Lose browser ( Firefox and IE) connection in Vista.

I have looked everywhere for an answer to this problem, maybe some kind person on this forum could help me please.

I have a 3month old Dell machine running Vista home premium, I assume with the latest service pack. My problem is that when I load up a browser ( I use Firefox, but this also happens in IE) I get pretty much exactly 10 minutes browsing before the browser refuses to connect to a website and is met with " Networked Timed Out ". During this time however, I can still send emails out (to myself which are received back), so I am assuming that the network is ok. (I'm on cable broadband) The only way that I can continue browsing is to restart my computer, ( many, many, many times now)

Now I have to say that I made a mistake by downloading ZoneAlarm, which I probably did not need. It is switched off, and I have tried uninstalling it just incase it was conflicting with the Windows Firewall, which is switched on. Does anyone know how to get past "TrueVector Service Has Stopped Working" when I try to uninstall ZoneAlarm??

I have also recently done a System Restore to a point 5 days earlier than current, because my machine locked up at the "LogOff Stage, and this cured that particulat problem. I'm not sure how I managed to get into SafeMode through F2 to do this. It was a fluke as I can't get F8 to work.

I never really wanted Vista but Dell would not sell me an Inspiron Desktop with XP loaded.

Help please, response from anyone.

Many thanks

Alan

 

Hi and welcome to the BBS,

http://forums.zonelabs.com/zonelabs/board/message?board.id=AllowAccess&message.id=103

Could Windows Firewall be running at the same time as Zonealarm? You should only run one firewall at a time.

If you have disabled User Account Control, I suggest you turn it back on. There is a workaround at www.helpwithwindows.com if you'd like to try it.

Matt

 

Hi Matt, thanks for the welcome and very quick reply.

Yes, that did it for me.

I have Windows Firewall running, and thought that ZoneAlarm was not running as I had tried to uninstall it earlier, and the ZoneAlarm icon had disappeared from the system tray. However, I found that it still appeared in the Programs listing on my machine. I tried to open the ZA control panel there but it would not, so I decided to click uninstall with the windows uninstall button. (I have never yet found out how to enter safe mode using F8)

At that stage I got a couple of responses, one being to ensure that all programs using TrueVector should be closed down. So I disconnected the PC from the Internet and closed down Windows firewall. Then clicked uninstall again. To my amazement it finished off uninstalling ZoneAlarm, and my PC is back to normal.

What confused me was the way that the problem I had was timed to pretty much exactly 10 minutes browsing before I got locked out.

Not sure if I should still be looking for any resident files that have not been deleted??and
can you give me a clue how I can enter SafeMode as I have no luck using F8 on my machine??

Thanks again Matt, I really do appreciate the help that you have given me here at BBS.

Alan

 

10 minutes had me boggled. Maybe two firewalls fighting over the connection?

Glad to see there is a good result.

Matt

 

Hi again Matt, wish I had never downloaded ZA now. Still having a problem.
Heeeeeeeeeeelp. :-(

After reporting to you that things were ok, I continued browsing the Internet looking for Christmas presents for a number of hours, and all was well...... At that stage I let a good number of Windows Updates through to the PC that I had held up whilst I tried to sort out the timing problems. I normally have the updates on auto install.......

But when I tried to connect to the Internet, just before closing for the night, it 'totally' refused to connect again (Network Timeout), although I was still able to use Mozilla Thunderbird to send and receve emails to myself through my ISP email account with no problem as I did before.

So I closed down and I restored back to the point where I still have some ZoneAlarm elements, and once again have the 'timing out' problem after about 8 minutes or so.

Question: I am running out of good start points in the restore program, what do I do if all good restore points disappear? I thought restore points went back further than those showing, are they in hiding somewhere?
Question: Any ideas? :-\ Could the Windows Updates have had any effect on the machine as it was running ok until that point?

Sorry to be a pain in the neck but I am losing patience with this now.

Thanks Matt

Alan

 

I find Zonealarm is quite good, but you need to learn how to run it. It will tell you what programs are connecting to the internet, but you need to investigate the program for it is OK or not. If you say, have automatic program updaters installed (eg. an antivirus updater) and they are set to start connecting when an internet connection is available, but you block them, they can go crazy and just keep battering against the firewall. If you want to keep it, investigate what programs might be getting blocked (some services might need internet access, so don't just block everything).

I don't think you've said that you have tried reinstalling it again. If you don't want it, after reinstalling it, boot into Safe Mode and try uninstalling it there. While it is installed, check that Windows Firewall is turned off.

Matt

 

Apart from the above, what are your settings for Windows Firewall?

Go to Control Panel -> Windows Firewall -> Change Settings -> Exceptions tab and let us know which programs are ticked.

I will transfer this thread to Networking.

Matt

 

Hi Matt, sorry for delay.....Christmas shopping getting in the way

Current situation of my PC:

Restored system back to being able to login and use PC.
windows Firewall enabled.
za firewall disabled.
Internet connection only good for about 8 minutes, then it disconnects, but still shows
as connected by the icon in the tools tray bottom of screen (isp email works fine during this)

If I uninstall za in safe mode (after disabling Windows Firewall) and rebooting, I am unable to connect to the internet at all.



Question please: What do I call, and where do I save the notepad to, when I create a list as instructed by the uninstall details listed for ZA as follows. Sorry but I don't understand this bit. Is it a self executing file of some kind?

................................................

REGEDIT4



[-HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\ZAMailSafe]



[-HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Zone Labs]



[-HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Zone Labs]



[-HKEY_USERS\.DEFAULT\Software\Zone Labs]

..............................................

Well they do say there are no silly questions........I hope you agree LOL

Once again I appreciate your time very much.

Alan

 

Yes, it's a self-executing file to make an edit in the registry.

So open Notepad, paste those lines in. Go to File -> Save As..., change 'Save as type' drop-down to All Files and in File Name call it zabegone.reg. Make a note of where it is saved (Documents or the Desktop).

After it is saved, find it (make sure it has the .reg extension and has not reverted to ".reg.txt "). Then you just need to double-click it. Reboot when the changes are complete.

Matt

 

Thanks again Matt.

I have followed the "Remove ZoneAlarm completely from your computer" to the letter, and could not connect to the Internet at all. I had to do a system restore, and am back to only a few minutes before I get timed out.

In fact, I did the whole thing twice (after restoring) but it did not work for me.


What I did:

I could not open ZA Control Panel as the option is not there.

I did a ZA uninstall (not in safemode) from windows uninstall as it is listed there.

Rebooted

Chose "show hidden folder/files "
These are the files/folders that I found and deleted:
Zonelabs; vsdata.dll; vsmon.*; vsmonapi.dll; vspubapi.dll; vsutil.dll
Deleted these from the Recycle Bin.

Rebooted

I created the zabegone.reg file, which I double clicked on, and the PC confirmed the registry change.

Rebooted

At this stage PC would not connect to the Internet at all. I did a system restore, and got back to getting a few minutes before I get timed out of the Internet again.

PC works OK, and the Thunderbird email works ok through my ISP account.

I am really enjoying this (not)

What am I missing Matt?




Alan

 

OK, you seem to have wiped ZA and stamped around on any remnants.

I followed your question and tried to help you remove it, but it doesn't seem to be to the cause of the problems (which I was sort of hinting).

What can you investigate?...

I would look at it as a firewall problem (don't rule out something else though [malware maybe?]).

Try turning off any firewalls temporarily and see if the connection drops out.

Could a third firewall be running? Do you run a "Security Suite" (antivirus, antispyware and firewall combined)?

Look in Start -> Networking and then go to the Network and Sharing Center. For me, these did not seem to work correctly when I first installed Vista, now they seems to work the way I want them to, maybe through Windows Updates. (A complaint about Vista was the way it runs networking.)

Do updates for your hardware drivers. You haven't mentioned wireless, so I expect you use Ethernet/LAN. Update drivers for your networking hardware. (Update your major drivers )

You have a bug there somewhere. If it is in the settings (like Network Discovery), change them, then change them back if they don't work.

One of my original guides was www.practicallynetworked.com.

Matt

 

Hello Tony, many thanks for responding. (sorry for delay)

May I wish you, Matt and all members a very happy New year from England.


Well I was hoping that my machine had healed itself while I was away from it for the festive season, but alas no.LOL

You are quite correct when you said that the browser fails to load a webpage. So just to set the scene of where I am with this problem (sorry if I'm repeating myself):

The PC loads Vista home premium well. Both Mozilla Thunderbird & Firefox load well and are fine for between 8 to 10 minutes, when any further request for another page from Firefox is met with a curser timer, followed by a white 'Network Timeout' page. However my Thunderbird email is still connected and proved by sending test emails to myself. (also I have an old Pentium machine running that does not give this problem) so the wired cable Ethernet is ok.

I am trying to get to grips with this problem having just moved away from an old Windows 98 machine as mentioned,that I use for emergencies only. The Dell machine was running ok until, maybe I, did something that it did not like. Although there seemed to be a lot of auto Windows updates being loaded whilst this was going on.

PC History (4 months old):
I believe that the first thing I did was install 'Spybot'.
The PC did have loaded, a trial version of Macaffee anti-virus. But I uninstalled this and installed free AVG 8.

I then installed free ZoneAlarm, but when I realised Vista had it's own firewall I uninstalled ZA, but I was not confident that it was completely uninstalled, hence my conversation with Matt and his kind help of a clean uninstall (failed).

I had a few problems with loging off and shutting down which may have been due to me being a novice with Vista.Thanks goodness for system restore.


Currently:
I am sure that there are still remnants of ZA on my system as it is still listed in the 'Programs and features' page of 'control panel'. It does not show up in 'Startup Programs'. Matt gave me details of how to do a complete clean uninstall of ZA, but my PC did not like it when I tried, and it refused to connect to the Intenet at all. So I did a system restore back.

I still have Spybot.
I still have AVG8.
I still have remnants of ZA.
I have noticed today that when I try to update 'Windows Defender' it starts searching and then replies with 'Security Center Can't update Definitions for Windows Defender'.


Questions:
1) Does any of the above give a clue what I should do next?
2) Where do I find the correct information to get defender updates working properly? It is showing as 'turned on but out of date'
3) Can you recommend a good (free if possible) malware program to check the PC first?




I hope I have not missed something important.

Many thanks again

Alan