new pc BSOD 3 times first week

[Drumbokas]

Is there a driver DELL has for the keyboard, they're known for having "special" type keyboard and maybe a driver issue.

Have you installed the internet NIC or wireless drivers yet since you say there is now access?

I have not manually installed any drivers.

The keyboard is not a stock dell keyboard, it is a logitech G15 "gaming" keyboard and I have not yet re-installed the software for it; so I suppose it is using some sort of generic keyboard driver.
I'm not sure if it is from dell or something built into win7.

As far as networking is concerned, the only thing that was keeping it offline before was an unplugged ethernet cable and not giving it the password when the wireless nic auto-detected my router during the initial windows setup.

-drumbokas

 

[Drumbokas]

more

After the fresh install I had a few days without problems, then a random crash with no BSOD. Early AM today, twice in a row, I got BSODs blaming "NETIO.SYS".

I spoke with a dell rep this morning about them and we updated the wireless nic drivers, which he said was the problem.
Then later this evening I got another one...NETIO.SYS ( NETIO!CompareSecurityContexts+6a )

I will speak with the Dell rep again tomorrow morning.

-drumbokas

 

[TorrentG]

lol Dell rep (waste of time.)

Uninstall ZoneAlarm which is causing your issue.

 

[Drumbokas]

ZA is now uninstalled.

Thanks for the help.

Does anyone have any suggestions for an alternative firewall that will work with win7 without problems?

-drumbokas

EDIT: I just found a page called Top Free Firewalls for Windows 7, where they have many candidates (including ZoneAlarm), in the end they only list two: Comodo and PC Tools Firewall Plus.
I'm not sure if should post that url here so I won't; I should go read the rules now ;p

 

[TorrentG]

Does anyone have any suggestions for an alternative firewall that will work with win7 without problems?

Yep. The Windows Firewall built into Windows as a service, is excellent.

 

[Drumbokas]

Yep. The Windows Firewall built into Windows as a service, is excellent.

I have a firewall for incoming (my router, and sometimes the modem too when it isn't bridged); I like to have a software firewall to control outbound traffic.

Is the windows firewall capable of prompting me to ask for access other than always allow or never allow?

perhaps I should look in the forums for a thread discussing firewalls.

thanks again for the help.

-drumbokas

 

[TorrentG]

Windows Firewall controls outbound traffic as well. No, it does not have prompts to block outbound like ZA. You'd have to configure it manually.

 

[Nibiru2012]

Windows 7 is a decent firewall for a what it offers. Comodo Free firewall is much better and easy to configure. Windows 7 is better than no firewall at all but a third-party product such as Comodo Free or Online Armor Free is better.

The features and options in Windows 7 is good enough for people to use. However, Firewall software is not only about network controls, UI and manageability alone but it should have the ability to protect you from malicious attackers so your computer will not become computer zombie, intruders, exploits, bad packets and port scanning.

Leak Testing: Windows Firewall has failed with leak testing done by security researchers. This means your data can leak through the firewall to the outside! You obviously don’t want people to be able to find out what’s in your computer, so you should be using a firewall that does not leak.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

From Matousec.com website:

Security Software Testing Suite

SSTS is a set of testing programs used mainly in our Proactive Security Challenge project. For more information about SSTS, please visit its project page. By using SSTS you agree with its licence that is included in the archive in licence.txt.

• ssts.zip

Products tested against the suite with 148 tests

Go here to see the webpage at Matousec and read the PDF reports: http://www.matousec.com/projects/proactive-security-challenge/results.php
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

If you wish to continue to use the Windows 7 firewall go here for a handy tutorial: Using and Creating Firewall Rules in Windows 7

 

[Drumbokas]

Excellent, that's two sources now that list comodo at the top of the list. I'm downloading it now.

Since it seems I've already hijacked my own thread, I'll bring up AV programs now.
I have been using AVG free for many years now; it seems like lots of people on this forum really like MSE, is it really worth the switch, or am I ok using avg?

I also use spybot s&d and malwarebytes anti-malware any time I suspect I have a problem. I use ccleaner from time to time as well.

-drumbokas

another thing I do which is security related, but isn't really security software, is to run firefox with adblock plus and no-script instead of using IE. no-script can be a bit annoying sometimes, but I love the fact that no scripts will run until I give them permission, no hijacking or re-directing for me, and almost 0 ads. that reminds me, I haven't put hijack-this on this machine yet...

 

[TorrentG]

There's no such thing as hijacking your own thread. At least, imho.

The simplest way I can tell you is that your performance and reliability will increase vastly if you uninstall AVG in safe mode using this tool:

AV Uninstallers - Windows 7 Forums

Then boot to normal mode and install MSE.

I run FF similar to you, only with the addition of RefControl and BetterPrivacy plugins.

 

[Drumbokas]

ok, I just grabbed refcontrol and betterprivacy, they both look like good addons, and downloaded the avg removal tool, I'll grab mse after the uninstall and see how things go.

thanks again
-drumbokas

 

[TorrentG]

Yep, good move. You can set BetterPrivacy to delete the Flash cookies (super cookies that never expire unless you delete them on the Macromedia site I'll include in the link) upon each FF close.

AdobeClearFlash

 

[Drumbokas]

well, this new setup is going to take some getting used to. comodo did not ask me if it was ok to let firefox access the internet, and I wonder what else it has given the OK to. I looked around for a list of allowed apps and haven't found one yet. I will keep checking it out. One thing I did see that I really like is a list of the currently active connections. It seems like there are lots of options in there and I'm surprised there isnt an easy to access list of apps and whether they are set to allow block or prompt for permission. perhaps I overlooked it, I will continue to familiarize myself with comodo.

MSE seems straight-forward enough, I haven't had it scan yet though, I assume it will work pretty much like every other AV prog I've used.

-drumbokas

 

[Drumbokas]

...

Now the dell rep thinks the netio.sys bsods were caused by uninstalling mcafee from the control panel instead of using the removal tool...
When the computer was going through its inital setup process, I never installed or activated mcaffee, but I guess it was pre-installed. And yes, I did remove it from the conrtol panel in safe mode instead of downloading the removal tool, which I didnt realize existed for mcafee until recently.

so now we have, yet again, another clean install...

I'm now in the process of getting the pc setup again, reinstalling apps and such.

-drumbokas

 

[TorrentG]

Dell Rep = not too intelligent with this stuff

0x7f NETIO.sys error is always ZoneAlarm

 

[Drumbokas]

0x7f NETIO.sys error is always ZoneAlarm

oh I believe it, and I'm glad I found this forum and am not relying solely on dell support...
I just hope the problem is finally resolved once and for all.

thanks again

I still wonder what the problem with zonealarm was though, it claims to be win7 compatible...is there something specific about my system that was causing a problem? perhaps another piece of software that wasn't playing nice? either way I'm using comodo now and it seems to be a decent firewall, I'm just not used to it yet and still cant find a straight forward list of applications and whether they are allowed denied or set to prompt for access.

-drumbokas

 

[TorrentG]

You probably had an older version of ZA, configured it unwell or something like that.

I've been using it for 10 years on multiple machines without issue, even beta testing most of the time. But I also know the software 100% and configure it perfectly for my needs.

 

[Drumbokas]

Interesting, I have been using it for 6 years now, and am very familiar with it. But I am also very new to win7, perhaps I downloaded the wrong version by mistake.

I will continue to use comodo for a while, and if I don't have anymore problems for a month or two then I might try to switch back to ZA to see what happens. I really like ZA and would prefer to use it if I can get it to run without crashing my PC

-drumbokas

 

[Drumbokas]

Replacement

I spoke with a Dell vice pres today, he said was reviewing my case and is going to send me a replacement PC.

I'm curious to see what will show up, I hope it is the 9100(with the higher wattage power supply) instead of another 9000.

I will post again with details when it arrives.

Since the last post, I have had several unexpected crashes, but no BSOD.
I bought another Uninterruptable Power Supply thinking my other one had too much connected to it, and have not had a crash since. It has only been a few days though...

-drumbokas

EDIT: Grats to TorrentG on your recent Moderator status!