Hi,

Ah Firewalls. They do cause that to happen. Just two weeks ago I spent I don't remember how much time at a user here in town's house as they were having the same issue. And the configuration of the Firewall was the problem.

What kind of firewalls do you have?

Judy/blue

I use mcafee virus and there is a windows xp firewall on here.

Wow, believe it or not, I just tried it again and it's updating now. Go figure!

Katz,

The new and improved version of McAfee has some glitches in it. On one of my computers McAfee would not allow email from my own domain pennyworthsales.com. It took an entire week for the tech to figure it out and get it fixed. My best guess is the configuration is messing with AW2000. Especially since you have had to re-install it after re-doing your computer.

That is great you are up and running again.

Judy/blue

Katz/Judy:

I too have been having issues with McAfee's products. If you have the internet suite, it contains the Priviacy Service. I never really used it but it was running in the background and here lately after an update Java script wouldn't run even tho it was enabled with IE. I worked hours on trying to isolate the problem and found that when I disabled Privacy Service everything worked. In the past six months as subscriptions have run out I have removed McAfee and my machine has been running smoother. I have used them for years but don't know what the deal is here recently. Also if you use both firewalls, McAfee and XP's it creates havoc also.
Just thought I would share my experiences!

Marty

Marty,

My experiences have been the same. I still have one valid McAfeesubscription for one computer in my network. And I'll not renew it.

Avast! seems to be running with everything smooth as silk. And I have Trends on another machine. And AVG on the shipping computer. Trying one of each to see what works and what doesn't. (Plus when college students email or call me with "Help how do I do this or that with my virus protection I at least have an idea of how it works )

Most of the motherboards in my computers are ASUS which came with NVidia firewall. So I disable the XP firewall and use the Nvidia. There is a lot more configuring to it but once setup, there is nothing to do and it doesn't miss a beat.

Judy/blue

All--

While we're talking security software and interference, I am using Zone Alarm Suite without problems. All security software, without exception, is a bit of a pain to use. Not using it is worse.

Running two firewalls, any two firewalls, at the same time is a bad idea.

For anyone with an office full of computers, there is a point at which it would be better to use a single hardware-based security device to protect the entire LAN. My current fleet isn't big enough to justify it.

Ned

Hi:
The windows firewall (when it first came out in xpSP2) really messes with AW2K. I recall when it was installed on my machine I had to shut it down just to keep working with AW2K. Because Norton and McAfee decided to use the entire hard disk for their various installations as well as charge extraordinary prices, I allowed my Norton subscription to expire. I had removed McAfee before that. Now I run with just the paid version of Zone Alarm as it does firewall, spyware, and antivirus. The only problem is the VISTA version is not yet ready. Also I run windows defender - it works well and plays well with other programs. So I keep AW2K on an XP machine and use that machine almost exclusively. One of the things I learned as did Marty was to go through all of the settings on any firewall, antivirus, or spyware software - comb through them and shut off the unnecessary sections and/or tweak the settings that can stop internet access for some programs. Usually there is an "allow" section where it is easy to put AW2K and give it freedom to do the job it is intended to do.

Garry

Ned:
Your right about the "fleet" firewall idea. I've configured the hardware firewall on my router however, that's just a first line of defense - but my ISP seems to have worked hard to make it work well. It is important to understand your point that two software firewalls are not the way to go. It isn't always recognized that in this instance two isn't better than one. When I was trying to find out the best way to firewall the small "fleet" here I ended up purchasing a site license for Zone Alarm Pro Security Suite. It was affordable and makes it much easier to know what is happening when there is a problem with one particular computer. Up to now (no telling about tomorrow) it has worked well and once it learns the computer is not always popping up with questions about what to do.

Thanks for mentioning the seriousness of not running any security software and only running one firewall. Often users can end up with two and not know it until something quits working.

Garry

Garry and Ned,

I disabled my router firewall and use the Nvidia firewall on the server for network protection. My ISP has helped with firewalls on their server. And I don't run wireless. I am hardwired which helps a great deal. When I do turn the wireless router on, I only leave it on for the length of time I must use my laptop somewhere in the building, then it is turned back off.

Judy/blue