ZoneAlarm is blocking my firefox

Vintage86

Hello, Zonealarm seems to be blocking my firefox from going online. Is there a way i could manually reopen the port i closed or zonealarm closed. I'm currentl using the free editon.

p.s I hate firewalls!

mtrox

I would guess that ZA isn't really blocking Firefox, but it commonly (dumb decision by ZA) blocks your DNS access. To test, just plug Google's IP address into Firefox. No www stuff, no http or anything else, just type 64.233.167.99 into the browser. If you get to Google, you just have a DNS problem. I haven't used ZA for a while but know there is a setting somewhere that, if unchecked, disallows access to DNS servers. Check those boxes and you can get to Google by its URL, not just by it's address.

Vintage86

I think it's really blocking firefox from the internet because when i turn it on, firefox doesn't work and i turn it off it works. The internet still works because I could still use trillian it just block firefox even though it's allow to be connected. My laptop is right next to me and doesn't have zonealarm and firefox works flawlessly.

Do you have any recommendation on firewalls preferably free?

mtrox

Vintage,

Since you also mention a laptop so I'm thinking this is a desktop that always sits in one place behind a router? If so, the router is a pretty good firewall in that it turns a public IP into private, unroutable IP's. Contrary to what the scare tactic marketers from Norton/McAfee et. al. would have you believe, if you're behind a router the Windows firewall is fine. If you're on a laptop connecting all over town....not so much.

And, I don't really know a good free firewall that doesn't require more networking knowlege than the average user has. I use Comodo and it works fine....after a few days of serious tweaking, and a couple months of occasional fine tuning. It's more configurable than ZA, but less user friendly in some ways.

I've never used Trillian so don't know why it works. I'm still not convinced you don't just have the well-known ZA-blocks-DNS problem. Did you plug the IP into your browser like I suggested? Does IE work? If you go to advanced firewall settings in ZA is there a box that says, "allow outgoing DNS/DHCP into the Internet zone"? Check that box.

mmonnin

Jeez...open up ZA. Somewhere in the program (havent used it in awhile) there is a list of programs ZA allows/disallows access to the internet. Should be 3 settings...Always Allow, Ask and Deny or something similar. It is probably set to Deny.

Your-Amish-Daddy

I don't even understand the charge to run software firewalls. I'm sure they're in place for people who don't breathe TCP, but the user should be more aware of what's going on. As stated by Mtrox, if you're behind a router, you don't need a software firewall, and in alot of cases they don't really stop all that much. If someone is determined to get into your network, they will since you use wireless.

NYCDrew

What it also could be is if you're using a router and use a static IP and DNS for the router, sometimes I think your ISP changes it's DNS server addresses. If Trillian doesn't use DNS servers, then it would still work, but IE and Firefox wouldn't.

Try this, go into properties, uncheck the manual IP and DNS settings, reboot, write down what DNS servers are listed. Then go back to manual and type in the new DNS servers and everything should work again.

pogosrule

mmonnin wrote:

Jeez...open up ZA. Somewhere in the program (havent used it in awhile) there is a list of programs ZA allows/disallows access to the internet. Should be 3 settings...Always Allow, Ask and Deny or something similar. It is probably set to Deny.

I'm charmed by your condescending reply. I'm having the same problem on my laptop, and was looking for help/others in the same predicament. ZL isn't set to deny Firefox. Even if it was, have a bit more respect for other people.

You are the epitamy of "the I.T. geek" from The Office. I've gone to the trouble of opening an account with this site just to tell you one thing - don't have kids. Ever.

Thrax

I think you might be misinterpreting the "Jeez," as condescension, rather than an exclamation of exasperation at firewalls always screwing up in this fashion. Either way, I would kindly request that you do not sign up to troll people, because fighting fire with fire just makes the fire bigger.

If you'd like to stick around, we'd love to see you do so -- having new members is great, but I ask that you look at both sides of a statement before going to town on the jump to conclusions mat.