install bug which BTW its not i tryed doin a clean install and i was still getin this problem so i tryed the trick sergested here about changein my conection settings in internet options to never dial which seams to cure the problem at least till the boys and girls at zone labs fix this

    im glad to see thay have fixed the bug in the 1.3.291 that ment that ya had to allow server to run apps like icq and spyblocker wether this is the case when ya do a clean install instead or upgrade like i did im not sure this will be the next thing i test i cheked this after i did a clean install and it apears asthough this bug has indeed been fixed so apart from the dial up issue the new version of za seams to work the way the old 2.6 version did

    anyone know how this new version fairs again firewall testin sight like pcflack ?

    how ever there are 4 things that anoye me about this new version

    1 the program controle slider cant be set to high

    (if someone from zone labs sees this please concider removin the block so that this funtion is fully funtionial )

    this is unlikley i know but well i guess its worth askin ya never know :)

    whats the point of addin it if its not fully funtional coz doin things like that make it criple ware just my opion

    2 the interface bein

    a user of zaf 2.6 for such a long time im used to that interface i wish that whould change it back

    again unlikeley but its worth mentioning i guess

    3 and of cores the dial up bug

    4 and finaly the email protection thing although im not to bothered about that as i dont really use email that much anyway and i got nav and avg to protect me from email viruses anyway

    so my verdict on za 3.1.395 is that ya should stick with 2.6 for now till the next version
     
  13. LowWaterMark

    LowWaterMark Administrator

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    Actually, that is the one thing I've heard no complaints on. The protective capabilities and maintaining "stealth" seems to be perfect in the new version. No "security" problems have been relayed on any boards I read regarding the new 3.1.395 versions.

    The biggest complaint by far appears to be the increase in system resources on Win 9X / ME machines. The rest seems to be just minor complaints.

    I must say that the new interface concerned me too when I first saw it. But, it did grow on me and now I have no problem with it - I even like its look. (I fired up an old Win ME system with ZAP 2.6 recently for testing and was surprised when I saw the old style interface. I guess you just get used to things.)

    I'm certain Zone Labs will fix the dialup bug. I doubt they'll change the interface style or the Mail Safe limit in ZAF. And we can hope that as they move forward they'll tigghten up the code to get some resources back.

    I think people will okay with ZAF 2.6 until there are improvements and better reasons to upgrade to 3.1
     
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