[rroberto18]

NOTE: If this should start a new thread, I hope the administrator will establish it as one.
Zone Alarm problems like the ones described above have hit me as well.
I began using Zone Alarm's Security Suite because I found Symantec did not offer meaningful product support. Initially, Zone Alarm products seemed to be conflict-free. Not any more.

Currently Zone Alarm has caused the following problems in this chronological order

+ rendered System Restore unable to function except in Safe Mode

+ caused IE7 to close down at random

+ caused IE7 to shut down after giving message that Windows XP Pro had to "close True Vector" (a part of my Zone Alarm product itself).

+ caused IE7 to produce "cannot display" error messages when i drill-down more than two levels on popular sites like amazon.com

Zone Alarm has provided me an extended license key during all of this and I get to work with the same tech support person via email all the time. Yet new problems pop up all the time and none of the above have been solved -- over a 4 month period.

I notice the company now offers "Zone Alarm Extreme" which seems to be their answer to unresolved conflcts such as those listed above.

Does anyone have any experience with Zone Alarm Extreme. OR

Can someone recommend an alternate Security suite -- with rootkit detection and fixes -- that minimizes program conflicts AND offers good tech support?
Message was edited by: coastie65 I have branched this into it's own thread to better get help on your problem. Although the problem may be simililar it is always best to start your own thread, rather than piggybacking it on another.

[smax013]

I would suggest a new thread so that your issue gets the attention it deserves. I will send a PM to the mods to see if they can split it off. If it does not happen in a day, then you can always copy and paste your post into a new thread.

[SpiritWind]

Hi :

Rather than working with a "tech support person" by email, have you tried their Online

Support Forums at forum.zonealarm.com/ !? And since their "new" Extreme is

BETA ( meaning EXPERIMENTAL ), I recommend NOT using anything "Beta" .

Generally speaking, we do NOT recommend security "Suite"s, but using the "Layered

Approach", as I wrote about at [http://forums.pcworld.com/docs/DOC-1141|d-1141] .

The ONLY possible "Suite" I would recommend is Blink Personal/Professional at

[http://www.eeye.com/html/consumer/products/blink/index.html] .

[smax013]

How old is the computer?

Have you ever did a re-install of Windoze?

I ask because Windoze can accumilate "crude" that can cause problems over time. This has happened with my older Dell desktop (which is kind of in semi-retirement...it is current sipping cool drinks with umbrella on the drafting table...it did not have enough money to afford a trip to Maui ;) ). It has been about 3 years since I re-installed Windoze (had to do it then due to the original hard drive dying on me). I started having all kinds of issues with stuff on load up. One of those issues on occasion was that the True Vector would not load properly. I have created a "temporarily" repreive/lessening of the "crap storm" on bootup by getting rid of my Norton Anti-virus and running a registry cleaner, but I still have problems. As a result, when I get a chance, I will wipe the drive and re-install stuff. I am betting that will make things "better" for a bit.

But, before we go to the extreme of re-installing Windoze, let's do a little trouble shooting...

I would second suggestion to try ZoneAlarm's forums...do that in addition to trying to talk to their actual tech support. I have found that tech support in general for any company is largely a crap shoot with high odds on the crap winning...but that does not mean that you might on occasion get someone who helps. Thus, don't completely abandon that path. Just add an adjacent path by posting to their forum, which will also be parallel to this path by posting here (I would suggest that if you get an answer on one of the forums, post it to the other forum so that if there are others with you problem, they have a better chance of finding the solution).

Now, some more questions (ya, you did not come here for quizzes :) )...

1) What other things run on start up? Things such as anti-virus, etc. Can you post a screen shot of both your System Tray (that would be the row of little icons in the lower right corner) and of your processes (must open the Task Manager for that)...and maybe even your Startup items in MSCONFIG? It is possible that you have some sort of conflict.

2) Which version of ZoneAlarm stuff are you running? Version 8?