(Resolved) Setting Zone Alarm For Games

[Bob1010]

Happy new Year All
I have a problem setting my zone alarm for playing Scrabble on the internet . The screen goes blank & I have to reboot to start again. As soon as I disable zone alarm I can play. I am using a cable modem & running Windows 98 SE. Anybody help me.
Bob

 

[eddie5659]

Hiya and happy new year to you too

Now, do you have the full name of the scrabble game? Also, it may not be a problem with configuring ZA, but something else. Anyway, when you run the game with ZA, does anything come up in the alert box?
Do you have the alert box activated? I don't by default, but you may want to activate it to see if there anything that you have to accept. Rightclick on the ZA icon in your tray near the clock and choose Show Properties, or something like that. I'm at work so its from memory.
Anyway, in there, go to the Alert tab, and right at the bottom is Show popup window. Its the last box. Is it clicked? If not, click it and then run your game.
Does anything pop up? if so, click Yes and tick the box that says Always let this program.....

if not, we'll try something else. Let us know if you get anywhere with that.

Also, have you the latest version of ZA?

Regards

eddie

 

[eddie5659]

Hiya

Just received a PM. Here it is:

Hi Eddie
Wow ! Here's the problem in detail :
The game : Scrabble, cd rom crossword game by Hasbro Interactive .
The problem : after inserting the cd with zone alarm ON , the screen shows the cd & you pick PLAY , now the screen goes gray & freezes. Ctrl + Alt + Delete does nothing ! The only way out is to shut down & reboot. Now if you shut Zone Alarm OFF, & do the same it will let you play ! The help section tells me to: Setting your game to run in a window allows you to see the alert if the game is running in a resolution lower than your desktop. But I DON'T know how ! Secondly it says : If your mouse is locked to the game, try pressing the Windows key. You should then be able to use the mouse to click on the alert. After allowing the game Internet access, reset the game to run in full screen mode.
Still at a loss .... It goes further : Changing the rendering mode to Software Rendering will allow Windows to overlay the ZoneAlarm Alert on top of your game screen.

After allowing Internet access, you can change back to your preferred rendering device.

But remember that I can't get passed the gray freeze with Zone Alarm on.
It goes on to say : Pressing Alt + Tab to toggle back into windows will allow the game to run while allowing you to respond to the alert.

Once you have allowed Internet access you press Alt + Tab again to restore your game. This may cause some applications to crash, especially if you are using Glide or OpenGL; however, the problem should be corrected the next time you run the game. Sometimes you can use Alt + Enter in the place of Alt + Tab.

But again can't pass the gray freeze with it on.

I'm sorry that this is so darn long but I have no way to reach for help.
I would like to thank you for your time in trying to help me resolve this problem & wish you Happy New Year !
Many thanks again.

Bob

Okay, lets have a look at this. There are some patches available:

http://www.hasbrointeractive.com/patches.html#99002

There are two versions of scrabble there, so one of them might be yours. Have you applied the patches yet, and if not, have a go to see if they help.

The help section tells me to: Setting your game to run in a window allows you to see the alert if the game is running in a resolution lower than your desktop

Now, for this, go to Control panel | Display. Settings (last tab) and change the colour settings there.

Also, lets have a look at your startup programs, as when you say closing down ZA works, it may just be freeing up rescources.

Go to Run and type MSINFO32. On the left choose Software Enviroment, then Startup Programs. Copy/paste the list here.

What is your video card? Go to Control panel | System. Device manager. Under Display, there will be the name of your video card.

It says in the FAQ about ZA that it may be asking for permission. Is the popup window arriving? Did you tick that box I mentioned earlier?

Regards

eddie

 

[Bob1010]

First I would like to thank Eddie 5659 for the help in trying to solve the Zone Alarm & Scrabble problem. he really knows his stuff. But due to the limitations of the makers of Scrabble (Hasbro interactive ) we were told that we are not the only ones experiencing this problem with Zone Alarm . They have NO FIX for this & we were told to TURN OFF Zone Alarm if we wanted to play on the internet. I guess that is the easy way out, but I do care who see's what in my computer ( not that it has anything worth while, it's the personal property thing ) so Scrabble & I have parted ways for now & I will let them know my discontent with their software.
Thanks again Eddie 5659
Bob1010

 

[Bob1010]

Hi All ... Well we finally found a fire wall that will work with Scrabble ! Boy my wife was thrilled. Leave it to Symantic's ( Norton). I use Norton for all my "safety features" I don't know why I didn't stick with them in the beginning. Well anyway "Norton Internet Security" WORKS !!!!

 

[eddie5659]

Wahay!!

Glad you found one that works. Seems a shame that you had to pay for one in the end, but security is paramount these days.

See Ya

eddie