AOL and ZoneAlarm

Here's the problem:

Problem #1 = I use AOL (for now)

Aside from that...

Out of the blue, for no apparent reason, ZoneAlarm blocks my access to AOL (even with it in the allowed progams list) in the time that my dial up is "Requesting Network Attention" (to those who use AOL or know what position in the login sequence that I'm speaking of), giving the following reasons (apparently):
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The firewall has blocked routed traffic from 172.*.*.* (UDP Port 1054) to 172.#.#.# (UDP Port 7427). [*.*.* = my IP] [#.#.# = my AOL Dialup Connection]

Occurred: 3 times between 12/31/01 9:21:50 PM and 12/31/01 9:21:52 PM
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I wonder why this happens suddenly, when months of previous access has had no problems...this is the second time in a year that this has happenend...

Any explanations would be appreciated, as I assume that there's not much that I can do about it, aside from uninstall and reinstall ZA, and switch ISPs and connection speeds:)

Ouroboros

Hmmm, I don't have AOL, or Zone Alarm. Well...I use Zone Alarm Pro. And I'm hoping you have the same options in my version than in yours.

But what I'm thinking, is that if you open up ZoneAlarm and click on the Programs section. Check if AOL is listed, and if it is, if it's allowing it access to the internet (which it should). Try that and see what happens.

Zone Alarm is a simplified version of Zone Alarm Pro, with fewer advancved options but the same basic layout. I use Zone Alarm Pro because I feel that I need the advanced configuration options it allows.

Anyway, check that your Internet Zone security level is on the same as it has been before (it may have been moved up to High, though that shouldn't make a difference). I don't know exactly what AOL login does, but if it uses obscure protocols or needs to receive an ICMP Ping message to confirm that its attention has been seen by the network maybe ZA is blocking the ICMP messages. It's probably not this, and if it is its probably not ICMP, but I chose that as an example because its one of the protocols that Zone Alarm blocks on Medium / High security levels.

Hmmm, I wouldn't really suggest this if the other possibilites work. But if they don't. Try turning OFF Zone Alarm, then turning it back ON when your done logging in. This usually seems to work.

Yep, it was Pings that ZA was refusing...found that out after downloading and running TPF and watching the logs during the handshake...

For now, I'll just shut ZA off and reload it after connection...seems to present no significant problems as of yet (as to why i don't just switch to Tiny...i like ZA's interface much better)...

Thanks for the ideas...

Ouroboros

Yeah I have both AOL and Zonealarm. The same thing happens to me but what I found out that when it usually happens is when you get those updates, you know when you try to shut down AOL but it says Please Wait installing updates, well that is what usually gets my Zone Alarm tied up. The updates somtimes changes the software and Zone Alarm picks it up on it's security settings and won't let it pass even if you have it set on Zone Alarms security settings. What I usually do is keep unistall Zone Alarm after a fresh reboot from the AOL udates and then run the ZA setup once again. When it's installing it will give you two choices one is to keep the old settings (don't do that) choose the other one. This way ZA will recognize the new software, and any other software that is trying to access the net.
That might help.

Another thing to try is erase any new programs that you put on before you ZA went screwy. Somtimes programs use other files and modify programs. Which might cause ZA to act screwy.

I used ZoneAlarm for a while until it started blocking my cable connection when I would start my computer up. It would just cause connection to hang and there was no way to get it back without rebooting it with ZoneAlarm off. I got tired of this activity so I switched to Tiny Firewall, and a hardware firewall solution. So far I have had no problems :)


El Diablo