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FAQ - Zone Alarm and Zone Alarm Pro

Document number: faqZA-01
Copyright (c) 2001-2005 1stWorks Corporation. All rights reserved.

Zone Alarm and Zone Alarm Pro

Information about Zone Alarm is available from Zone Labs at www.zonelabs.com.

Your firewall product may prevent you from connecting to the 1stWorks Network or to a hotComm room. If you can't connect to the 1stWorks Network, see:
Zone Alarm alerts
Set to Medium
Allow hotComm.exe
If you are using Zone Alarm 6 and you CAN connect to the 1stWorks Network, but you are prevented from connecting or using the hotPointer or hotWeb features, see:
Zone Alarm SmartDefense alerts
If you CAN connect to the 1stWorks Network, but you get a Referer Error message when you try to connect to a room, see:
Private Header Information (Referer)
See screenshots for Zone Alarm (free version) and Zone Alarm Pro.
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Zone Alarm Alerts

You should see two or three Zone Alarm Alerts when you start hotComm for the first time, and you may see them again every time you update your revision of hotComm. In all cases, select Yes or Allow.

  • One alert is for hotComm to act as a server.

  • Another is for hotComm to act as a client.

  • Another alert is in Zone Alarm 6, from its SmartDefense feature. It tells you that hotComm is trying to monitor your keyboard and typing.

About the Access Internet Alerts
  1. Exit hotComm.
  2. Enable ZoneAlarm.
  3. Start hotComm again.
  4. When you see the Alert for Server Program, check Remember this answer the next time I use the program, and click Yes.
  5. When you see the Alert for Repeat Program, for hotComm to act as a client, check Remember this answer the next time I use the program, and click Yes.
ServerClient
   

About the SmartDefense Alert in Zone Alarm 6
  1. When you see the Alert for SmartDefense, check Apply this setting to all dangerous behavior exhibited by this application, and click Allow.

    If you do not select Allow, your hotComm product may be prevented from connecting to rooms, or you may be prevented from some features.

    The alert message is "DANGEROUS BEHAVIOR program is trying to monitor your mouse movements and keyboard strokes." You may see this message for other programs as well, such as Windows Messenger, Windows Media Player, and screensavers.

    hotComm tracks and intercepts keyboard and mouse movements as part of its Transparent Collaborator and hotPointer features. The movements are not recorded or logged.

    Note: hotComm does not show up in a Zone Alarm anti-spyware scan as a problem. If your Zone Alarm anti-spyware scan finds anything, it is probably a genuine problem. It is not hotComm.

       


  2. If you need to change your initial response, you must remove hotComm from Zone Alarm's list and start again:
    1. Close hotComm.
    2. Open Zone Alarm and select Program Control.
    3. Select the Programs tab.
    4. Right-click on the name of your hotComm product and select Remove.
    5. Start hotComm again. For all alerts, select Yes or Allow as shown above.


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Set to Medium

Set the security controls to Medium. This allows outbound TCP connections, which is what hotComm needs for on Online-Proxied connection. See screenshots for Zone Alarm (free version) and Zone Alarm Pro.

Zone Alarm
  1. Open Zone Alarm Control Center.
  2. In the left column, click Firewall.
  3. Set Trusted Zone Security to Medium.
  4. In the left column, click Program Control.
  5. Set Program Control to Medium.
  6. Close the Zone Alarm Control Center.
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Allow hotComm.exe

You can specifically tell Zone Alarm to allow access to hotComm.

Zone Alarm (free version)   See Screenshots.

  1. Open Zone Alarm Control Center.
  2. In the left column, select Program Control.
  3. In Program Control, click Program Wizard.
  4. In Secure Programs, select Advanced, and click Next.
  5. Under the list of programs, click Add.
  6. Browse for hotcomm.com and click Open.
    The typical path is:
       C: drive
       program files
       1stWorks
       hotComm (or hotCommLite or hotCommCL)
       BIN
       hotComm.exe
  7. In the list of programs, check both Access and Server.
  8. Click Finish.

Zone Alarm Pro   See Screenshots.

To add a program to the programs list:
  1. Select Program Control, then the Programs tab, and click Add.
  2. The Add Program dialog appears.
  3. Browse for hotcomm.com and click Open.
    The typical path is:
       C: drive
       program files
       1stWorks
       hotComm (or hotCommLite or hotCommCL)
       BIN
       hotComm.exe
  4. In the list of programs, click on each entry under Access, Server, and Send Mail and select Allow.


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Private Header Information (Referer)

If you click on a hotLink in a password-protected area, and you are re-directed to another page instead of connecting through hotComm, you may need to tell firewall product to allow information about the site you visited to be sent to hotComm. This is called private header information or referer.

This problem may occur with Zone Alarm Pro. It does not occur with the free version of Zone Alarm.

To allow private header information to be sent: Zone Alarm Pro   See Screenshots.

  1. In Zone Alarm Pro, select Privacy.
  2. Under Cookie Control, click Custom
  3. In Custom Privacy Settings, uncheck the box that say Remove private header information.
  4. Click OK.

Or, to allow private header information to be sent to a specific site:

  1. In Zone Alarm Pro, select Privacy.
  2. Select the Site Control tab.
  3. Add the address of the hotComm relay server to the list. An example address is: relay8.ezpeer.net.
  4. Right-click the entry in the Privacy Header Information column for the hotComm relay address you just added, and select Options.
  5. Uncheck the box that say Remove private header information.
  6. Click OK.


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