July 8 XP SP2 update and Zone Alarm - no internet access

Zone Alarm with today's windows update is blocking
all internet access. What program (something
new?) to I have to grant access to to restore it?

XP Home SP2.
--
rhhardin@mindspring.com

On the internet, nobody knows you're a jerk.

"IT Lite" <Johns_Copier@ameritech.net> wrote in message
news:ecVn7cT4IHA.4856@TK2MSFTNGP02.phx.gbl...
> Ron,
> Is it possible you have XP to automatically install MS updates, and it
> installed, today, KB981748? If it did it is likely you cannot access the
> Web. Look for it in your IE updates of "Add or Remove Programs" and
> uninstall that update, reboot, & I suspect it will get you back on the
> Web. I have asked about the problem in the windowsupdate group. I also use
> ZoneAlarm. That should not be the problem; ZA would generally ask
> permission for a file or process.
> John


Yes that's it ZA normally asks.
It looks like it is a 100 microsofts fault as one would expect from those
amateurs.

>
>
> "Ron Hardin" <rhhardin@mindspring.com> wrote in message
> news:4873C02D.24E6@mindspring.com...
>> Zone Alarm with today's windows update is blocking
>> all internet access. What program (something
>> new?) to I have to grant access to to restore it?
>>
>> XP Home SP2.
>> --
>> rhhardin@mindspring.com
>>
>> On the internet, nobody knows you're a jerk.
>
>

Ron,
Is it possible you have XP to automatically install MS updates, and it
installed, today, KB981748? If it did it is likely you cannot access the
Web. Look for it in your IE updates of "Add or Remove Programs" and
uninstall that update, reboot, & I suspect it will get you back on the Web.
I have asked about the problem in the windowsupdate group. I also use
ZoneAlarm. That should not be the problem; ZA would generally ask permission
for a file or process.
John


"Ron Hardin" <rhhardin@mindspring.com> wrote in message
news:4873C02D.24E6@mindspring.com...
> Zone Alarm with today's windows update is blocking
> all internet access. What program (something
> new?) to I have to grant access to to restore it?
>
> XP Home SP2.
> --
> rhhardin@mindspring.com
>
> On the internet, nobody knows you're a jerk.

Zone Alarm knows about this issue and are investigating.

http://forum.zonelabs.org/zonelabs/b...hread.id=52785

Either uninstall 951748 or set Internet Zone security to Medium in ZA's
Firewall/main tab

"Ron Hardin" <rhhardin@mindspring.com> wrote in message
news:4873C02D.24E6@mindspring.com...
> Zone Alarm with today's windows update is blocking
> all internet access. What program (something
> new?) to I have to grant access to to restore it?
>
> XP Home SP2.
> --
> rhhardin@mindspring.com
>
> On the internet, nobody knows you're a jerk.

This problem got me too.

I tried upgrading Zone Alarm (free) form 7.0.470.00 to 7.0.473.00, but that
did not help.

Using the add/remove programs function of XP, I removed KB951978 and
KB951748, in that order, then normal internet access was possible.

Glad I had a full backup image of C: (via True Acronis Image), since if the
add/remove option failed to fix things, then restoring that image would have
been my next step.

"Ron Hardin" <rhhardin@mindspring.com> wrote in message
news:4873C02D.24E6@mindspring.com...
> Zone Alarm with today's windows update is blocking
> all internet access. What program (something
> new?) to I have to grant access to to restore it?
>
> XP Home SP2.
> --
> rhhardin@mindspring.com
>
> On the internet, nobody knows you're a jerk.

I have just (8 July) done a Windows update and hey presto Zone Alarm
won't allow any access to the internet unless I reduce the Internet Zone
security setting from High to Medium. No warnings or info it just
behaves as if its diconnected.

Did a system restore to remove the update and everything works OK
again. Looks like a cock up in the Windows update. SDoes anybody have
any more information on what the problem is ?


--
gdevoy
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gdevoy wrote:
> Did a system restore to remove the update and everything works OK
> again. Looks like a cock up in the Windows update. SDoes anybody have
> any more information on what the problem is ?

Best explanation I've seen is MS increased the randomness in choosing
a port to query the DNS server on, so that a bad guy can't plant a false
entry in some cache and wait for you to be redirected to his site by
the answer. (Some gaps in what the mechanism is here, in my knowledge.)

The increased range of ports is incompatible with ZA's assumptions
about what ports should happen, and so they block it.

I assume if you use actual ip addresses there's no problem, from the
description.
--
rhhardin@mindspring.com

On the internet, nobody knows you're a jerk.

Cloned reply (I'm posting this on multiple boards)

---


The problem is with Zone Alarm. They are aware of the issue, and are
working on it:

http://forum.zonelabs.org/zonelabs/b...hread.id=52785

For ZA Free, there are two possible fixes: uninstall KB951748, or reset
your internet

security level to Medium in ZA. Neither is ideal. Uninstalling the
update is

preferable, but only just.

For those using ZA Pro, here's a suggested solution. IDK if it works,
since I'm running

ZA Free, but it's worth a try:

http://www.dslreports.com/forum/r20762892-

For the rest of us, you can always try Comodo Firewall instead:

http://www.personalfirewall.comodo.c..._firewall.html

Comodo is not tweaking over the expanded range of ports this update
appears to

implement.

For those folks suggesting you drop ZA and all other 3rd-party
firewalls and rely on

the Windows firewall, I suggest *you* go right ahead. Then call me to
fix your computer

when you get overrun by malware. Be sure to tell me how proud you are
to have ditched

those evil 3rd-party firewalls for the Windows Crayola version, so I
can charge you

extra for stupidity.


--
xanifred
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I removed KB951748 to find that it fixed Internet access.
But it got automatically reinstalled because it is downloaded.
I removed it again - how do I stop this automatic reinstall?
Thanks.

On Wed, 09 Jul 2008 07:28:07 -0400, Ron Hardin
<rhhardin@mindspring.com> wrote:

>gdevoy wrote:
>> Did a system restore to remove the update and everything works OK
>> again. Looks like a cock up in the Windows update. SDoes anybody have
>> any more information on what the problem is ?
>
>Best explanation I've seen is MS increased the randomness in choosing
>a port to query the DNS server on, so that a bad guy can't plant a false
>entry in some cache and wait for you to be redirected to his site by
>the answer. (Some gaps in what the mechanism is here, in my knowledge.)
>
>The increased range of ports is incompatible with ZA's assumptions
>about what ports should happen, and so they block it.
>
>I assume if you use actual ip addresses there's no problem, from the
>description.

In article <4873C02D.24E6@mindspring.com>, rhhardin@mindspring.com says...
>
>
>Zone Alarm with today's windows update is blocking
>all internet access. What program (something
>new?) to I have to grant access to to restore it?
>
>XP Home SP2.
>
The official temp workarounds from ZA are here:

http://download.zonealarm.com/bin/fr...cessIssue.html

whosbest54
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