[dba-Tech] Software Firewalls

On Sun, 05 Dec 2004 14:06:46 -0500, Bryan Carbonnell
<carbonnb at sympatico.ca> wrote:

> I have just about had it with Zone Alarm. It somehow managed to block
> ALL my 'net access, including my VPN for work with the latest
> upgrade. It took a complete uninstall to get access back.
> 
> Can we say, not a happy camper.
> 
> I've tried Sygate, which wouldn't let me send large e-mails (anything
> over about 2 sentences). Not acceptable, and I can't figure out how
> to let them out.
> 
> I've just finished trying Kerio Personal Firewall. Not happy with it
> either. Too many things that it tries to block.
> 
> Windows Firewall is not an option, since I don't trust MS to get it
> right.
> 
> Does anyone have any other suggestions for a personal firewall, or
> should I just dig through my downloaded files directory and use the
> previous version of ZA, which I'e been extremely happy with up until
> now.

I promised an update, and now that I finally have the time to write
it, here it is.

I tried most of the suggestion that I got, but none of the s/w
firewalls worked the way I liked. Some allowed me to control too much,
some not enough. I guess I've just gotten used to the way ZA works.

So what I ended up doing was uninstalling the various firewalls,
including ZA, (no I didn't have multiple firewalls running or
installed at the same time) that I had tried, then going into the
registry and scrubbing it of all the keys that were left over.

Once that was done, I reinstalled ZA and it worked like a charm.

So something in the registry was messing up my 'net access when I
originally installed ZA.

At least I now have a whole lot of choices the next time ZA pisses me off :-)

-- 
Bryan Carbonnell - carbonnb at gmail.com
Life's journey is not to arrive at the grave safely in a well
preserved body, but rather to skid in sideways, totally worn out,
shouting "What a great ride!"