ZoneAlarm 6.0 out?

[SteveTheGeek]

I've just purchased ZoneAlarm Security Suite 5.0 a week ago, and now looking at their website I'm seeing 6.0 is available. Except, when you click on any 6.0 features-type links on the main page, it pretty much just takes you back to the main page. Anyone have good links to actual 6.0 improvements over 5.0?

 

[Bebosan]

I belive here is writen just fine what is new in 6 version...

http://www.zonelabs.com/store/content/company/products/zass/whatsNew.jsp

 

[KenWright]

Turned my laptop on last night and was prompted to update to v6. Have never had any issues with ZA before, so went ahead and did so:-

After installing, my machine rebooted but had no icons visible and no start menu. Tried rebooting again but same thing. Played around with CTRL+ALT+DELETE and then hit the power button and lo and behold the icons appeared and the machine promptly shut down ( Aaaaggghhhh :-> ). Rebooted again and lost the icons, and this went on for some time, but eventually I got to a point where my icons appeared, albeit the machine appeared to be on a *real* go slow. Checked system properties but only 1% CPU usage, and loads of free memory.

At this point I figured System restore sounded like a good option, so tried that, but although it would let me select it via the menu, it didn't actually do anything, and no system restore dialog box would appear. Tried booting in safe mode, but could get no further than the first couple of screens of commands and then it would hang. Tried turning off ZoneAlarm but it wouldn't let go of the damn thing ( Frustration at this point was building rapidly…. :-> ).

After rebooting again a few times I was actually able to get a system restore option to appear, so tried that, only to be told that it couldn't restore me to any of the restore points I tried (Which was all of them).

After some 2 hours though, I was finally able to switch off ZoneAlarm (After disconnecting from my network) and it all seemed to go back to normal. I then reran ZoneAlarm and went into the configuration and turned OFF the new anti-spyware facility that has been introduced and the anti-virus monitoring facility. After that everything seemed to work fine again.

Think I'll wait before I try those features again.

Note though, I am using Zone Alarm Pro, and not the free edition, so no idea if the same would occur there, or if indeed the feature set is the same.

Regards
Ken........

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It's easier to beg forgiveness than ask permission
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[KenWright]

Turns out the same thing was happening to other users here as well, but again only those that had run the update. It also managed to disable our secure client for logging in to work from an external network.

Have now uninstalled ZA, and then reinstalled ZA from the version prior to the upgrade and everything works fine again now.

Regards
Ken..............

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It's easier to beg forgiveness than ask permission
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[relampico]

Nope, you're not nuts, fella. I bought a new Dell to replace my old compaq which was giving me all kinds of connectivity problems especially in accessing my hotmail account. I just couldn't get past the many logon screens that kept coming up as a result of filling in my user id, password and clicking on enter. Thinking I had hosed the machine (and looking for an excuse to upgrade anyhow), I decided to order a new machine with XP Pro to replace the 2000 Pro which up to this point was the most bulletproof OS I'd ever used. Imagine my chagrin when I couldn't log in to my 4 day-old brandy new box! Long story short, through researching Zone Labs' user forum I learned that the firewall program I was using on both boxes, Zone Alarm Pro version 6 was giving everyone fits. there was a lot of advice ranging from Zone Labs' lame advice that it was an upgrade problem (I loaded a fresh copy where nothing existed before), to all kinds of tweaks. the best advice seemed to be to blow away ZAP and substitute ZA free, the one that does firewalling only. I also used a command suggested by Microsoft IPCONFIG/flushdns which seemed to 'flush' something positively out of the system. finally I downloaded the latest Netscape Navigator and made it my default browser. I had to run the IPCONFIG once more before I got my e-mail back and have rebooted and tested twice and so far so good. I also e-mailed PC Magazine asking that they check into the problem as they've been recommending ZL's products very highly. There are a LOT of dissatisfied customers who paid bucks for a product that doesn't function properly and all I see from ZL is a boiler plate apology at the top of their forum screen. Looks to me like they're using us as their unpaid QC.
So far the ZA free firewall is on the job. I'm averaging about a dozen nefarious port attempts a minute. I think software vendors should stick to single-purpose applications and avoid shotgun programs. I don't have a problem receiving e-mails from others having the same problem. Perhaps we can get ZL to give its customers a refund.