ZoneAlarm instability on Windows 7 x64.

[Al Smith]

In my ceaseless search for a more stable computer, I ran across a
thread talking about the latest version of ZoneAlarm Free, which
is *supposed* to run on Windows 7 x64. According to a Microsoft
tech, it causes a blue screen error -- specifically, a Bug Code 7f
error. Microsoft may be looking into the problem in a future patch
(but don't hold your breath). No, I don't have the link -- didn't
save it.

I've been getting irregular blue screen crashes every few days
since buying my new Dell computer, and indeed, one of the first
things I did with the computer was install the latest free version
of ZoneAlarm (version 9.1.007). Was that the cause of my blue
screens? I will know in a a week or two (or a lot less) because I
am now running Comodo.

Anyone running this version of ZoneAlarm Free on Windows 7 x64,
and getting blue screens and the "BCCode 7f" error, might want to
consider a different firewall.

-Al-

 

[Andy]

Anyone running this version of ZoneAlarm Free on Windows 7 x64,
and getting blue screens and the "BCCode 7f" error, might want to
consider a different firewall.

Did you disable the Win7 firewall control panel?

Andy

 

[Conor]

Anyone running this version of ZoneAlarm Free on Windows 7 x64,
and getting blue screens and the "BCCode 7f" error, might want to
consider a different firewall.

There is no point running a third party firewall anymore. Windows 7
Firewall blocks incoming and outgoing and has an advanced configuration
panel which gives you all the control you'll ever need.

 

[Conor]

A router with a NAT firewall is something else you need besides a
software firewall. If you don't have one, check out your ports here:

Good advice as all software firewalls can potentially be disabled.

 

[Al Smith]

Did you disable the Win7 firewall control panel?

Andy

ZoneAlarm automatically disables the Internet part of the Windows
firewall, but I also tried disabling the other part (local? I'm
not sure what the distinction between these parts may be). It had
no effect -- my Windows 7 install still crashed with the "BCCode
7f" error. So far, after dumping ZoneAlarm and installing Comodo,
no blue screens, but it's only been two days. I won't know I'm out
of the woods for another week or two.

Just as a matter of interest, the crashes occurred most often when
I was watching video clips on-line, but I also experienced a
couple of blue screens while playing video games on my computer,
not on-line.

-Al-

 

[Al Smith]

There is no point running a third party firewall anymore. Windows 7
Firewall blocks incoming and outgoing and has an advanced configuration
panel which gives you all the control you'll ever need.

That's is what many people say, but the advantage to running
ZoneAlarm is that it lets users know exactly what is trying to
access the Internet from the computer, and gives an easy method
for blocking or allowing access. That's why I've used ZoneAlarm
for so many years. I'm behind a router, so I probably don't even
need a firewall, but I want one to block outgoing events, not so
much incoming events. Comodo is not nearly as easy or clear in
this regard as ZoneAlarm, but I'm trying to get used to it.

-Al-

 

[Al Smith]

It is not up to Microsoft to fix a broken version of zonealarm...it is
up to zonealarm.

True enough, but as I understood it from what I read, ZoneAlarm is
not the only program to produce this error in Windows 7 x64, and
the tech thought the reason might be that some parts of the
Windows 7 code had been changed to be "more aggressive" in some
regard -- I'm not a programmer, so I didn't follow exactly what he
was talking about. Something about stack overflow issues. Anyway,
it was this aggressive behavior that he suggested might be
modified in a future Windows 7 patch.

-Al-

 

[Al Smith]

Sounds like you have a buggy Nvidia video card driver.

The particular configuration of my Dell computer, coupled with
Windows 7 x64, produced a known and recognized problem with my
nVidia card (screen would go black for a few seconds after I
dragged or resized some windows), but an upgrade in the nVidia
driver cured it. I don't think the card itself is bad. I don't
really think I've got bad hardware -- my sense is that it's a
software issue. I'm hopeful that dumping the present version of
ZoneAlarm has cured it. I may try ZoneAlarm again when a new
version is issued ... although I didn't like the nag screen that
ZoneAlarm started to use with its latest version.

-Al-

 

[Char Jackson]

There is no point running a third party firewall anymore. Windows 7
Firewall blocks incoming and outgoing and has an advanced configuration
panel which gives you all the control you'll ever need.

Agreed. Put me firmly in the camp of not running a third party
firewall. IMHO, it's a waste of time, adds unneeded complexity, and
apparently also causes instability. I won't be bothering. The Windows
firewall plus a NAT router plus sensible (safe hex) computing provide
the safety I need.

 

[Al Smith]

The firewall in Window 7 is just as good, if not better than zonealarm
and is totally compatible.

It doesn't make knowing what is trying to phone home, and blocking
those programs from phoneing home, as easy as ZoneAlarm does.

-Al-

 

[socraticsilliness]

Same problem....

I installed Zone Alarm in the last week and have suddenly suffered the BSOD, sporadically. I finally removed Zone Alarm today to see if it is the culprit. I hadn't had any problems previously. I hope this is the problem and now waiting if the BSOD pops up or goes away.....

Message box:
Version:1.0 StartHTML:0000000167 EndHTML:0000004859 StartFragment:0000000457 EndFragment:0000004843

Problem Event Name: BlueScreen
OS Version: 6.1.7600.2.0.0.768.3
Locale ID: 1033


Additional information about the problem:
BCCode: 7f
BCP1: 0000000000000008
BCP2: 0000000080050031
BCP3: 00000000000006F8
BCP4: FFFFF80002E8CE58
OS Version: 6_1_7600
Service Pack: 0_0
Product: 768_1


Files that help describe the problem:
C:\Windows\Minidump\080410-24320-01.dmp
C:\Users\joseph\AppData\Local\Temp\WER-75348-0.sysdata.xml


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[W7 user]

Al Smith <[email protected]> wrote:

> Anyone running this version of ZoneAlarm Free on Windows 7 x64,
> and getting blue screens and the "BCCode 7f" error, might want to
> consider a different firewall.


Did you disable the Win7 firewall control panel?

Andy

I think that you are wasting your time with ZA on W7/64. I have had BSs on two separate computers with W7/64 and I had BSs on both on separate occasions. I contacted the ZA technical centre and they didn't provide any help although I traced the BSs back to a ZA dll file that caused the problem. I have also had problems with Avast once I installed 24 GB of RAM. I had intermittent BSs several time per day. After a week of analysing I found the problem that Avast was causing memory conflicts with the Ethernet driver files. All this happened about 18 months ago. I installed Microsoft Security Essentials and I have never looked back with absolutely no problems, everything is faster and smoother and I have had virus problems at all. By the way I also use the windows firewall which is perfectly OK.