[JohnQ]

Hello, I have a problem with ZoneAlarm Parental Control not functioning at all.

I installed ZoneAlarm Security Suite v7.0.470.000 on a freshly-formatted computer (WinXP Home w/ SP3). All settings are at their default values. There is no other Anti-Virus, Anti-Spyware or Firewall program on the computer. Windows Firewall is turned off. My network is protected by a Linksys WRT54G-TM running custom DDWRT firmware. I like ZoneAlarm because it provides outbound Firewall protection and includes Antivirus and Anti-Spyware protection.

IMPORTANT: The Parental Controls were working until I had to do a Clean Uninstall and a Clean Reinstall of ZoneAlarm. I did this to get around the KB951748 conflict as was suggested on the ZoneAlarm forums. I followed the simple procedure outlined here:

http://www2.nohold.net/noHoldCust542...n_install.html

Unfortunately, the whole process was a waste of time. Internet still only works on the "Medium" firewall setting and now the Parental Controls are broken.

There is an Administrator account on my computer as well as a limited one. Parental control does not block anything at all on either account. ZoneAlarm is password protected and I have made sure that I am logged OUT before I test the parental control. Parental Control is turned on and all "Adult" categories are blocked. I have tried it with "Smart Filtering DRTR Technology" turned ON and OFF.

I would appreciate any help you could give me.

Thank you.

[1002richards]

Hi,
Have you tried ZoneAlarms other suggestion (in an e-mail to their customers) - going to your Add/Remove Progs and removing KB951748?

Richard

[JohnQ]

Well the point is moot now anyway: ZoneLabs has released an update to ZoneAlarm which resolves the conflict with Windows Update KB951748. I have thus upgraded to ZoneAlarm v7.0.483.000.

Unfortunately, the Parental Controls are still not working.

[JohnQ]

I've searched for a long time on the Web and on the ZoneAlarm forums but it seems like I am the ONLY person who's having problems with the Parental Controls in ZoneAlarm. Either that or everyone else just uses standalone software like CyberPatrol or Net Nanny.

I've been having problems with ZoneAlarm's Parental Controls working on again/off again for over 2 years and I'm fed up. ZoneAlarm's filtering service is integrated into their Security Suite but is provided by Blue Coat. I looked up Blue Coat and it turns out they provide a free, lightweight filtering program called K9. It has more features than the Parental Controls in ZoneAlarm, including a feature that keeps Google SafeSearch locked to ON, even for text results.

I've now disabled the ZoneAlarm Parental Controls and have switched over to K9 Web Protection. I don't like having another program running in the background, but what can you do.

If anyone else has been having unsolvable problems with ZoneAlarm Parental Controls, I highly recommend K9 Web Protection. It has the same blocking accuracy that you're used to from ZoneAlarm but with a lot more control and features.

Here's the address: http://www1.k9webprotection.com/

[fairnooks]

Go to www.opendns.com and to the features page and read about what's available, all free, all safe, no local resources used on your system. Its a little bit different way of doing things, but it rocks.

Anyone who uses ZA deserves what they get (migraines!), no opinion on Blue Coat products.

[hewee]

I have ZoneAlarm Pro 4.5.538.001
Release February 17, 2004

It works great still. They have gone town hill in the ratings over the years and are not top rated anymore.