Hi All
I have this odd problem that I have spent days tring to sort but alas to no avail, so I was hoping some lovely person might be able to help me!
I have trawled the net but can find nothing that is specific to my prob'.

I have been using Zonealarm's free firewall in conjunction with AVG anti virus for years with no problem from either and was happy bunny.
However, after a recent upgrade of zonealarm's firewall things have gone a little crazy.
When the computer is on a little box continually appears stating:
'Zonealarm Browser Security has encountered a problem and neds to close.'

This box has three buttons Debug, Send error report and don't send.
However, you can press any of the buttons with gay abandon and all that happens is the little box goes away for about ten seconds, then it's back. Zonealarm doesn't close at any point. However, my machine grinds away and becomes VERY slow.
If you don't press any of the buttons the box just sits there at the front of the screen and blocks one's view of what ever you are doing! but the machine works perfectly and doesn't run slow or anything.
This doesn't just happen when I am on line it happens all the time the computer is on.
I have uninstalled Zonealarm and reistalled it four times but always the same. In fact the little box appears during the zonealarm intallation.
I have tryed zonealarm's online chat but they are fairly reluctant to help as I am using the free version.
Zonealarm now has antivirus aswell as the firewall but as I have been ok for years with AVG I am reluctant to uninstall it and just rely on an untried Zonealarm.
I have run Malwarebytes but that said my system was free from infection.
I have turned off AVG but that did nothing.
I have uninstalled the zonealarm tool bar but that did nothing.
All articles on the web say zonealarm and AVG should run togethor happily (which they used to).

Any help would be mucho appreciated as I hate being outsmarted by a machine!
Oh I am running on xp pro.

What version of Windows?

sorry...it's 5.1

Originally Posted by Burnsie

sorry...it's 5.1

Otherwise known as Windows XP?

yes
I do say that at the very bottom of my post

So you did. Doh!!


Are you running any torrent clients?

Are you using a modem or a router, because with a NAT router, software firewalls become redundant as you can close all ports on the router and only open the ones you trust traffic to or you can route the common attack ports to an IP that does not exist on your network.

hi
i am not running any torrent clients
I use a netgear modem /router.
everything was fine until I updated zonealarm. i have done much searching the web for answers and there doesn't appear to be a flood of people saying there is a problem with the zonealarm update or a conflict with AVG. I only updated the firewall anyway not the firewall and anti virus. i have unistalled and reinstalled zonealarm four times but is always does the same thing. That's why i thought is was a problem with my machine not zonealarm. As I have run both for years with no probs I was keen to keep it the same. I could bin the AVG and try Zonealarm on its own I just didn't want too!

just a quick update
I followed the lengthy and detailed zonealarm removal guide I found here:

http://forums.zonealarm.com/showthread.php?t=69598

Then I reinstalled and hey presto...no change.
The little box keeps appearing and slows my machine to a crawl
Ho hum

Just turn off zone alarm. I have been running with NO software firewall on any machine for at least TEN years AND using a fixed IP for the last three years.

I have finally solved this so a quick post incase anyone else encounters the same problem.
I came across a tiny footnote at the bottom of some post or other somewhere on the web that mentioned a problem running Zonealarm in conjunction with Tor. I uninstalled Tor and..ta Dah everything worked perfectly.
You live and learn!!

Wouldn't opening ports 9050 & 9051 for TCP & UDP, to allow Tor through the firewall have done the same thing?

And if you are not running a local webserver and/or you are running Skype on alternative ports, you can set Tor to use 80 & 443 instead.