Zone Alarm

[+Akubo]

I recently installed Zone Alarm and now I cannot download geocaches to my Explorist. When I try to look at the Explorist sd memory it tells me the drive is not formatted. Also I cannot run the Explorist install cd. If I uninstall zone alarm evrything works fine, I can see the SD card and use geocache manager to download caches. Anyone have a solution to keep Zone alarm running and have it reconize my Explorist so I can download?

[+Renegade Knight]

I'm not familiar with Zone Alarm but since it's a firewall it's blocking communications (like you figured out) between your GPS and your computer. Zone Alarm should have a method for you to say "This software is ok to communicate on my serial port".

 

That's what you are looking for. Check the manual for Zone Alarm.

[GeoidPS]

This is easily resolvable. Under "Program Control", "Programs" make sure the trust level is at least "ask" for the Explorist program.

If this doesn't work, look under Windows\Internet Logs\ZALog.txt to see what is blocking Explorist access. If all else fails, reboot to the Safe Mode and delete all files in the Internet Logs directory.

[+Team Cotati]

Does zone alarm have the capability to block serial or any other physical 'port'? If so, could someone please point that process out? I am referring to the 'free' version. I have been using that version for years and really like it. Unless there is something unique about the explorist, ZA is not your culprit as I have been able to use serial, usb, parallel, CAT-5...whatever physical ports and access my Meridian GPSr, PDA, SD r/w gizmo, whatever w/out issue. Now as for software/internet port blocking, that is what ZA is expressly designed to do. Software that does not attempt to read or write to the internet should not be affected. MS-Word for example. Though newer versions of lots of software seems to want to access the internet these days. And we wonder why there are so many Microsoft IE patches, eh?

 

You must be getting some message when you run the 'explorist' install cd...what is it? Have you tried running some other random install CD? I can think of no logical reason why ZA would treat the explorist install any different than any other........it is a Windows app after all.

Edited June 10, 2006 by Team Cotati

[Dale_Lynn]

My expierence with ZA is it has always asked whether you want to set permissions if it encounters something it suspects and needed to be firewalled...

 

Did it or does it give you those options?

 

Dale

Edited June 10, 2006 by Dale_Lynn

[+Team Cotati]

My expierence with ZA is it has always asked whether you want to set permissions if it encounters something it suspects and needed to be firewalled...

 

Did it or does it give you those options?

 

Dale

 

That is true but I do not believe that that includes the physical ports on the pc, though I suppose that there are products out there ZA Pro maybe, who knows, that can do that for heightened security that would be wayyyy beyond the needs of the general populace. I can tell you that ZA free edition does not do this, certainly not by default even if it is possible which I doubt. I just don't see anywhere within ZA free where there is a provision for physical port blocking. Do you?

 

A little feedback from the OP right about now would be helpful, no?

Edited June 10, 2006 by Team Cotati

[+embra]

Yeah, this is wierd. I've run ZoneAlarm for years, and it's never said boo to any explorist or any other USB communication. In its most basic version, it's just a firewall regulating internet communications.

 

I don't question the observation you get that when you remove ZoneAlarm it makes things ok, though. It's just that I suspect it's a conflict in some other way than for how ZA is supposed to operate. Are you running the free, internet firewall-only version of ZA, or do you have one of the more fully featured, pay versions that includes virus detection and other functions?

[+Akubo]

Thanks for all the replies, First of all I have Zone alarm security suit 2005. I use to run the free copy of Zone Alarm with no problems, that's why I decided to buy the software. When I put in the Explorist disk nothing happens at all. When I try to look at the disk with explorer it tell me that the disk is not a compatible windows format.

When I have the explorist pluged into the USB port and look at it through explorer it will show a G: drive like it should but it does not show the typical folders that are on the SD card. When I click on the G: drive (Explorist) is tell me the disk is not formatted. It's very strange. I have tried turning off Zone alarm but that does not help either. The only way is to uninstall Zone alarm, then everything is back to normal. Maybe I'll go back to the free software of Zone alarm and just register it with my product key.

[+embra]

That's interesting; I haven't heard of this kind of conflict before. It does sound like it's the suite part (i.e., something in the extras) that is interfering. ZonaAlarm started off as an effective, relatively simple firewall tool. But as it has become complex bloatware, it seems more and more people find it mucking up some aspect of their system.

 

You might get lucky enough for someone here to know a remedy, but I'd contact ZoneLabs and see if they can tell you what to do.

[jwv]

I have not had much problem with the free version of ZoneAlarm and still use an old version of the commercial one at work. However, my boss was updating his laptop and home machine with each iteration and it got to the point the he was having so many problems, I convinced him to take it off. Very long startup times, sites not working, and (my perception) some software running more slowly.

 

BTW, the only feature of ZA that I use is the privacy stuff (popups, java, activex, etc.). While the windows firewall may not be the most aggressive, it works fairly well in blocking the bad guys in my opinion.

 

Jerry

 

Thanks for all the replies, First of all I have Zone alarm security suit 2005. I use to run the free copy of Zone Alarm with no problems, that's why I decided to buy the software. When I put in the Explorist disk nothing happens at all. When I try to look at the disk with explorer it tell me that the disk is not a compatible windows format.

When I have the explorist pluged into the USB port and look at it through explorer it will show a G: drive like it should but it does not show the typical folders that are on the SD card. When I click on the G: drive (Explorist) is tell me the disk is not formatted. It's very strange. I have tried turning off Zone alarm but that does not help either. The only way is to uninstall Zone alarm, then everything is back to normal. Maybe I'll go back to the free software of Zone alarm and just register it with my product key.