• Zone Alarm, Again

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    Topic
    #401068

    I’m running Zone Alarm, the freebie, at version 4.5.538.000 and I just observed a popup telling me an important security update is available – 4.5.538.001

    When I clicked to let it get the update, NOTHING happened. I opened the ZA program window and clicked the button to check for updates. It also told me about the available update, but again nothing happened. Just thought I’d alert everyone. I guess I’ll go to the web and see for myself what’s there. Sigh! I sure wish they’d fix this problem…..

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    Replies
    • #787140

      Good morning Al… I am running ZA Pro (the $$$ version) and did not get the update notice, even though my settings are set to auto-scan. Based on your note, I opened up ZA and instructed it to check for updates… it did, and ID the .001 version with the option to “download-now”, which I did.

      It might appear there are 2 glitches. Yours, which tells you the update is there but you can’t get it… and mine, which doesn’t do the auto-check. There again, maybe the auto-scan is only performed at certain times of the day and I haven’t hit that magic number!?!?!?! shrug

      [Updated at 9:09: Al, I had previously downloaded the new version as mentioned above but did not install it. Less than 5 minutes ago, it did its auto-scan function and did allow me to download the update. So, my application is working. Perhaps in yours, they posted the message before posting the file??? Have seen that happen before]

      Cheers,

      Bob

    • #787141

      Good morning Al… I am running ZA Pro (the $$$ version) and did not get the update notice, even though my settings are set to auto-scan. Based on your note, I opened up ZA and instructed it to check for updates… it did, and ID the .001 version with the option to “download-now”, which I did.

      It might appear there are 2 glitches. Yours, which tells you the update is there but you can’t get it… and mine, which doesn’t do the auto-check. There again, maybe the auto-scan is only performed at certain times of the day and I haven’t hit that magic number!?!?!?! shrug

      [Updated at 9:09: Al, I had previously downloaded the new version as mentioned above but did not install it. Less than 5 minutes ago, it did its auto-scan function and did allow me to download the update. So, my application is working. Perhaps in yours, they posted the message before posting the file??? Have seen that happen before]

      Cheers,

      Bob

    • #787283

      Al,
      Just did the 001 update a few minutes before logging in here. It went OK for me using the popup alert link.
      Maybe it’s just letting the even numbered update checks in and stopping the odd numbered ones. ( or vice versa? )
      You’re right they should fix that problem particularly after the same thing was happening with the last update.
      Just like the Verizon commercial…..Do you hear me now?

      Bob

    • #787284

      Al,
      Just did the 001 update a few minutes before logging in here. It went OK for me using the popup alert link.
      Maybe it’s just letting the even numbered update checks in and stopping the odd numbered ones. ( or vice versa? )
      You’re right they should fix that problem particularly after the same thing was happening with the last update.
      Just like the Verizon commercial…..Do you hear me now?

      Bob

    • #787323

      Also using the free ZA. Checked for updates this a.m. (as I do regularly), was shown that an update was available, and downloaded and installed without any problem. Go figure.

    • #787324

      Also using the free ZA. Checked for updates this a.m. (as I do regularly), was shown that an update was available, and downloaded and installed without any problem. Go figure.

    • #787396

      I probably should not, but I will anyway….

      My company uses ZoneAlarm as the preferred firewall for anyone with a portable computer (such as me). Upon receiving my shiny new Dell (OK, it was a hand me down) I had all kinds of problems accessing various things on the network and could not even ping. IS looked at it, came away with no ideas, but when I removed this beastly piece of software my laptop sprang onto the network without a hitch. ZA managed to do all of this with the firewall turned off. Only removing it solved the problem, and it convinced our IS manager to look into alternate solutions.

      Am I the only person in the Lounge that has this black cloud following me around everywhere I run into ZoneAlarm?

      My point with all of this is that I am far from surprised that you had the problem that you did. Experience continues to teach me that this product just doesn’t work the way it should (in some respects that makes it a perfect match for Windows!).

      • #787406

        Mark,

        ——————–
        Am I the only person in the Lounge that has this black cloud following me around everywhere I run into ZoneAlarm?

        ——————

        I think so. Why don’t you run a poll to find out?

        Bob

        • #787460

          I am afraid the wording of any poll I would post would be a little visceral and not too family friendly. Instead of a poll, I may just start a new online community

          • #788244

            Poll or no poll, I’d like to cast my vote in the “Zone Alarm is a worthless, useless piece of #$%&*!!!” column. On one machine the wretched thing persistently caused 100% CPU utilization. I finally eradicated it from the machine, but it wasn’t easy…. For details see Uninstall Zone Alarm Pro (XP Home (5.1.2600)). Ironically, when still using the free version of the program (on WIN 98 systems) I had no problems. It wasn’t until I “upgraded” the free version to ZA Pro, on a WIN XP system, that I started to encounter “issues” with ZA. As noted, I switched to the free Kerio Personal Firewall, as recommended by Big Al, and my problems went away….

            • #788351

              ZA and I are not on the best of terms either. I stick to the free Sygate Personal Firewall.

            • #788352

              ZA and I are not on the best of terms either. I stick to the free Sygate Personal Firewall.

          • #788245

            Poll or no poll, I’d like to cast my vote in the “Zone Alarm is a worthless, useless piece of #$%&*!!!” column. On one machine the wretched thing persistently caused 100% CPU utilization. I finally eradicated it from the machine, but it wasn’t easy…. For details see Uninstall Zone Alarm Pro (XP Home (5.1.2600)). Ironically, when still using the free version of the program (on WIN 98 systems) I had no problems. It wasn’t until I “upgraded” the free version to ZA Pro, on a WIN XP system, that I started to encounter “issues” with ZA. As noted, I switched to the free Kerio Personal Firewall, as recommended by Big Al, and my problems went away….

        • #787461

          I am afraid the wording of any poll I would post would be a little visceral and not too family friendly. Instead of a poll, I may just start a new online community

      • #787407

        Mark,

        ——————–
        Am I the only person in the Lounge that has this black cloud following me around everywhere I run into ZoneAlarm?

        ——————

        I think so. Why don’t you run a poll to find out?

        Bob

    • #787397

      I probably should not, but I will anyway….

      My company uses ZoneAlarm as the preferred firewall for anyone with a portable computer (such as me). Upon receiving my shiny new Dell (OK, it was a hand me down) I had all kinds of problems accessing various things on the network and could not even ping. IS looked at it, came away with no ideas, but when I removed this beastly piece of software my laptop sprang onto the network without a hitch. ZA managed to do all of this with the firewall turned off. Only removing it solved the problem, and it convinced our IS manager to look into alternate solutions.

      Am I the only person in the Lounge that has this black cloud following me around everywhere I run into ZoneAlarm?

      My point with all of this is that I am far from surprised that you had the problem that you did. Experience continues to teach me that this product just doesn’t work the way it should (in some respects that makes it a perfect match for Windows!).

    • #787441

      Edited to add the last paragraph

      The wife’s PC alerted her lastnight that an update was available, but she hasn’t yet let me get to the PC to ensure it’s done correctly (something about wanting to ensure I don’t see anything on the PC about my upcoming birthday gift).

      My PC informed me at noon that an update was available, and I allowed it to download and install. I haven’t rebooted yet to see if the upgrade was successful (had to return to work you know).

      I’ll keep ya posted grin.

      My laptop had no problem updating to the latest ZA. Sorry Al… I don’t see your problem sad.

    • #787503

      Just down loaded it, using the check for updates in the front of ZoneAlarm Control Center.

      DaveA I am so far behind, I think I am First
      Genealogy....confusing the dead and annoying the living

    • #787504

      Just down loaded it, using the check for updates in the front of ZoneAlarm Control Center.

      DaveA I am so far behind, I think I am First
      Genealogy....confusing the dead and annoying the living

    • #787545

      I’m using ZA Pro version 4.5.538.001 I received a notification this afternoon, downloaded, installed and rebooted…… thus far NO PROBLEMS. crossfingers

      • #787559

        [indent]


        NO PROBLEMS


        [/indent]Just wait. evilgrin

        • #787582

          Come on, Mark.

          Don’t be so anti-Zone Alarm ( ish ) notmyfault Seems to work for the vast majority of users.

          Bob

          • #787583

            Indeed it does work for the vast majority, but I have had problem after problem with it. And honestly….I’ve tried to like it and get along, but it never works out that way. I kid you not, just about every time I’ve used it in the past few years, it’s caused nothing but odd problems, so I cannot in good faith be for it, particularly when there are alternatives that work as well or better and don’t have the track record ZA does. If I wasn’t vocal about the very real problems I have seen, I would be doing a disservice.

            • #787619

              I have had problems with ZoneAlarm also, and have since switched to Agnitum Outpost Free Version, which I like so much I am going to order the pay version. And, I might add, it took me a long, long time to get the little beast off of my computer.

            • #787620

              I have had problems with ZoneAlarm also, and have since switched to Agnitum Outpost Free Version, which I like so much I am going to order the pay version. And, I might add, it took me a long, long time to get the little beast off of my computer.

            • #787820

              Well Mark, I must admit, I have been a happy Zone Alarm user for quite some time but I’ve just run into a very frustrating experience. I have two machines one running XP and the other acts as a fax server running Win 2000 SP3. They both received auto notification for ZA and both uploaded the new release. The XP machine is humming along just fine. Win 2000 box however, failed on the update installation and reported VSPUBAPI.DLL could not be found in the specified path …. Tried to uninstall to re-install and it can’t uninstall software by reason of the same missing dll. The result appears to be my XP machine can’t see the 2000 box. The 2000 box can see the XP however. Anyway, I’m not a happy camper and I’m searching for a means of uninstalling ZA because I really don’t want to re-install Win 2000. If anyone has run into this in the past I’d appreciate any advise. Cheers.

            • #787882

              That is very, very similar to what happened to me, only with a different dll I think. After update, ZA was toast! I also tried to uninstall and reinstall with the exact same result. I finally had to use System Mechanic and RoboVac to get rid of every ZA reference in the registry before I could get rid of it.

            • #788173

              RoboVac question

            • #788262

              Hee, hee, sorry it’s actually RegVac! It has an option in it called RoboVac to automatically clean and remove the entries! (My mind’s just not what it used to be!)

            • #788263

              Hee, hee, sorry it’s actually RegVac! It has an option in it called RoboVac to automatically clean and remove the entries! (My mind’s just not what it used to be!)

            • #788174

              RoboVac question

            • #787883

              That is very, very similar to what happened to me, only with a different dll I think. After update, ZA was toast! I also tried to uninstall and reinstall with the exact same result. I finally had to use System Mechanic and RoboVac to get rid of every ZA reference in the registry before I could get rid of it.

            • #787910

              Just take a copy of VSPUBAPI.DLL and PUT it in the path that was specified?

              Bob

            • #787911

              Just take a copy of VSPUBAPI.DLL and PUT it in the path that was specified?

              Bob

            • #787919

              I’ve been right there. I had to run the installer and then remove it after the install completed just to get it gone for good. Just for good measure, I go into Device Manager and remove the VSDATANT driver that gets stuck there. It is hidden by default and is listed under “Non plug and play” devices (the ones with the gray diamond next to them).

            • #787920

              I’ve been right there. I had to run the installer and then remove it after the install completed just to get it gone for good. Just for good measure, I go into Device Manager and remove the VSDATANT driver that gets stuck there. It is hidden by default and is listed under “Non plug and play” devices (the ones with the gray diamond next to them).

            • #787821

              Well Mark, I must admit, I have been a happy Zone Alarm user for quite some time but I’ve just run into a very frustrating experience. I have two machines one running XP and the other acts as a fax server running Win 2000 SP3. They both received auto notification for ZA and both uploaded the new release. The XP machine is humming along just fine. Win 2000 box however, failed on the update installation and reported VSPUBAPI.DLL could not be found in the specified path …. Tried to uninstall to re-install and it can’t uninstall software by reason of the same missing dll. The result appears to be my XP machine can’t see the 2000 box. The 2000 box can see the XP however. Anyway, I’m not a happy camper and I’m searching for a means of uninstalling ZA because I really don’t want to re-install Win 2000. If anyone has run into this in the past I’d appreciate any advise. Cheers.

            • #787914

              Mark,

              I can understand your feelings about ZA if you had that much trouble with it. Wasn’t trying to give you a hard time about it. innocent sorry

              Just goes to show ya, not all things work for all people.

              Bob

            • #787917

              All good, Bob, ultimately I refuse to get all that worked up about software when there are so many other things in life that can irritate you equally well. Telemarketers, spam, your children… grin At least with software I have more options and a power switch!

            • #787918

              All good, Bob, ultimately I refuse to get all that worked up about software when there are so many other things in life that can irritate you equally well. Telemarketers, spam, your children… grin At least with software I have more options and a power switch!

            • #787915

              Mark,

              I can understand your feelings about ZA if you had that much trouble with it. Wasn’t trying to give you a hard time about it. innocent sorry

              Just goes to show ya, not all things work for all people.

              Bob

          • #787584

            Indeed it does work for the vast majority, but I have had problem after problem with it. And honestly….I’ve tried to like it and get along, but it never works out that way. I kid you not, just about every time I’ve used it in the past few years, it’s caused nothing but odd problems, so I cannot in good faith be for it, particularly when there are alternatives that work as well or better and don’t have the track record ZA does. If I wasn’t vocal about the very real problems I have seen, I would be doing a disservice.

      • #787560

        [indent]


        NO PROBLEMS


        [/indent]Just wait. evilgrin

    • #787546

      I’m using ZA Pro version 4.5.538.001 I received a notification this afternoon, downloaded, installed and rebooted…… thus far NO PROBLEMS. crossfingers

    • #788064

      I got the popup too and I think it only means getting their advice to upgrade. http://download.zonelabs.com/bin/free/securityAlert/8.html%5B/url%5D

    • #788065

      I got the popup too and I think it only means getting their advice to upgrade. http://download.zonelabs.com/bin/free/securityAlert/8.html%5B/url%5D

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