dbminter

Strange. Part of my reply never made it to the post! I had put something after the quoted link about keeping it in mind to try and fix Alcohol if I use Comodo. I wonder where it went.

I prefer Alcohol because of the file types it supports and that it adds context menu entries to mount images. No fussy GUI to go through just to mount a simple image file. Well, I say it adds the context menu entries. Those entries sometimes disappear and won't return until you reboot. I'll give it another go. I'm not infalable. I could have made a mistake. It's no biggie to backup my system with a differential backup, uninstall ZoneAlarm, install Comodo, and test it. As for the apps I used to test access: Eudora, WinAmp, Firefox, and WinDVD.

Discovered a couple more reasons not to use Comodo. You can't just install an AV software. You have to install the suite which includes a firewall. It can be installed along side of ZoneAlarm, but, you CAN'T uninstall ZA if you need to with Comodo installed. Plus, with Comodo installed, Alcohol 52% stops working. It won't load the drivers necessary for virtual drive emulation. Now, ZA 10 does the same thing, which can be fixed by disabling the ZoneAlarm Service. So, I'd guess you can do something similar with Comodo, but, I don't know what service that would be to disable.

Well, that doesn't work either. Uninstalling ZoneAlarm and attempting to reinstall it fails because it kills all Internet connections! Wow, is ZA 10 really fucked up! The only solution to this problem: don't use ZA 10! Wait for ZA 11!

Well, now there's a new workaround. Uninstall Firefox as stated before, uninstall ZoneAlarm 10, reinstall FF, reinstall ZA 10, and restore profile data backed up before uninstallation of FF. One SHOULDN'T have to jump through such hoops, so my statement about CheckPoint being fuckers is still valid.

I fucking KNEW this work around would fail on the next update of Firefox! Stupid CheckPoint fuckers!

I think, though, I've found a workaround. First, copy the folder found at C:\Users\<Account Name>\AppData\Roaming\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles to an alternate location. Next, uninstall Firefox with the option to delete the user profile data. Then, delete the profile folder you just copied from C:\Users\<Account Name>\AppData\Roaming\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles. Then, install FF and test that it runs. Then, restore the folder you copied from C:\Users\<Account Name>\AppData\Roaming\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles to C:\Users\<Account Name>\AppData\Roaming\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles and choose to replace all files and folders contents. Lastly, test that FF still runs, and, it should.

Turns out my solution was only temporary. On the next attempt to update Firefox, the problem returned. So, the problem lies entirely with ZoneAlarm 10, as ZA 9 does not have this issue.

Sorry, but, I still don't trust Comodo. I installed the Internet Security Suite and even with the Defense level set at Custom Policy, the firewall never once asked me if it should block connections trying to access the Internet. I tested 3 applications that I know try to access the Internet, 2 that I normally allow and 1 I don't. All 3 went through without ever prompting me to ask if they should. They may be applications on a trusted list, but, I don't want trusted lists pre-installed by any firewall software. I want to set my own settings. ZoneAlarm 9 does ask me if these connections should be allowed. That's what I want and like. I'm not that interested in its ability to block incoming connections. Mostly, I'm concerned with blocking some applications that I don't want accessing the Internet.

I still want to try out Comodo Internet Security Suite. I haven't yet because I got side tracked by another project that demanded my attention for some time. As part of my instructions for a new computer, I take periodic disk images of the Windows drive so I restore at different points to test things or if I need to restore back that far. I hadn't backed up those backups to DVD's yet. It's been about 7 months and I let it linger too long. One of the backups that had verified back around 07-11-2011 no longer verified anymore, so, it was useless and not backed up. Thankfully, it looks like I'll only lost the one backup near the beginning. Not as bad a loss as I experienced with True Image v11 and defragging the drive. When defragged, the image files from that software would become useless. They would not complete verifies anymore like they had and were probably useless to try and restore from, though I never tested. I had the backups on DVD's, though, so, I just copied them back over from the DVD's to the USB HD.

In a way, I kind of wonder why I'm bothering about future Windows versions. I doubt I'll be getting and using Windows 8. It's made up too much like a tablet, too much with touchscreens in mind, and they're taking out the Start button. How else are apps going to be executed in Windows 8 without a centralized location for shortcuts? Plus, Windows 8 would be following the Star Trek movie curse, where every alternate versions stinks. Vista stank. Windows 7 was great. So, Windows 8? It's already starting out on bad footing and I doubt it will get anywhere near a usable Windows.

Have you tried their Internet Security application? I'm also looking to replace my antivirus since I'd be dumping ZoneAlarm Internet Security Suite.

I did see that Custom Policy when I was testing it out, but, I didn't think it would do as you said it would. I may give Comodo a 2nd throw and see.

I came across Agnitum in my Google for the search terms free firewall. I'll give it a throw whenever.

I tried the Comodo Firewall but I wasn't entirely sure I could trust it. I have some applications that I desire them not having access to the Internet. I opened some of these with Comodo running and didn't get a prompt asking me if I wanted them to access the net or not. So, I'll stick with ZA 9 until I can sticks no more.

I primary said what I did about wanting to keep an up to date firewall is from my experience with ZoneAlarm. Depending on the ages of the version of ZA and Windows, you may get a firewall with Windows that at best doesn't work and at worst causes Windows not to boot. For instance, though it was only a beta, Windows 8 did not boot with ZA 9 installed.

Does anyone have any firewall recommendations to replace ZoneAlarm? I've been playing with ZA 10's releases for the past several months and they just get worse and worse. ZoneAlarm 9 was the last working version, but, it's kind of old now and a firewall is a kind of application you'd want to keep up to date. So, any suggestions? Basically, I'm just looking for a 2 way firewall that will ask me if I want to allow an application's request to access the Internet, allow global denial or access, etc. Basically, just like ZoneAlarm does. Thanks!

Disregard this as I went for a USB LiteOn drive that worked fine.

I discovered what was causing this. A bizarre conflict between disk images made with Macrium Reflect 4, restored with Macrium Reflect 5, Firefox, and ZoneAlarm 10. I discovered if you had an image by Version 4 and restored it with Version 5, the Firefox issue mentioned with ZA 10 occurred. If you made the image with Version 5 of MR and restored it with Version 5 of MR, then Firefox and ZA 10 behaved just fine. What a weird issue!

I got one of these. Apparently one of the last ones left at NewEgg.com as it is now out of stock. I can verify that on the Dell XPS 8300 PC, this drive does not have the semaphore time out issue. The strange thing about it is this drive is also LightScribe capable. My 3 year old SATA LiteOn that was also LightScribe capable does print text as darkly on it as this new USB LiteOn drive does. I wonder why that is.

I discovered what was causing this. It was uninstalling a past version of Windows 7 Manager from Add/Remove Programs. For whatever reason, it's an installer that every time a new installer is run for new updates, it adds the same Add/Remove entry each time, resulting in multiple entries. Some older versions, though, need to be manually uninstalled before installing new updates to Windows 7 Manager, so, it's a catch 22.

PS3's are cheap pieces of junk! The first one I tried to play my first 2 Blu-Ray discs on failed to play them properly. So, I sent it in for servicing since it was under warranty and they replaced my PS3 with a different one. I tested Blu-Rays and they played properly now. BUT, my first time using a Verbatim MKM Lightscribe 16x DVD-R caused the problem to return! The PS3 made the same loud grinding noise that happened before I tried to play a Blu-Ray. It was my first attempt to use these good quality discs in this replacement PS3. The non-slim PS2 handled these discs just fine; the top loading PS2 did NOT! So, Sony just makes cheap pieces of junk. I will no longer get a Sony product. Except Optiarc, I guess, although my last Optiarc failed just under a year in, so, I may change my mind on Optiarcs, too.

I also lucked out as far as getting a new digital camera went. I found one of Wal-Mart's Sanyo brands on sale. Was regularly $79.99 on sale at $69.99 with a further $10 reduction on another sale. So, with the memory card I had to get for it, I only paid just under $74 for it. Now, I've used Sanyo VCR's in the past and they're not top of the line products. But, it worked well enough for my needs.

I also lucked out for my dinner yesterday. I got a birthday coupon from Captain D's for a free 2 piece fish dinner! All my meal cost me was $1.06 for the drink!

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