To my fellow newbys=)

Discussion in 'other firewalls' started by Mr.Blaze, Aug 12, 2002.

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  1. Mr.Blaze

    Mr.Blaze The Newbie Welcome Wagon

    Joined:
    Feb 3, 2003
    Posts:
    2,842
    Location:
    on the sofa
    Do not buy Za pro in my opinion it is not worth the paine

    Do not buy zone alarm pro if you do "expect" the following
    when you purchase this product

    Upon opening your box CD and trying to register this may happened and take into account your a newbie first time starting security.

    1. Spam from the manufacturer even when specifically unchecked the Spam box when registering this includes being force to register at there main site not just software just to send a question or complaint this means registering twice which means twice the Spam.

    2. When you receive letters from za pro you will also receive headers at the bottom of there reply's to your question with 3rd party Spam with deals to other software.

    3. Upon finaly geting your licince key from the registration your za pro may be out of date you will be able to update only to find out your registration is no longer good and the 12 months AKA 1 year of supposedly free updates is no longer valid due to za pro problem in the software that zone alarm has known for 4 months or more and have not made any progress in remedying it.

    4. Upon writeing to za pro they will send you there typical solution to the registration problem by telling you to do this also remember you are a newbie and you are installing your fire wall for the second time with no or little experience in computers.

    You will be told to do this every time you update now think as a newbie do you want to do this every time just to upgrade your fire wall
    a. to get the most current protection and b to get the update from the main site
    look at what they want you to do.


    Note: Be sure to install from an account with Administrative privileges, if
    your OS supports them.

    Please do the following. If any of the steps below do not apply to you, or
    you are unable to perform the function listed, please continue to the next
    step.


    1. Open the ZoneAlarm Pro program, go to the OVERVIEW >> PREFERENCES tab,
    and make sure the "Load ZoneAlarm Pro At Startup" box is Unchecked.

    2. REBOOT.

    3. You should now have no ZoneAlarm Pro processes running on your system.

    4. Now run Start, Programs, Zone Labs, and Uninstall. Click "Yes" at the
    prompt for the security check from the Zone Labs security engine (You MUST
    allow this service to shut down in order to remove files).

    WARNING - Do NOT run the ZoneAlarm Uninstall program while in Safe Mode. The
    program may not be able to make the proper registry changes in Safe Mode,
    thus generating errors after a reboot.

    5. REBOOT.

    6. To make sure that you can see ALL the ZoneAlarm Pro system files, if they
    are still on your computer:

    a. Right-click on My Computer, then left-click on Explore. When the Windows
    Explorer panel appears: In Windows 95,98,and NT: Click View>Options (in Windows 98, this will be
    called "Folder Options"). Click the "View" tab, then click the "Show all
    files" radio button.
    - In Windows ME, 2000, and XP: Click Tools>Folder Options. Click the "View"
    tab, then click the "Show hidden files and folders" radio button.
    b. Click OK.

    IMPORTANT NOTE: Making modifications to system files may disable crucial
    functions of your Windows operating system. We strongly suggest re-enabling
    the "Hide files and folders" feature once all ZoneAlarm Pro files have been
    removed.

    7. Click on Start, then Search or Find, and select Files. Make sure that the
    location box is set to search your local hard drive (usually C:) or All
    Local Drives.

    Type the following exactly - including any spaces. Delete any FOLDERS found:


    zonelabs
    “zone labs”
    “Internet logs”

    Note: Your alerts log -- ZALogs.txt will be stored in the Internet Logs
    Folder. If for any reason you wish to save your alerts log, simply copy this
    file to another safe location on your hard drive.

    Type the following exactly - delete any of the following files found in
    C:\Windows, C:\WINNT, or any subfolder below those, or in any \Temp folders
    ONLY:

    vsdata.dll
    vsdata95.vxd
    vsdatant.vxd
    vsmonapi.dll
    vsnetutils.dll
    vspubapi.dll
    vsutil.dll (NOTE: Do NOT remove this file from any McAfee folders)
    zllictbl.dat
    zlparser.dll

    Type the following exactly - delete any files found in any folder with
    "Programs" in the pathname):

    zapro
    zonealarm
    “zonealarm pro”

    8. Make sure your Recycle Bin is empty (right-click and select Empty).

    9. REBOOT

    Now you should be able to install the latest version. Double-click on the
    file you downloaded. The installation program will guide you through the
    setup process. (Note that all registration fields require at least 1
    character, even if only a space for company, and "@" for email address). Be
    sure NOT TO choose "Upgrade", as this can cause further difficulties if the
    database is corrupt.

    Does this look reasonable from a product that supposedly offers the best protection?
    Is this list of things to do list sound reasonable to you as a consumer that shells out 30 bucks just to know the joy of the albolve?

    So my fellow newbies and first time security software buyers i do not recommend in my opinion buying any of Broderbund's    products or any software filiated with them

    i am so disgusted with them i am tempted to throw out the box post my license or supposedly out dated not valid license for every one to have since they fail to provide a real service and in doing so broke there legal contract to supply me with 12 months of updates and pretty much sold me a lemon why should i be obligated to keep my end of the deal user license agrement if they cant hold there part of what they promise i perty much lost 30 bucks=0

    any hoe i dont recomend newby buying this horrid utlity

    can any one here recomend a real fire wall with real tech suport and wont #$%^ me out of my money.

    to alot of you 30 bucks may not be alot but it took me forever to save it up so now im have to worry about being outdated till i buy a new fire wall i cant afford to lose money like this so pleas recomend a good fire wall that wont do to me what za pro did to me and just as good as za pro but with out the bugs and unresonable solutions to problems=(

    i aprechiate info on any recomendations=) thank you in advance
     
  2. snapdragin

    snapdragin Registered Member

    Joined:
    Feb 16, 2002
    Posts:
    8,415
    Location:
    Southern Ont., Canada
    Oh gosh....Blaze it sounds like you've been on a nightmare ride with that program. Did the free version of ZA work for you at all? Probably wouldn't be the best of suggestions to retry the free version huh?

    all i can suggest is what i use myself (being a newbie to firewalls too.) i have Sygate's Personal Firewall (free version 5.0 build 1117) on my XP and the version 4 on my Win98se. Paul had suggested those to me so when i was ready for creating rules i would have something that would work well without them, but also be available for me when i wanted to create them. But i also have a router with a hardware firewall so i probably would have had to learn the rule setting before now if i didn't have the hardware firewall.

    there is great support for Sygate, and if you just wanted to get a feel for it before actually downloading and installing it, go to KING'S page http://personal.atl.bellsouth.net/atl/i/k/ikpe/

    read through his pages there and if you have any questions you can ask him....then you can decide if that might be the firewall you'd feel comfortable with.

    sorry i couldn't be more helpful.....hopefully other's that use a newbie friendly firewall might add something to help you.

    good luck Blaze :)
     
  3. snapdragin

    snapdragin Registered Member

    Joined:
    Feb 16, 2002
    Posts:
    8,415
    Location:
    Southern Ont., Canada
    Blaze, just saw this link at KING's site, you might want to consider it? ;)

    http://soho.sygate.com/temp/lto_TradeUp2002.php

    but before you do, read through KING's page about Sygate; i believe the above "trade" is referring to Sygate's Pro version, which i have not tried myself yet.

    just a thought....

    snap
     
  4. Mr.Blaze

    Mr.Blaze The Newbie Welcome Wagon

    Joined:
    Feb 3, 2003
    Posts:
    2,842
    Location:
    on the sofa
    thx guys keep those sugestions comeing i relly do alprechiate it=)
     
  5. Checkout

    Checkout Security Rhinoceros

    Joined:
    Feb 11, 2002
    Posts:
    1,226
    Blaze, did you reinstall it, the way you were asked to?
     
  6. Paul Wilders

    Paul Wilders Administrator

    Joined:
    Jul 1, 2001
    Posts:
    12,475
    Location:
    The Netherlands
    Sir Blaze,

    You have made your point. Now it comes down to this request of yours:

    Please open a new thread, asking for firewall suggestions other than ZA over on this particular forum.

    This thread is closed.

    regards.

    paul
     
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