Vista install problem resolved - uninstalled Zone Alarm Free

[spamdex]

* Summary: I got the MagicJack running under XP sp2, but was unable to get it working under Vista Home and Vista Enterprise. I uninstalled Zone Alarm Free Version and it worked. Turning off Zone Alarm Free didn't help - I completely uninstalled and rebooted the PC. I am still running Vista firewall

* Conclusions: I assume Zone Alarm Free was blocking certain ports even when disabled. Or that merely "disabling" it had no effect without a reboot. I may have to download, test, and pay for a real firewall so I can have finer control of ports than Zone Alarm Free allows. I am still running Vista firewall, of course.

* Background:

Plugged in MJ on Vista Enterprise PC. Driver install began and apparently succeeded. Got MJ popup with animated Please Wait messages, including "one minute - tell your friends about magic jack" messages

Then the gray/white popup "Starting...Please Wait" hung at at approx 75%

Ran magicFix Java app from MJ website. All OK

Ran Vista upgrade by clicking on the "Vista Users" "Click here to upgrade"

Rebooted after pretty much every attempted fix listed here to make sure I was starting each time with a clean slate.

There's a MagicJack icon on desktop pointing to
C:\Users\<myusername>\AppData\Roaming\mjusbsp\magicJackLoader.exe Tried running by clicking on icon.

Tried using command line below I found at http://magicjackhacks.blogspot.com/2007 ... using.html after modifying for Vista dir structure:
C:\Users\<myusername>\AppData\Roaming\mjusbsp\magicJackLoader.exe /foreground /scf _magicJackPersonalDataRoot "E:\magicJack" This took a lot longer, but ran, then hung at 75%, as above.

Got comforting upgrade messages, then MJ app started again and hung again as above at 75%

Disabled Zone Alarm Free and Vista firewalls. Disabled Symantec real time scanning. Still no joy.

Found another forum message mentioning Zone Alarm Free, so I completely uninstalled it. Rebooted. Worked.

[OldNuc]

These work and have no bad habits that I have found. They are both FREE. Remember, your mileage may vary, or YMMV.



Comodo AV and Firewall

[garybritt]

I use the version 2.3 of the comodo firewall. I prefer its feature set to the 2.4 and 3.0 versions of the firewall. I haven't tried their antivirus. Has it been subjected to any testing or comparison testing with some of the other free anti-viri like avg and avast ??

Thanks,

Gary

[OldNuc]

Ipicked up the pointers to the Comodo products off of this site.
Firewall Leaktester. There is a performance chart on there somewhere. I also run a paid AVG AV and Firewall on another machine and it also works well, but costs $$$. The free AVG is ok as long as you remember to keep it updated.

[garybritt]

OK thanks.

I know their firewall is excellent, but I hadn't seen anything on their AV product.

Gary

[OldNuc]

OK thanks.

I know their firewall is excellent, but I hadn't seen anything on their AV product.

Gary

There are some tests of their AV program out there somewhere, I forget where. I seem to remember it was as good as the rrest of them. Remember, AV mostly detects and protects against KNOWN virus attacks, it will miss the brand new ones. Also AV does not catch root kits and most also miss trojans and key loggers. Because of these facts I don't expect much from an AV program. Now if you receive a big bunch of email from people who you do not really know, then you really need an AV program.