Disabling Conflicting Firewalls Such as Windows XP, McAfee, Norton, or Zone Alarm

Often two firewalls on the same LAN conflict. Both are trying to do the same job; the conflict may cause an otherwise good Internet connection to drop. If this happens, use the NETGEAR firewall, and disable the other. Two situations are described here, but the general approach applies to any firewall active on a NETGEAR LAN.

The Windows firewall may be turned on without you knowing, for example, if the XP Network Setup Wizard was used.

To Disable Windows' Firewall

See Microsoft knowledgebase article: How to: Enable or Disable Internet Connection Firewall In Windows XP. (Note that you must be logged on as administrator, if you are not, no "Advanced" tab will appear as described.) For hints about using these Windows features, search firewall in Windows help, and select the article Enable or Disable Internet Connection Firewalls.

To Enable the NETGEAR Firewall

Consult your router's User Guide or Reference Manual. Look for sections such as "Using Basic Firewall Services" or "Allowing and blocking keywords, sites, services". Manuals are available for downloading on this site.

To Disable the Norton Firewall

1. Right-click the Norton Internet Security icon on the system tray and select Disable.

To Disable the McAfee Firewall

1. Uninstall McAfee
2. Reinstall McAfee, selecting Custom Installation.
3. Unselect McAfee Firewall.
4. Finish the rest of the McAfee installation as you did before.

    

To Disable Zone Alarm

1. Right-click the Zone Alarm icon in the System Tray, and select Shutdown Zone Alarm.

Also search the Zone Alarm forum for such issues as this product continually logging people off AOL, or Windows XP wrongly reporting that Zone Alarm has been turned off.

Doc ID: N101177.asp Feb. 18, 2005