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| Troubleshooting your Activeworlds Connection - ZoneAlarm Firewall by Zone Labs |
| If you have downloaded and installed ZoneAlarm's firewall software your PC is now running a firewall. By default, ZoneAlarm will block all 'untrusted' network activity. This will include the Activeworlds browser. Because ZoneAlarm will not notify you that it is blocking Activeworlds browser from connecting to the universe server, it can be difficult to troubleshoot. For example, if you are running ZoneAlarm and you try to connect to Activeworlds, you may see the login screen hang on 'Connecting to universe server...'
Eventually, the connection will timeout and you will receive the error message, "Unable to contact Activeworlds. Please try again later. If this problem persists, contact support@activeworlds.com for assistance." The Activeworlds browser is unable to connect because ZoneAlarm's firewall is blocking it. There are a couple different ways to resolve this. The easiest way is the let ZoneAlarm configure it for you. When you launch Activeworlds for the first time, you should get a 'new program alert' from ZoneAlarm asking what you would like to do with this program. 
Clicking 'Allow' will allow Activeworlds to connect to the Internet and estiblish a connection to our universe server. Also, as noted above, by clicking the checkbox 'Remember this setting' you will not be prompted with this alert the next time you start Activeworlds. ZoneAlarm will remember your previous choice and allow Activeworlds to connect. You can also manually enable Activeworlds by using ZoneAlarm's Program Control
tool. Double-click the ZoneAlarm icon in sytem tray
Select Program Control and then select the Programs tab to open a list of programs that have 'requested' internet access. Find Active Worlds Browser in the list and then click the blue questions mark that is displayed in the Access column and select 'Allow'. A green check mark will now appear next to Active Worlds Browser indicating that this program now has permission to access the Internet.
Please note that it is best to have only one firewall running on your PC. Having multiple firewalls running simutaneosly can create conficts between software applications and also confusion for the user. For example, if you configure Windows Firewall to allow Activeworlds to access the Internet but have ZoneAlarm running in it's default configuration, you will still get a timeout when trying to connect to Activeworlds. Be sure to check all of the security software on installed on your PC if you are having trouble connecting. It's also good practice to not assume that a firewall is not running because you had disabled it at some point in the past. Some applications can re-enable the firewall without you knowing. For example, if have Windows Update set to download and install updates automatically, it is possible that an security update may be downloaded that will re-enable the firewall. And since you have it set to do this automatically, you may not even realize that the firewall is running. So, to be safe, it's always best to check. Online Resources
|
to
open the ZoneAlarm Control Center. You will then see 'Program Control'
as an option in the left side navbar. 
