Cisco VPN freezing computer...

When using Cisco VPN version 5.0.00.0340, with ESS installed, my machine completely locks up, after it connects to my network(get little closed lock in taskbar), requiring a hard reboot. The program and VN have full access. I have tried setting ESS to allow all access, but it still locks up.

If I completely uninstall ESS, Cisco VPN works fine, with no lockups.

 

Running the same version of Cisco VPN on Vista Ultimate 32bit and do not experience those problems.

 

Interesting...

Had to do some work from home today and that's when I had the lockups. So I uninstalled ESS and did my working from home. After I was done, I reinstalled ESS.

Reading GNaschenweng's post, I tried connecting again and now I'm not locking up anymore. Dunno what changed, but an uninstall and reinstall of ESS seems to have cured the problem. I'll keep an eye on it tho.

 

The one thing I found was that Eset needs to be installed in a particular order - i.e. as late as possible. I had issues when I had Eset installed before I had finalised my network connections. I used to have lockups when I installed Cisco VPN after Eset.

So it seems that you need to:
- Install/configure all network access
- Then install Eset

This could also be just an issue with the Cisco VPN client since I had similar issues with Zonealarm.

 

Ok, there is definitely something wrong. I am locking up again, same as before. I was only every able to connect once, right after I reinstalled ESS. Since then I lock up everytime the VPN connection is established.

Uninstalling ESS and VPN works great. When using Kasperky Internet Security 6, everything works great. When ESS is installed, VPN locks up.

Please look into this, as this is really annoying because it requires a HARD reboot, when it locks. This is under Vista BTW.

 

As a followup, I reinstalled BOTH ESS and Cisco VPN. This time ESS first, then VPN, to see if that makes a difference. It did connect fine, after I installed bot, but it did the same thing before(when I had the problem the first time), when I first reinstalled ESS. However, something changed, along the way and it locked up again. So I'll check it out again tonight, to see if it continues to be good.

 

The Cisco VPN client got a built-in firewall (zonealarm) and running cisco VPN on a computer together with some other security products might cause a conflict. I have seen problems because of that on computers that also had f-secure and trend antivirus installed, but could affect others as well. There is a transform (.mst file) available from Cisco that you could use to install the VPN client without the included firewall. This might solve your problem, but if you connect to a site that require the built-in firewall you won't be able to connect.

Does the VPN server you connect to require the built-in firewall and is it configuered to enable the cisco VPN client firewall on the clients when they connect? If yes then turning that off might also solve your problem. I assume that the VPN server is some sort of Cisco equipment and with cisco you can specify that the built-in firewall for the clients is required, optional or off. If required you won't be able to connect unless you have the Cisco VPN client with the built-in firewall. If optional or off you could install the VPN client without the integrated firewall and that might solve your problem and should still be able to connect.
If you got access to www.cisco.com you could find this documented by Cisco, but they basically only mention this problem and doesn't desribe the problem in details.