* Added Microsoft Security Center support
* Added support for Microsoft SP2
* Added anti-phishing protection for PayPal users
* Fixed Internet Explorer browsing issues
* Fixed IIS FTP Server issues
* Fixed Visual Studio2002/2003 with IIS issues
* Fixed AOL Browser issues
* Fixed check for update issues (proxy configuration detection)
* Fixed issues with checkdisk
* Fixed more system stability issues
* Routine maintenance items

ZAFree: http://www.zonelabs.com/store/content/company/products/znalm/freeDownload.jsp

ZoneAlarm with Antivirus: http://download.zonelabs.com/bin/updates/zaav/zaav51011AEN1025.html

ZAPro: http://download.zonelabs.com/bin/updates/zap/zap51011AEN1025.html

ZoneAlarm Security Suite: http://download.zonelabs.com/bin/updates/zass/zass51011AEN1025.html

Marti,

Hi, Thanks for the notice of the ZA Update.

Any feedback on it though. upgrading to ZA 5 ( with NAV 2003 ) was a major disaster. Fortunately I was able to go back to the previous version.

As a consequence of the ZA 5 farce I'm now very reluctant to consider almost any upgrades until they have been tested by numerous users.

How ZA 5 ever got past Beta testing is one of the mysteries of the universe.

Ceri

Hi Ceri,

So far, I haven't found any positive nor negative feedback on the upgrade (in four different forum sites).

Marti,

Many thanks for the reply.

After ZA 5 and the mess it produced, I shall keep a close eye on things. I will probably download it but hold off on the upgrade.

System Restore and Ghost will need to be used before I risk, which is a sad way to have to put it, an upgrade.

Ceri

Thank you for the release info and the links , Marti. I've downloaded the setup files but will wait at least a few days before installing.

Thanks Marti. I've been watching the ZA forums as I had problems with the first release of version 5 like a lot of people and had to go back to 4.5.594. I still have some residual problems after falling back so I decided to wait until they did some major work before upgrading again. I hope they got it right this time but like others I will hold off until I see how other users do.

Jazzgirl

Thanks Marti :-)
Downloaded and saved :clap: and waiting for Shelly :evilgrin: ;-) nudge nudge }(

Update: Okay, I bit and downloaded it. So far so good. Actually this is the first time in a while that my system has felt this stable. Even though I downgraded back to 4.5.594 from the first 5.0 I still had a couple of BSOD's which is rare but didn't happen until I upgraded to 5.0. Also, I had occasional problems with pages not displaying properly that should. I could switch over to my other computer and get a page successfully but would suddenly have trouble on this one. Anyway, if I have any problems I'll post 'em!

Jazzgirl ;-)

Marti,I've just updated my 10th unit,nothing has blown up yet.:clap: :clap: :clap: :lol: :lol:

Feedback so far:

From Wilders: ZA still doesn't rememember last tab visited (a piddly problem, in my opinion).

Also from Wilders: Google tool bar "still doesn't remember search preferences" (am trying to get more info on that one and what it has to do with ZA).

From BBR/DSLR: Everything is fantastic or they are waiting for a few days.

I don't know what's going on in the Zone Labs forum, it was fairly quiet earlier. One thing you guys have to remember is that many folks that post the Zone Labs forum are not experienced computer users. (Compared to this forum, Wilders, and BBR/DSLR.)

Marti , on my desktop computer I'll update from ZAplus to ZApro . Will it take my product key for registration , or will there be a problem ? TY :-)
BTW , I uninstalled clean , and installed 5.1

>Marti , on my desktop computer I'll update from ZAplus to
>ZApro . Will it take my product key for registration , or will
>there be a problem ? TY :-)

Hi Jane,

Should work (worked for me). If you have a problem, please let me know.

Thank you :D

Just installed ZAP (clean install) on first system with XP Home. No more IE problems and Diskeeper ran a boot time defrag with chkdsk without a hitch.

Looks really good so far.

Tomorrow the office then the laptops.

Paul

Just installed my desktop . Tried the email and few browsers , so far so good .keep my fingers crossed , for the next week probably :evilgrin: :lol: :lol:
If all goes well , my laptop is next ! }(
Diskeeper runs OK :clap:

thx i,ll wait a few days. or more. :-)

Thanks, marti....I installed ZAP without a hitch and NAV is scanning my emails.

Jane,

I am guessing that your ZAPlus key worked with ZAPro??

Yes ma'am :clap: :D

>Yes ma'am :clap: :D

Thanks Jane.

I'm sooo brave :P :D
It's already running on my laptop too :clap: Scanning my email and with a bit of luck , this will turn out to be as good a version as 4.5.459 was (will have that installer bronzed :lol: ) .

Hi

I am also waiting for Shelly's comments on the update
Regards
Chari

I think it's safe for you to try , Chari ;-) :D

Ok Will Try and revert
Thanks
Chari
P.S.Installed.So far no problem.Inward and outward virus checking(NAV 2002) is OK.Earlier had problem in inward email checking.

>Hi
>
>I am also waiting for Shelly's comments on the update
>Regards
>Chari

Marti's advice is good enough for me on this one ... Shelly will no doubt back that comment up. :7

Thank you for keeping us all informed on the situation Marti. :*

Thanks Marti, Installed and up and running. So far so good. I did create a System Restore date just in case. ;)

Thanks. Installed and appears to be working fine with Win98se, IE6 SP1 and NAV 2003 but then it was also OK with the previous version.

Okay Marti, I haven't had one single problem. Like I said in an earlier post I was having a few problems even after going back to 4.5. Everything is still going on just fine. It doesn't remember the last tab visited but at least my system doesn't crash.

Jazzgirl :clap:

I installed with no problems ZA free Version will now install on my laptop

Thanks Marti, installed it earlier today (ZA Free, XP Home) as an upgrade and everything's still running smoothly. :-)

Just did three at the office and all is well with Diskeeper and Chkdsk. Nav 2004 is working with email scanning as well as AV update.

Paul

Actually, it is not finishing any downloads when I use Opera, just like 5.0 did.
Using 4.5 I got the ZAP download file using Opera. I installed it then couldn't get any more downloads. Opened IE, and that browser worked.
Went back to Opera and tried to get the same ZAP download I got when I used ZAP 4.5 and it wouldn't finish.

I installed it and both Mozilla and IE seem faster.
No isthues so far.
Thanks Marti!

Crockett,

This sounds like a browser issue, not a Zone Alarm problem.

>Crockett,
>
>This sounds like a browser issue, not a Zone Alarm problem.

Then how come minutes before this installation I was able to download complete files and as soon as I installed ZAP, and restarted the browser, it didn't?
...and how come it did the same thing when I went from 4.5 to 5.0, but as soon as I reverted back to 4.5 everything worked again?

>>Crockett,
>>
>>This sounds like a browser issue, not a Zone Alarm
>problem.
>
>Then how come minutes before this installation I was able to
>download complete files and as soon as I installed ZAP, and
>restarted the browser, it didn't?
>...and how come it did the same thing when I went from 4.5 to
>5.0, but as soon as I reverted back to 4.5 everything worked
>again?

I don't know what's going on. This is the first report I recall reading on an Opera/ZA conflict. Sounds like you don't have the permissions for Opera properly configured.

I was going to uninstall through Add/Remove but it told me that if I was just updating, to install over top, which I did. It kept my program settings intact, including those for Opera.
Opera is allowed Internet Access in ZAP

I tried using the ad version of Opera 7.53 with ZA 5.1. I then tried downloading the Opera 7.53 install file with Opera. It downloaded fine.

- Jeff

>I was going to uninstall through Add/Remove but it told me
>that if I was just updating, to install over top, which I did.
>It kept my program settings intact, including those for
>Opera.
>Opera is allowed Internet Access in ZAP

Something is causing the conflict. I have contacted Zone Labs about your problem. Since you updated from 4.5 to 5.0, and the went back to 4.5, and now updated to 5.1, I'm wondering if a clean install of ZAP would help this problem.

Let me know what you want to do...

I'm back and there is no change. Iwent to the first page of this thread and tried to download one of the ZA files you posted and the download stopped at 62KB downloaded. I had to press "stop the download", then restart the download for it to work.
Also, I normally start Opera with 6 tabs opened. One of them is continuously loading the page with nothing showing, yet at the same time I opened I.E. and loaded that same page no problem.
...and it's not just one site as it's happened with 3 of the 6 at one time or another.

I'm going to do a clean uninstall/install of 4.5 now to see what changes.

Thanks. I had turned off the auto check for update feature in ZA because it was such a bother on dial-up.

Marti - thanks for the notes on ZA5.1, most of which seem to be about correcting problems, though a glance at the ZoneAlarm forum sugests that there may still be some unsolved.

After a disastrous day trying out Kerio which proceeded to block my access to almost everything including its own uninstallation (OK - I probably went wrong somewhere!) I managed to get back to ZA4.5 Pro with another year's subscription paid for.

I'm very happy as I am, but my question after all this preamble is - does ZA5.1 provide any more protection to my computer than ZA4.5?

Thanks as always in advance

Ronald,

Yes, but I don't have any documentation.

On the "ZA doesn't remember last tab after a reboot" issue, I have some feedback from Zone Labs:

That is NOT a bug, it is AS DESIGNED. Now that it is a central area
for many security products, after a restart of ZA or the computer it
will always open to that main section, so users can see at a glance if
anything is wrong or out of date! During a ZA session it DOES remember
last tabs.

>That is NOT a bug, it is AS DESIGNED.



This option is very misleading and useless - unless you never reboot. It's located in the Overview section on the Preferences tab in Options.


Jim.

Jim,

You are correct. I will point that out to my contacts at Zone Lab.

I took the plunge with installing 5.1 after not installing 5.0 because of all the problems. I can't seem to find any problems so far. Everything is working at this point. NAV is scanning incoming and outgoing email. All seems well. I did the upgrade from 4.5.594.

- Jeff

Thanks for all of the positive and negative feedback that has been posted. I have contacted Zone Labs to report the "remember last tab visited" option (needs to be reworded) and the Opera download problem.

As a Team Z member, I have direct contact with Zone Labs and, as most of you know, I will do what I can to get your problems resolved.

On clean install -- If you feel you should do the "uninstall/reinstall" dance instead of using the "upgrade" method, a Team Z member has a nice illustrated guide: http://don.hoover.net/index.html. He uses frames, and doesn't have his site indexed; look on the left-hand side for "Performing a Clean Uninstall/Reinstall." (Let me know if you need clarification on any of Don's steps.)

>Thanks for all of the positive and negative feedback that has
>been posted. I have contacted Zone Labs to report the
>"remember last tab visited" option (needs to be reworded) and
>the Opera download problem.
>
>As a Team Z member, I have direct contact with Zone Labs and,
>as most of you know, I will do what I can to get your problems
>resolved.
>
>On clean install -- If you feel you should do the
>"uninstall/reinstall" dance instead of using the
>"upgrade" method, a Team Z member has a nice illustrated
>guide: http://don.hoover.net/index.html. He uses frames, and
>doesn't have his site indexed; look on the left-hand side for
>"Performing a Clean Uninstall/Reinstall." (Let me know if you
>need clarification on any of Don's steps.)

Thanks for your help, marti.
I'm going to try a clean install...I'll let you know.

>>Thanks for all of the positive and negative feedback that
>has
>>been posted. I have contacted Zone Labs to report the
>>"remember last tab visited" option (needs to be reworded)
>and
>>the Opera download problem.
>>
>>As a Team Z member, I have direct contact with Zone Labs
>and,
>>as most of you know, I will do what I can to get your
>problems
>>resolved.
>>
>>On clean install -- If you feel you should do the
>>"uninstall/reinstall" dance instead of using the
>>"upgrade" method, a Team Z member has a nice illustrated
>>guide: http://don.hoover.net/index.html. He uses frames,
>and
>>doesn't have his site indexed; look on the left-hand side
>for
>>"Performing a Clean Uninstall/Reinstall." (Let me know if
>you
>>need clarification on any of Don's steps.)
>
>Thanks for your help, marti.
>I'm going to try a clean install...I'll let you know.
>

Crockett,

I have direct contact with Zone Labs, (yes, it's the weekend, but I can get help). Do let me know if you are still having problems, please.

As far as I have seen, the only difference between a clean and upgrade install is that an upgrade retains (some of) your existing settings.

In any case, the ZoneAlarm install directory & /windows/system32/zonelabs/ directory are wiped out & recreated (in total), even with an ugrade.

(Well maybe there is a bit more too it then that?)


"Remember the last tab visited"

I would think most? people would be interested in the programs that have or tried to access the network. And most do not care about having "a central area for many security products". They simply want a firewall & want to see what has been knocking at its' door.

>As far as I have seen, the only difference between a clean
>and upgrade install is that an upgrade retains (some of) your
>existing settings.
>
>In any case, the ZoneAlarm install directory &
>/windows/system32/zonelabs/ directory are wiped out &
>recreated (in total), even with an ugrade.
>
>(Well maybe there is a bit more too it then that?)
>
>
>"Remember the last tab visited"
>
>I would think most? people would be interested in the
>programs that have or tried to access the network. And most
>do not care about having "a central area for many security
>products". They simply want a firewall & want to see what has
>been knocking at its' door.

I will try to respond to your comments, and thanks for taking the time to make them.

I use the purchased versions of Zone Alarm, that do have the backup/reload settings option. Those that have been using ZAFree for years, can do the "screen shot" method of documenting settings (which those of that did pay for the program had to do until Zone Labs finally released a version that allowed "settings backup.") A true clean install will not retain any settings.

I keep my logs turned off, 99% of the time, as I don't need to see who tried to get in but didn't. I can easily see if someone is trying to get out, as ZA does that popup alert thing when a new program is trying to access the internet.

The central area refers to the many new programs that Zone Labs is offering, such as the Zone Alarm Security Suite.

I don't get paid to be a Team Z member, so my "magic" is limited. Zone Labs may or may not change the wording on the "remember last tab visited" option to tell you that a reboot will put you in a different area of the GUI.

However, I do have some "magic" in that I can provide direct feedback to ZL management. That's why I posted the comment thanking everyone for the feedback.

My brothers' computer always ends up with malware.

One of the first things I do is to look at his ZA Programs list.

I find it a quick & easy way to find tell tail signs of malware.
And further, from there I can see if it actually got out or if it is just a local problem - ie: whether he gave the program access or not.

I installed Zone Alarm Pro 5.1.011 as an update over version 4.5. So far everything, including NAV, is performing normally as far as I can tell. I will report if I find any problems, but I'm fairly confident that they have corrected the previous issues.

Ditto, Shelly. I followed the same procedure as you earlier tonight (updating over existing) with no problems whatsoever. Other than the minor nuisance of the "Remember Tabs" only being active per session I have no complaints.

I'm back with a clean install of 4.5 and everything is back to normal. I can now download complete files without trying multiple times.



All my tabs are rendering their pages properly also.

The proof is showing that ZA and Opera are showing conflicts of some sort.
I do know my ZAP settings have not changed at all as I saved and backed up my security settings each time, then imported them back.

Crockett,

Send me an email, so we can continue this discussion. I need more information from you, so I can contact Zone Labs so I can try to resolve this conflict.

Hang in there with me, so we can solve this perplexing problem.

Hi Marti,
Just another response FYI. I waited through the previous problems and finally took the plunge today and installed ZA 5.1 (free). I have had to roll back to my previous installation. I had no problems with the initial upgrade and everything looked OK. I immediately checked for problems with my Norton NIS 2003 and found it unchanged but once I tried to sign in to MSN Messenger or retrieve mail from my Hotmail accounts or Yahoo Mail I had problems. Further issues arose with failure to load Web pages in both IE6 and Firefox. I got many "Page Cannot Be Displayed" and "No Data" messages when clicking on bookmarks and failure to load web pages when typing into the address bar. Disabling ZA immediately fixed the problems so I double checked the permissions and found every program in my list was ticked appropriately.
My system is a P4 2.8Ghz/512MB RAM/ 80GB HDD/ XPHome/ NIS2003/ Browsers are IE6 and Firefox. No known problems.
I have used GoBack and rolled back to ZA4.5.594.000 and everything is back to performing well again. Shame because I love Zone Alarm but will have to look around again if I am unable to upgrade successfully.

Thanks for all your efforts and input for our benefit. It is really much appreciated.


Elcee.

I had no problems with my Yahoo UK Mail account after installing free ZA.

I'm not sure if it is ethical to quote another forum, but this is from one of the gurus on the ZA forum:
"I am very unhappy that ZL have released, yet again, a disaster... I guess I (and others) are tired of the whole situation.... My advice, for anyone who reads this, is stick with 4.5... don't upgrade."

(In case this has to be deleted it is a quote from one of the ZA gurus advising us not to upgrade to ZA5.1)

I have used Zone Alarm almost from the time I started with computers, and up to v,4.5 have been entirely happy with it, as have all my acquaintancies. The only thing that has changed (apart from the takeover which should have no effect on the product) is that various new features have been added which actually have little to do with an efficient firewall.

My very strong feeling is that ZA was a world-beater as long as it stuck to doing one job - being a good firewall. All the problems seem to have come since it started "multi-tasking". I am sure that if the PYB (powers-that-be) could be persuaded to bring out ZA5.2 or any other number which will only do what ZA4.5 is doing now all would be well

So why does the ZA Guru feel it's a "disaster"? The new release seems to be doing the same fine job it's always done, except for the previous 5.x version.

Jim.

Ronald,

I don't know the "guru" (Paul) that made that statement (he's new to that position). However, his comments do not reflect the real world. I started a ZA 5.1 release thread in three forums, and so far, there have only been a couple of serious problems reported.

As I said above, many of the people that post to the official Zone Labs forum are very inexperienced computer users. Therefore, they seem to have more problems than the rest of us.

Thanks Marti for putting it in perspective.

>I waited through the previous
>problems and finally took the plunge today and installed ZA
>5.1 (free). I have had to roll back to my previous
>installation. I had no problems with the initial upgrade and
>everything looked OK. I immediately checked for problems with
>my Norton NIS 2003 and found it unchanged but once I tried to
>sign in to MSN Messenger or retrieve mail from my Hotmail
>accounts or Yahoo Mail I had problems.

I think that is the problem right there. You are using two firewalls (ZA and NIS). That normally isn't a good idea. I bet they are conflicting with each other.

- Jeff

Thanks for your comment. Yes, I realise that using two firewalls could produce conflict. I prefer Zone Alarm to the Norton firewall included in the Security Suite and have grown to trust it through several upgrades. Since cannot seem to get ZA5.1 to work in the perfect way that ZA4.5 did (no matter how I try) so it is either stay with 4.5 version or revert to the Norton firewall.

Perhaps I should try again with a clean install.

Elcee

Thanks, Marti...just installed ZA5.1 - all is well.

I installed mine last night. So far it is working fine. Thanks!

Since updating on my Dad's computer, his Windows update no longer works.

Hi Marti. Thanks for all your input on this Zone Alarm kefurffle since the release of v5.x. I installed the original v5x with no problems encountered. I reverted back to v4.5xx only because everybody was bitxxing about the release and didn't want any problems. I upgraded to 5.1 since announcing it on this site and am pleased to say, no problems. I went from 4.5xx free to 5.1 pro because I have been using ZA since my first computer years ago. I am a happy Zl user and probably will continue on with them for the foreseeable future. :clap: :clap:

>Since updating on my Dad's computer, his Windows update no
>longer works.

Details? What OS? What ZA product? etc.

Well i took the plunge and instald it. i never did the last one due to all the problems. it seems to be working. except ud agents running and no icon in task bar. see how it goes after next reboot.

Windows ME PIII - 1 GHZ
ZoneAlarm Pro True vector/driver version 5.1.011.000

>Windows ME PIII - 1 GHZ
>ZoneAlarm Pro True vector/driver version 5.1.011.000

If you didn't do a clean install, do so: http://don.hoover.net/uninstall.html

I have now been running long enough with Zone Alarm 5.1.011 to conclude that it has caused no problems of any kind on my computer. I will install it on my machine at work on Monday.

If it behaves the way it does , since install , I'm tickled pink :clap: :D
One thing I've noticed , a bit annoying , is the Blocked intrusions & Inbound protection showing the same # of access blocked. The old ZA would show daily access blocked , in the Inbound protection . :rolleyes: ???