Upgraded Zone ALarm and now problems

HI, The other day, I upgraded Zone ALarm and thought it had finished installing but when I had cliked on restart, too late I saw that it had not finished installing the newer version (Free one) and so after booting on again, I found the exe. upgrade and recliked on it, since then ...........I now freeze when on the internet or get booted off by the screen just going blank. I tried system restore and it will NOT let me restore, even when going back to beginning of May.
I have used scan disk, defragged and also used System File Checker, SpyBot and Ad aware without it doing any good. When I don't use the free Zone Alarm, then everything seems fine, that's why I feel it has something to do with it.
WHY is System Restore now not working and how can I fix this problem.?
Any help would be appreciated,
Thanks, Linda

 

RE: Zone Alarm 5.0

Before I C/P a post from one forum, I suggest you try to uninstall "the" Zone Alarm first; Also, check if System Resotore is "enabled." I don't know what's your OS, so please, drop the info into this board, on this thread; (I'm pre' sure other folks'd help you on that, even when I get late to come back here.)

The forum I found the afore-mentioned post, may offend some people; Hence, I just copy it down here; Read on:

Name: invisigoth
Subject: Re: Zone Alarm upgrade - WARNING

"If you want to understand the cause of the ZAP 5.0 release fiasco, the explanation can be found at http://download.zonelabs.com/bin/free/rapidDeploy/press/2004/pr_8.html. Check Point Software Technologies Ltd forked out $114,000,000 to buy Zone Labs, Inc on March 29. All the brains cashed out, left the premises, and now nobody is left to write the software. A few weeks after the cash out, we got the garbage new ZAP 5.0 that has caused us all so many problems. This life cycle is common for small technical companies. It's a cliché. The founders cash out, and the company goes belly up.
Like so many, I received a notification and downloaded and installed the new release. When it failed, I sent an email to ZA and received a response. Both are included below. The response indicates general cluelessness about the ZAP 5.0 problems.
When I reinstalled to ZAP 4.5, I got a notification from the ZAP service agent that release 5.0 was ready for download. Zone Labs is still distributing the new software. Being a curious soul, I downloaded it and compared it to the bad version I had previously downloaded. The Digital Signature Time stamp was different in the file properties, but the size was the same. A comp revealed 10 bytes different. This tells me that no significant software change was made over the last few days."
++++++++++++++++++
My email to Zone Labs:
Per Zone Labs notification I downloaded version 5.0. The installation reboot failed. I had to go into safe mode without networking to remove the product. The OS is Windows 2000 sp4. Repeating the procedure replicated the failure to reboot. I have reviewed the user groups and note that I am not along having problems.
Please advise on how I might successfully install the new release
+++++++++++++++++
The Zone Labs Response
There is more than likely a conflict with another software firewall
installed on your computer. Please uninstall the other software
firewall from your computer, then reinstall Zone Alarm.
Thank you,

- - -

Scary; I thought. (Kid)

 

One trailer...

Linda, go visit:

http://clipurl.com?7q

If you need a Zone Alarm 4.5 (Freeware) Installer, I can either email it to you, or u/load it to some address from which you can d/load.

Kid

 

Linda,

Try Uninstalling whatever version the Add/remove panel shows. Make sure ZA is not running - uncheck ZA in msconfig and reboot or follow these uninstall instructions fro ZL http://nh2.nohold.net/noHoldCust25/Prod_1/Articles55646/CompleteUninstallNonNT.html

Then either reinstall v5.0 or v4.5. Also make sure no version is runnning during install. If its v5.0, disable the AV Monitor option - you can always enable it later. Its of dubious value anyway.

System Restore: after taking care of this problem, post back on the Restore problem.

Regards - Charles

 

No need: http://download.zonelabs.com/bin/free/information/znalm/zaReleaseHistory.html

Lecture comming: As a general rule, save setup .exe files of installed software, either on a folder for the purpose on the HD and/or burn them out for contingencies such as this.

Regards - Charles

 

Charles and Kid, thanks for your input

I sort of felt that I would have to go thru the process of uninstalling Zone Alarm but hoped that someone knew another way..lol
Re: the 4.5 exe.....I had saved it, I don't usually get rid of the lower exes. after upgrading for exactly this reason. I have installed it and so far, it seems to be ok. The info that Kid gave re: Zone Alarm and others having same problem and probable reason why.... was scary. AND here, I thought it was MY fault!
Charles, I don't know how to check my system restore now without removing the Zone Alarm I just installed now. When checking it, I see it has not made any restore points since May 22.
Is there any way to find out if its working now that I don't seem to need it?
Thanks for both of your help on this.
LInda

 

Hi Linda,

Is May 22nd when you installed ZA?

See if you can create a manual restore point. If you can, shouldn't be anything fundamentally wrong.

Then, I think you should get rid of the current points and start again. To do that: right click on My Compter > properties > system restore tab and turn off . Then reboot. Once back up, go back and re-enable. SR will create an initial SR point.

Check to to if the Task Schedular Service is running. SR will not auto create restore points w/o it running. Always the possibilty something shut it off.

Start > run > type services.msc

XP's services list will come up. Scroll down to Task Schedular and make sure that is running and the startup type is automatic. If not, double click on the line. Properties dialog will display and in the middle panel start the service as automatic.

Regards - Charles

 

Hi Linda,

Wanted to get back on XP to finish:

After re-establishing SR, a way to test the Restore function:

Create a manual restore point.

Take that ZA setup executable - or any other self-contained executable, meaning that its not installed (to forstall confusion, the ZA setup creates installed executables known collectively as ZoneAlarm) - and burn it out and/or move it to the My Documents folder and delete it from it's original location. SR does not monitor files in My Documents folder regardless of file type.

Then restore to the manual point; the deleted executable should be back in it's original location.

FYI: The file types (extensions) SR monitors http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/default.asp?url=/library/en-us/sr/sr/monitored_file_extensions.asp

Regards - Charles

 

Charles, you wrote >> "Is May 22nd when you installed ZA?

See if you can create a manual restore point. If you can, shouldn't be anything fundamentally wrong.
Then, I think you should get rid of the current points and start again. To do that: right click on My Compter > properties > system restore tab and turn off . Then reboot. Once back up, go back and re-enable. SR will create an initial SR point.
Check to to if the Task Schedular Service is running. SR will not auto create restore points w/o it running. Always the possibilty something shut it off."

1.(No May 22nd was not when I installed ZA, that I did just 2 days ago ...2.) "Yes ", I was able to create a manual restore point and 3.) I could not get rid of the current points and start again, unless I was willing to lose the manual restore point....(Once you turn off the restore point, it just erases all the restore points that the puter has made so far.)
The Task Scheduler was workiing.
I then took the ZA exe. and not the one that was made by Zone ALarm and moved it into the My Documents folder and then used SR. It now said it was restored and the ZA exe was back in the Program Files BUT it apparently was a copy because the one I moved into the My Documents was still there also.
Now, I believe that ZA caused this problem to my SR too.
Does that sound far-fetched to you?
Linda

 

Hi Linda,

I think your fine. Restore seems to be working.

The copy in My Documents is a duplicate and you can delete it; remember I wrote that SR will not touch any file in My Documents. The one that appeared back in the program file came from the restore files - that's what it should have done.

You can get rid of all the current points, including the one you just created; SR will, when turned back on, create one automatically.

I don't know what went wrong - that's why I think its a good idea to just get rid of all the old stuff and then monitor SR to make sure that it creates a restore point approx every 24 hrs. I say approx, because it depends on how much idle time the system has to itself. It needs time to create the point. Standby does not count as idle time BTW.

One other point

SR should not be used to "uninstall" apps unless there is no other way - they should be uninstalled using the Add/Remove applet or the way ZL uninstall instructions worked. While SR will revert back to a previous version, some files not monitored by SR will remain from the "current" version with the possible result of a mish-mash of versions.

Regards - Charles

 

SR should not be used to "uninstall" apps unless there is no other way - they should be uninstalled using the Add/Remove applet or the way ZL uninstall instructions worked. While SR will revert back to a previous version, some files not monitored by SR will remain from the "current" version with the possible result of a mish-mash of versions.

Yes, I realize that Charles.thanks again
Linda (another NewJerseyite)

 

Great to "talk" with someone in the same time zone

Sorry if sometimes I belabored the obvious - hard to tell what someone knows/doesn't know.

I keep forgetting to add things:

If you enter System Restore into the Help and Support search applet in the control panel - lots of info.

Regards - Charles

 

RE: System Restore

I reckon your OS's XP of some version; There are times you'd NEED TO disable this, such as when one has to delete virus/trojan in your registry.

Quick way of getting there is:

Right click "My Computer "| Click "System Properties "| Click "System Restore "| Check (or uncheck) "Turn off System Restore on all drives "| Then, "Apply" & "OK," out.

(Browse through the Microsoft's and/or Virus Software providers' data-base pages, when you have time.)

One other thing, this is to < charlesvar >: I didn't think the Zone Alarm 4.5 versions were abailable, at least from soft DL places, "in the United States." 5.0, yes, but not the 4.5's!

Kid

 

OUCH !! Bad installs. Things I have run into with same.

SR not being used to uninstall is true. And I agree. But if a RP is made JUST BEFORE the new install, it will ( or should ) put things back in decent shape. But may not fully do so.

What I have found when having a bad install such as Linda had is that there may be TWO Folders for the program on the HD. The old and the new.

If this be the case the un-installers will not find both. It now requires MANUAL LABOR to clean things up. It not done then XP ( being the pain in the A** that it can be ) may try to run both. Or the wrong one.

Cleaning up after a bad install ( of anything ) may well be a tedious and time consumming thing. But is neccessary at times. In fact I have had some un-installers that did not even remove its' folder(s) on the HD. This is in both 98SE and XP.

1-Examining the folders on the HD for more than one refering to the specific software.
2-Deleting said folders.
3-Shutting down ( power down with about a 30sec wait before restarting ) Just restarting Windows may not fully clear RAM.
4-Running things like Norton WinDoctor and ( I use ) RegSeeker to clean up the Registry.
5-And once cleaned up Shut down & restart SR and let it make a new RP of the cleaned up system before going any further.

Yes. This be time consumming. But may also save time later.

BillyBob