Failed to Read... : Connecting to Xara.com

[Soquili]

Nancy try removing power to your DSL router for a few seconds then power it up again.

My DSL router sometimes will act up especially after a thunderstorm. It will decide to block some IP address. One time it decided I did not need to read any wikipedia pages and blocked them all. Pulling the power cord out of the socket and counting to 30 then plugging it in again clears the problem until the next power fluctuation or thunderstorm.

[steve.ledger]

Bill is dead right about rebooting your modem/router - definatley worth trying.

Another thing to check that I come across all the time, is a third party firewall is installed. You may have inadvertently given it the wrong answer when it asked about allowing the new outgoing connection when installing XaraXtreme.

If this is the case, you will need to find and edit the rule. This will depend on which firewall software you might be using.

Hopefully Bills suggestion will be the winner

[Burpee]

Thank you both. I reboot my DSL modem occasionally but will try that again. The ZoneAlarm rule sounds truer to what may have happened. I don't like my programs trying to access the net when they open so I may have said remember 'no' to Xara.

I don't know how to edit the rule but I'll look around the ZoneAlarm program and see what options it gives me. Thanks. Nancy

[Doug]

Thank you both. I reboot my DSL modem occasionally but will try that again. The ZoneAlarm rule sounds truer to what may have happened. I don't like my programs trying to access the net when they open so I may have said remember 'no' to Xara.

I don't know how to edit the rule but I'll look around the ZoneAlarm program and see what options it gives me. Thanks. Nancy

You can turn zonealarm off temporarily from the icon tray on the right side of the taskbar. Find the Zonealarm icon and right click on it. That's wehre the option is.

[amoore]

You can turn zonealarm off temporarily from the icon tray on the right side of the taskbar.

I wouldn't do that. The computer could be attacked almost immediately. A better idea would be to go into the ZoneAlarm control panel and look for the list of apps. It should show you what the permissions are for each app. Granted, I haven't used the free version of ZA in several years, and I quit using the pro version after having way too many conflicts and problems with connections, so I can't tell you exactly where it is. You should have access to the list, whatever version you're on.

BTW, I've been using Comodo for 6 or 8 months now, and it seems to be working just fine.

[Doug]

I wouldn't do that. The computer could be attacked almost immediately.

The sky is falling! The sky is falling! Thank you Chicken Little!

That's being rather paranoid. The hackers and bad guys aren't waiting around the corner to pounce on every one of the millions of computers on the internet. You seem to have swallowed the paranoia dished out by the companies that sell security software.

Or do you look under the bed at night for the boogie man and ghosties?!?

[handrawn]

I wouldn't do that.

Nor would I.

Disconnect from web - disable zone alarm - enable windows firewall - reconnect

Being on the web without a firewall is irresponsible - bad news is automated these days, not a question of someone waiting, but of constant scanning attacks that could pop up anywhere.

And you know what - a lot of these attacks come from machines that have been quietly infected from other machines that were left open in just such a way - and sooner or later someone suffers big-time.

Its not paranoia - its a real problem

Would you walk across the road with your eyes closed and feel safe because you couldn't hear anything coming? Even once?

[Doug]

Nor would I.

Its not paranoia - its a real problem

Would you walk across the road with your eyes closed and feel safe because you couldn't hear anything coming? Even once?

It IS paranoia. I wouldn't go and walk thru the bad part of town where the drug dealers are and walk down a dark alley at midnight, that's a reasonable precaution.

But being paranoid to go out of your house at all is a pathetic phobia.
Are you scared to go out because you MIGHT get mugged?


Computer wise, it's just plain silly to be scared to turn off your firewall for a few minutes. Of course there are scanners looking around, but there are also millions of other computers on the internet.

I use a hardware router with firewall and virus checker 99% of the time but in a situation like the original poster described, of course I would temporarily turn off the firewall fro a few minutes. I've been using computers since the XT (early 1980's) and been on bbs's and later the internet since around 1990.

I have only ever had one virus and no attacks. BTW-the one virus was from a floppy disk from work!

Oh ya-raging paranoia: welcome to the internet!

[Burpee]

Hi, I thank each and everyone of you for responding. I looked around my ZoneAlarm and found Xara.com. It was banned from connecting to the web so I allowed it. It works fine now. Thank you!!!