Windows Update KB951478 vs. ZoneAlarm

Seperti biasa, di awal bulan Microsoft mengeluarkan update-update terbaru lewat Windows Update. Sebagian komputer diatur untuk menerima update secara otomatis, dan pengguna kemudian akan diminta untuk restart setelah update terpasang.

Hari ini, Rabu, 9 Juli 2008, Microsoft kembali mengeluarkan update bulanannya. Besarnya tidak seberapa, paling tidak untuk pengguna Internet broadband, yaitu 20an megabyte. Bagi pengguna Windows XP, seperti biasa, diperlukan restart setelah update terpasang.

Bagi para pengguna firewall ZoneAlarm, bersiaplah untuk terkejut dan tidak bisa mengakses Internet, karena terjadi "bentrokan" antara salah satu update, yaitu KB951748. Begitu Windows XP di-restart, Internet tidak akan berfungsi.

Hingga saat ini penyebabnya masih belum jelas. Tapi untungnya sudah ada pemecahan sementara.

1. Menghapus Security Update KB951478
   Lakukan uninstall lewat applet Add or Remove Programs. Jika update ini tidak terlihat, coba beri tanda centang di "Show Updates". Sayangnya, jika Windows Update diatur untuk menerima update secara otomatis, Windows akan mendownload update ini begitu selesai restart dan komputer terhubung ke Internet

1. Menurunkan level keamanan ZoneAlarm ke Medium
   Metode kedua ini lebih disarankan, karena tidak perlu menghapus apapun. Di level Medium, komputer akan tetap terlindung

1. Uninstall ZoneAlarm
   Ini merupakan yang paling tidak disarankan, terutama jika juga menggunakan fitur antivirus dan antispyware
   

Ketiga cara di atas merupakan pemecahan masalah yang sifatnya sementara, karena untuk jangka panjangnya bisa menurunkan efektivitas keamanan komputer. Diharapkan Microsoft segera mengeluarkan update untuk mengatasi masalah ini. Dan semoga updatenya bukan bulan depan, dalam paket Windows Update berikutnya.

UPDATE: ZoneAlarm mengeluarkan update untuk mengatasi masalah ini, yaitu versi 7.0.483.000. Update ini berlaku untuk seluruh varian ZoneAlarm, yaitu ZA Internet Security Suite, ZA Pro, ZA Antivirus, ZA Anti-Spyware, dan ZA Basic. Keterangan lebih lanjut dan link untuk download bisa dilihat di http://download.zonealarm.com/bin/free/pressReleases/2008/LossOfInternetAccessIssue.html. Microsoft, where are you?

Microsoft Internet Explorer 7

I've been using Microsoft Internet Explorer 7 (IE7) since it became available. Initially I was impressed, that MS actually listened to the users regarding features readily available in its competitors (Firefox, Opera), such as tabbed browsing, increased security, etc. But I wasn't convinced yet. No, I still believed in Firefox and used it (and still do) as my main browser. I still thought that IE7 wasn't perfect, at least when compared to Firefox. Besides, Firefox was more than sufficient for my day-to-day browsing.

It turned out that my hunch wasn't wrong. IE7 still has drawbacks. The worst, at least for me, was its poor (or even lack of) memory management. I always do extensive browsing with many tabs (or windows, in case of IE6) opened in a session, and not only for 1 or 2 hours, but for more than 5 hours in a very busy day. I've never encountered any slow-downs with Firefox for this matter. But when I tried IE7, after more than just 1 hour of tabbed browsing, I began to get many error messages, unable to open new tabs or windows, and, most obviously, my notebook slowed to a halt. For a laptop equipped with an Intel Core Duo 2GHz processor and 2GB of RAM, this is unacceptable. I pinpointed the culprit to IE7 because it was the only new software I added at that time. And whenever I went back to Firefox, the problem went away.

I was hoping the problem would be solved with the help of updates from MS. But it's been long enough, with lots of Windows updates, and the problem stays.

Unfortunately, I still have to use IE7 for some tasks, since some web sites only work properly in IE. And those are important ones! For example is Jobsdb.com. Apply for more than 10 jobs with the Search and Quick Apply functions, and suddenly you'll be logged off, with no options to get it done properly. Oh sure, you can log in again, but then you won't be able to apply properly (CV attachments don't work, etc.). Solution: restart. It's really annoying. To make things worse, Jobsdb only functions properly in IE. Damn!

To be fair, like I said, this only happens when we open lots of tabs (or windows). If you only use one window at a time, you won't notice any strange things.

Its security feature has been beefed up quite significantly. We now have more control on the contents displayed. Of course, IE will never be secured enough, but at least MS has been listening to its users and security advisors.

IE7 also has the ability to use add-ons. As of now, the add-ons library isn't as extensive as Firefox's. and I don't use IE7 frequent enough to care about adding add-ons, except for the "must have" ones such as Google toolbar.

One feature I do like is the ability to clear your private data in one go. Unfortunately, this has since been implemented in Firefox as well.

IE7 isn't perfect, but it'll do a good enough job for most users. However, there are "heavy users" such as me, who demands things. It's been a game of catch between IE and its competitors, and unfortunately, whenever IE received any significant updates, the others will have those abilities already.