[wgreene]

Several times tonight I've gotten the following message from Windows Security Center:


Virus Protectiion Out Of Date

Trend Micro PC-cillin Internet Security reports that it might be out of date. Click Recommendations for suggested actions you can take.

Yet when I click on my PC-cillin Internet Security icon I get a message informing me that my antivirus settings meet recommended levels, so I figure I should be protected. However, whenever I click on PC-cillin's Update Components, I get this message:

Trend Micro PC-cillin Internet Security

An error occurred while connecting to the Internet. Please make sure your Internet connection is properly functioning and try again.

It doesn't make sense to me that I should be getting these error messages. I have more than a year left on my PC-cillin subscription, so it definitely should not be out-of-date. Also, I am already online and able to check e-mail and surf when I get the message telling me that an error occurred while connecting to the Internet and that I should make sure my Internet connection is properly functioning.

I would greatly appreciate hearing from anyone who is able to tell my why I am suddenly getting these inappropriate error messages. Thank you very much.

[Elvandil]

You should update your antivirus about once a week, if not more than that. When was your last update? Do you have automatic updating turned on?

[wgreene]

Thank you very much for your reply.

I do have the automatic update turned on. It reads as follows:

Enable Intellligent Update to automatically check for updates
Check every 3 hours
Do not require confirmation before updating
Do not show progress message when updating

Whenever I click on Manual Update I get the same message informing me that "an error occurred while connecting to the Internet." However, I'm already on the Internet!

Also, when I click on Trend Micro's Outbreak Warning'
s View Alert button, I get the following message:

This is an Outbreak Warning! We strongly recommend you update your product .

However, when I click to update I once again get the message telling me that "an error occurred while connecting to the Internet." Why should I be getting this message when I'm already on the Internet? Is it possible that my PC-cillin actually isn't providing protection and that I might therefore be at risk? As noted in my previous message, PC-cillin Internet Security continues to show that my antivirus settings meet recommended levels.

[Elvandil]

It sounds like the AV has been unable to update for a while. Yes, you may be at risk if the virus database is too old to recognize newer viruses.

Try turning off your firewall and see if a manual update works. If not, go to their site. Most AV's have a place to manually download updates to the virus database and then you would be protected until we get to the bottom of the problem.

If you have internet security, too, then look for that database as well. Though your PC-Cillin may think you are protected, that may be because it was unable to connect and discover that there were newer databases of threats available, so it thinks you have the most recent.

[wgreene]

Thanks for your help.

Only after shutting down Zone Alarm was I finally able to download the updated components, so apparently my PC-cillin ant-virus is finally up-to-date.

On the other hand, do I now have to stop using Zone Alarm completely in order for my AV update to work either automatically or manually? As far as I know I have always been to run both Zone Alarm an PC-cillin AV at the same time, so I wonder why I'm having problems now.

Just to test, I turned Zone Alarm back on and tried once more to do a PC-cillin manual update, but again it failed. However, as soon as I shut down Zone Alarm, I was then able to successfully run the AV manual update.

One thing I noticed is that I did have Zone Alarm Firewall and Windows Firewall running simultaneously. Could having both running at the same time possibly cause problems? Even if that were the case, I don't believe that was the reason why I was unable to receive PC-cillin updates. Or could it have been? Anyhow, at the moment I have Windows Firewall activated and I have Zone Alarm Firewall shut down. Is the Windows Firewall effective enough without having to use Zone Alarm or some other firewall? What do I have to do in order to clear up my conflict with Zone Alarm?

Thanks again.

[Elvandil]

You really shouldn't run 2 firewalls. Besides there being no need and consuming resources needlessly, there can be communication problems due to their interaction. I'd shut down the Windows firewall if you have ZoneAlarm. Then look in the ZA settings (unless the update works after that) to see if you can add the PC-Cillin to the allowed applications.

Windows firewall is not as good as ZA. Depending on your updates, it may not even block outgoing packets, allowing trojans to send out information without your knowledge.

[wgreene]

Unfortunately, I am still unable to get PC-Cillin antivirus updates whenever my Zone Alarm firewall is running.

I opened Zone Alarm but wasn't quite sure how to go about adding PC-Cillin to my list of allowed applications. I went to ZA Program Control, and, under ACCESS - Trusted - Internet, I put checkmarks to allow access for all five PCC listings as well as for all three Trend Micro (TM) listings. (For what it's worth, I did not put checkmarks for these eight listings under the heading SERVER - Trusted - Internet.) As mentioned above, doing this did not solve my problem.

Actually, it appears that three firewalls may have been running simultaneously -- Zone Alarm, Trend Micro, and Windows. Even so, if there was any conflict at all from this, it apparently had no bearing at all on my inability to get AV updates. The only firewall I have running now is Zone Alarm and I'm still unable to get AV updates.

Should I try uninstalling and then reinstalling Zone Alarm to see if my problem might clear up? Could I have a malware problem -- possibly virus, trojan, or spyware -- which might prevent me getting AV updates with Zone Alarm running?

[Elvandil]

You should allow trusted programs to run as servers, too. Try allowing Trend-Micro. There is no danger is allowing complete and unrestrained access to programs from companies you trust.

You could also look in the ZA logs to see exactly what was blocked when you tried to update so you can unblock it.

I'm surprized you didn't get blue screens running 3 firewalls, and I strongly suggest using just one. These are driver-level applications that can cause major problems if they go wrong.

[wgreene]

I just tried allowing Trend Micro to run as a server, but that still didn't fix my problem.

For what it's worth, my Zone Alarm Anti-virus Monitoring (Trend-Micro PC-Cillin) and E-mail Protection settings appear okay and up-to-date.

Even if PC-Cillin is currently up-to-date, the way things have been going lately I would expect to get a "Virus Protection Out Of Date" message the next time a new Trend Micro update is released -- which means that once again I would have to disable Zone Alarm in order to get the update.

Could there possibly be a logical explanation as to why ZA and PC-Cillin are conflicting with each other? Or could there be some sinister reason as to why they're conflicting? As noted earlier I feel certain I've had these two programs running together for many months without even a single problem getting updates -- until now.

As you suggested, I went to the ZA logs but I must admit that I don't know how to pinpoint what I'm looking for. At this point I guess I'm in at least a little over my head.

Yes, I've always been aware that running more than one firewall can cause problems. At the moment I'm running only Zone Alarm. Hmmmm. Perhaps there are other (free) firewalls comparable to Zone Alarm, and maybe they wouldn't give me the same problem with AV updates.

Is it even possible that uninstalling and reinstalling ZA and/or PC-Cillin Internet Security might clear up this matter? I certainly remain open to any and all suggestions which might help.

Thanks again.

[Elvandil]

If you are running ZA free edition, that may be part of the problem (though that doesn't answer the question of why now?).

The Comodo firewall is free and did better than any pay ones did in "leak tests". It is also more configurable than the free ZA. Most free versions do not allow many settings changes, saving those for the paying customers. I dumped ZA due to many incompatibilities with my programs and the excessive CPU it used.

If you want to try a very good, free one, try:

www.comodo.com

Ordinarily, I'd say that you should surely try reinstalling. But because we are dealing with driver-level software, uninstalling and reinstalling is not free of risk or serious problems. So without any hint of a reason to believe that reinstallation would help, I'm hesitant to suggest it casually.

[wgreene]

Yes, I am running the free version of Zone Alarm. I'll definitely give comodo a try as soon as my current problems are over with.

Actually, earlier today I did uninstall and reinstall Zone Alarm, and while I was reinstalling I received a PC-Cillin msg informing me that a virus had been identified and blocked and that I should run a virus scan. Anyhow, I finished the ZA reinstallation but never got around to the AV scan, after which I got a message telling me "Your computer might be at risk. Your firewall status is unknown." At that time my firewall status was okay. Unfortunately, I have had an extremely difficult time getting back online. Whenever I click on a browser icon it's pretty much hit or miss. Usually the attempt times out before I'm able to connect. I have been able to get online a few times with Firefox, but surfing is painfully slow, slower even than dial-up. I don't know what's going on. (I am currently in the middle of an AV scan.)

I believe I'll call Comcast to see if there's some sort of problem in my area. I figure the technician may have me unplug my PC for several minutes, replug, and then try getting online again to see if my connection is normal. I've already done this once earlier tonight, but it didn't seem to do any good.

One thing I haven't tried is System Restore, although I doubt that would help matters.

My biggest fear is that I'll have to call DELL and have them walk me through a complete reinstall of Windows XP. I've had to do that several times over the years and they're certainly not fun to go through. Unlike last time, though, I've been able to back-up my files, so if it comes to that at least it won't be quite so bad.

[Elvandil]

Good luck. It may just be an embarrassment of riches and all the security software is a bit too much.

Let us know how things develop.

[wgreene]

Thanks for sticking with me. I'll post as soon as I learn something new.

For what it's worth, the AV scan was clean.

[wgreene]

Well, I'm finally back online as of 30 minutes ago. It was quite an ordeal, requiring three WIN XP installation attempts. I plan to post details here soon. Thanks again.