ZoneAlarm problem

[ai]

Ok, so I've been searching these forums cause kojn, morf and fisume or some of them says there should be a thread about this. I get lag spikes when I play and they say it's a ZoneAlarm problem. Now if you could point me to the correct thread or recommend some other nice firewall I would be happy.
This just suddenly started to happen like a week or so ago. Been running ZoneAlarm for many months, why does it start to act up like this all of a sudden? I'm too paranoid to just shut it off while I play cause I want some protection obviously. (Morfar loves to turn his firewalls off, but that's just not me)

[Ed]

How are you accessing the Interweb? If you have a router, does it have a built in firewall? If not, routers with firewalls aren't too expensive. That would be your best bet.

[Daedalus]

have you installed one of the latest windows patches due to the dns-security flaw ? have a look here:
http://download.zonealarm.com/bin/free/pressReleases/2008/LossOfInternetAccessIssue.html

[Urmel]

Dearest ai, those software firewalls don't give you real security anyway. Generally they cause you much more problems than prevent you from having some.

[ai]

Dearest ai, those software firewalls don't give you real security anyway. Generally they cause you much more problems than prevent you from having some.

Don't say that you bafoon, these firewalls is my main protection
No, I never install or download any windows updates as THEY cause more trouble than help you. I only have bad experiences with those and honestly I can't imagine why people actually install and trust them. I hate them more than anything else (yes even more than goths and emos).

Heh, I'm not too sure if my router has a firewall or not, I've lost the password for it and I don't want to reset it as it's a family router and I'm afraid I might mess it up (even though it's unlikely). However, everything has worked perfectly till everything went to the crapper. Something must have happened with me. I am not infected by any viruses that I know, I'm gonna scan for spybots and whatnot now. I'm thinking of getting the whole AVG pack, firewall, anti-virus and the whole kit.

[Ed]

I'm thinking of getting the whole AVG pack, firewall, anti-virus and the whole kit.

That sounds like a complete waste of money. If you've lost the access details for the router, you can probably do a hardware reset on it to reset them to defaults. Find some instructions on the Internet for how to do this. Then poke around and see if it has a firewall. If so, uninstall the firewall from your PC. If not, buy a new router, it may well be cheaper than software.

[The mysterious Mr. 4m]

there is ZoneAlarm for Linux?

[SavageX]

No, I never install or download any windows updates as THEY cause more trouble than help you. I only have bad experiences with those and honestly I can't imagine why people actually install and trust them. I hate them more than anything else (yes even more than goths and emos).

Well, sorry, but that is asking for trouble. If you tolerate security holes in your system libraries your firewall software (sitting atop those libraries) won't save you.

Instead of closing the gaps in the hull of your ship you're installing faster water pumps. While this is *some* sort of security concept it won't keep you afloat forever. Now, you're mentioning that all of sudden your networking behaves different. One possibility is that you're already sinking.

Notice that most attacks nowadays won't work by means of "unasked connections" to your system (something a firewall can block) but by e.g. "drive-by downloads" - something firewalls *won't* block as your computer did initiate those connections. And why do drive-by downloads work? Because e.g. some faulty image decoders, HTML renderers or script interpreters (this list is incomplete) go titsup when seeing slightly malformed input and will execute injected code. Nope, zero protection from a firewall. Your only hope is that updates will fix those faulty system components or that your malware scanner will detect and stop the nastyness in time (and often this doesn't work very good either).

If you don't trust Microsoft (nothing wrong with that) you shouldn't run Windows. Period. Turning down the only viable offer of getting rid of known security holes in Windows is not an option. One needs to get rid of the entry points for malware. Firewalls are one *additional* line of defense, as are virus scanners.

[ai]

I haven't used those windows updates for years and my computer has always run smooth because I know how to protect myself when it really matters. I do install the service packs just not those damn 100-500 mb each update that are released constantly, like everyday. Honestly if I would install every single update I wouldn't have any space left on my harddrives (this is true, really).
But yeah, I know how to protect myself without using the windows crap (comes with the years).
The only reason I ask as to which new firewall to get is that people say ZoneAlarm can give you trouble with Nexuiz and that other people have had the same problem. I'm not asking a speach of what I should do or not (security wise), just how people have solved this current problem that I seem to have.

[Captain Haddock]

I hate them more than anything else (yes even more than goths and emos).

I'm a goth..and 4m also...