How To Configure ZoneAlarm Free Edition For Use With A Network

ZoneAlarm Free Edition works well on a stand-alone PC and is an excellent personal firewall. However, if you connect that same PC to a network (with another PC or laptop) you'll soon realise that ZoneAlarm will not let you see or access your network. ZoneAlarm is in fact doing its job - blocking "unauthorized" incoming attempts to access your PC. The key word here is "unauthorized". To get ZoneAlarm to recognise your network and allow access between PCs, you will have to give ZoneAlarm information about your network so it will then become "authorized".

This sounds simple enough, but it is in fact very tricky for the "average Joe" to configure this when you are using ZoneAlarm Free Edition. (ZoneAlarm Pro Edition is better suited for use on networked PCs).

Here are complete instructions on how to authorize your network on ZoneAlarm Free Edition.

We will be using 2 PCs on a simple home-network for this tutorial and a dial-up internet connection. The instructions and explanations will be as non-technical as possible and you can read more about networks here.

The gateway PC is running Windows XP Home and the Client PC is running Windows XP Professional. Both PCs have been connected via network cable and the Gateway PC has been configured to share it's dial-up internet connection with the Client PC, along with file and printer sharing.

1) Install the very latest version of ZoneAlarm Free Edition on both PCs. When you then try to share / access files on the network, it fails right away. The Client PC is also unable to access the internet through the Gateway PC.

2) You will need to find out the IP address (or range of addresses) for each of the PCs. On our Gateway PC, we were able to find this out by right-clicking on our network connection (Control Panel > Network Connections) and selecting "Properties". In the "General" tab, we then clicked on "Internet Protocol (TCP/IP)" and then clicked the "Properties" button. We saw an IP address in this format - 192.xxx.x.x. We will be using this as the IP address for our Gateway PC.

3) We then tried to follow the same procedure on the Client PC to ascertain its IP address, but we ran into a problem. The Client PC was set to "Obtain an IP address automatically" and therefore this did not help us to see its IP address. We went back to the Gateway PC where ZoneAlarm was already running and looked at its log file (double-click the ZoneAlarm icon near your PC's clock, click on "Alerts & Logs" and then click the "Log Viewer" tab). We were able to see that a particular IP address was consistently being blocked. This, we figured out, belonged to the Client PC. So we now have IP addresses for both PCs.

4) Open ZoneAlarm on the Gateway PC, click on "Firewall" and then "Zones". This is where we will enter in the IP address of the Client PC, thereby giving it permission to access the Gateway PC. Then click on the "Add >>" button and (in our case), click on "IP Address". If you have an "IP Range", you would select that instead. In the dialog box that comes up, be sure that the Zone is set to "Trusted" and then type in the IP address of the Client PC. Then you must also type in a description (example: Home Network). If you do not do this, you will be unable to proceed. You have now successfully added the Client PC to the "Trusted" Zone of the Gateway PC. At this point we went over to the Client PC and tried to access files from the Gateway PC - success. We then tried to access the internet through the Gateway PC - failure.

5) The next step we did was to open ZoneAlarm on the Gateway PC and click on "Firewall" and then "Main". Set the "Internet Zone Security" to "Medium" (which allows your PC to be visible but still be protected) and then do the same for the "Trusted Zone Security".

6) We then went back over to the Client PC and tried accessing the internet - success! We have now successfully configured ZoneAlarm Free Edition on our Gateway PC - allowing the Client PC to gain access to it and share files, printer and internet. Once your Gateway PC is protected and providing you with useful alerts, it is not necessary to have ZoneAlarm running on the Client PC. However, we will go even further for this tutorial and configure ZoneAlarm on the Client PC as well.

7) At this point, we went over to the Client PC and followed step 4) making sure we typed in the IP address of the Gateway PC instead. We then wrapped up by following step 5).

Both PCs were then restarted and complete tests were done.

ZoneAlarm Free Edition was running successfully on both PCs which were networked together. The Gateway PC can access files on the Client PC and vice-versa. The Client PC can utilize the printer connected to the Gateway PC and it can also access the internet through the Gateway PC.

As stated earlier, this process is tricky - but not impossible to accomplish.

Based on your particular network setup and the number of computers involved, the steps outlined above may not work for you, but it is worth the effort to have ZoneAlarm's firewall protection.

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The U.S $500 Million Curse

When Anna Nicole Smith married oil-billionaire, J. Howard Marshall in 1994 (63 years her senior), she probably never thought her life and the life of others around her, would turn into such a tragedy - just 13 years later. After Marshall's death in 1995, Anna claimed he promised her half of his U.S $1.6 Billion fortune. Is this where the "curse" began?

Think about this for a minute - after Anna was "promised" half of Marshall's fortune, she soon began suffering with her health, career, finances (she filed for bankruptcy in 1996), legal battles and drug-use - only to name a few. Marshall's own son, E. Pierce Marshall, died battling Anna over his father's fortune, Anna's son Daniel died under suspicious circumstances (mere days after the birth of her daughter, Dannielynn) and then came the suspicious death of Anna herself (at age 39). No less than 6 men subsequently came out of the woodwork, all claiming they were the father of Dannielynn! But is this the end of the "U.S $500 Million Curse"?

Absolutely not.

If you were one of the many who were glued to their TV set this past week looking at the court-battle over Anna's remains, you would see why the "curse" is still very much alive - despite people dying around it. The 3 main parties involved in the legal-wranglings include Anna's mother, Virgie Arthur, Howard K. Stern and Larry Birkhead. Judge Larry Seidlin in Florida indicated that the focus of everyone's interest should now be directed to the well-being of Anna's little girl, Dannielynn. True, but for the parties involved, does a US $500 Million pay-day trump that? Judge Seidlin on 22nd February 2007 made an emotional ruling (complete with tears) that he wants Anna buried next to her son, Daniel in the Bahamas. It is what Anna would have wanted - she had even purchased a plot next to Daniel before she died. Judge Seidlin received alot of criticism for his unconventional antics during the hearings, but he was fair throughout (as with his final ruling) and you got the impression he was also sincere (despite rumors he is seeking a "Judge Judy"-type TV show). When one of Virgie's lawyers briefly collapsed in court, Judge Seidlin promptly called a recess and whipped out his own credit card to pay for orange juice for the diabetic lawyer. Sure, the cameras were on and rolling - but there was an air of sincerity about the Judge. Later on when the same lawyer was speaking to a witness, the Judge was softly heard advising him to take his time and not get too excited.

Less than an hour after Judge Seidlin's ruling, all 3 parties involved in the hearings came out with their lawyers for a brief press conference - showing a united-front and suggesting everything would be worked out amicably and everyone had agreed to have Anna buried next to her son in the Bahamas. Right. Sure. Is that why Anna's mother later sent her lawyers to appeal Judge Seidlin's decision? She wants Anna buried in Texas and she also wants to exhume Daniel's remains in the Bahamas and have it moved to Texas! During their testimonies, Virgie, Howard and Larry all admitted under oath that they profited from Anna in one form or another (Howard went as far as to admit that for a long time, his only source of income was Anna!). Larry admitted he sold many of Anna's pictures for profit as her photographer. There is also a rumor that Howard talked Anna into selling photos of Daniel and her new baby - soon after Daniel died!). So these people all clearly profited from Anna while she was alive - so are their intentions now to seek profit from Anna's death? Anna's own mother, Virgie, admitted that she took along a journalist from "Splash" to film her visit of Daniel's grave in the Bahamas. Was Virgie paid for this video? She said "no" during her testimony - but later came back and admitted that her round-trip to the Bahamas was paid for by the "Splash" journalist. Who knows what other compensation she received. This ties well into the video that was played during the court hearings, showing Anna blasting her mother for trying to profit off her and Daniel. Anna knew exactly what was going on even then - and probably knows what is taking place now, after her death.

Before Anna died, she named Howard as "Executor" in her Will. According to Florida law, an "Executor" is entitled to 6% of the awarded-fortune. Do the math on 6% of U.S $500 Million.

As the battle over where to bury Anna continues (more than 2 weeks since her death), other court proceedings are already on the way to prove that Larry Birkhead is the biological father of Dannielynn (never mind the fact that Howard is currently recognised as Dannielynn's father in the Bahamas). The matter of exactly how much of Marshall's fortune will eventually go to Dannielynn (and who gets control of it) is yet to be finalized. Sadly, the battle over Marshall's millions will take us into the new decade - and beyond.

This all reminds me of the title of a classic movie with James Cagney - "Angels With Dirty Faces". Everyone is weeping for Anna and trying to show an angelic-front, but they all have dirty motives behind it.

When A Mountain Lion Attacks

This is an amazing story about "courage" and "loyalty".

A 65-year old woman, Nell Hamm, has been credited with saving her husband's life (Jim Hamm - 70) in San Francisco - when a vicious mountain lion pounced on Jim and wrestled him to the ground while they were both hiking in Prairie Creek Redwoods State Park. The mountain lion opened its mouth and put Jim's head between its powerful jaws - and locked down.

"He didn't scream. It was a different, horrible plea for help, and I turned around, and by then the cat had wrestled Jim to the ground", said Nell - later at a hospital where her husband was being treated.

Nell picked up a 4-inch wide log and started to relentlessly beat the mountain lion - but to no avail. While Jim's head was still inside the lion's jaws, he spoke to his wife - telling her he had a pen in his pocket that she can use to poke the lion's eye. Nell reached for the pen and to her surprise, the pen bent after a few jabs into the lion's eye! She then picked up the log again and continued to beat the lion.

Eventually, the lion let go of its powerful jaw-grip on Jim's head. Having tasted blood, the lion stood there and looked at Nell - who was screaming and waving around her log in the lion's direction. The lion then simply walked away - leaving Nell and her badly wounded husband.

The couple would be celebrating their 50th Wedding Anniversary next month in New Zealand and before this horrific incident, neither of them had seen a mountain lion - even though they were both experienced hikers.

Nell strongly encouraged her husband to get up and walk away from the bloody scene. She gathered more logs and branches around them, in case other lions were in the area. They waited until a Park Ranger came around and they were rescued. Game Wardens then closed off the Park and released the hounds to track the lion. They were unsure how long it would take to actually locate the lion, but instead of coming across one lion, they came across two! The pair of lions were spotted not far from the scene of the incident and they were both shot and killed. Their bodies will be flown to a State Forensics Lab in hopes of determining whether any of them were directly responsible for Jim's brutal attack.

Jim has since undergone surgery for multiple lacerations on his head and body. His lips had to also be stitched back together and he has suffered puncture wounds as well as a torn scalp.

If Nell had ran away screaming for her life when the lion attacked her husband, there would have been no way he would have survived - but she stuck by her husband's side and fought hard to save his life. Nell displayed immense "courage" and "loyalty". In an age where marriage is usually short-lived and generally treated as "just something fun to do" (remember Britney Spears and Jason Alexander's 55-hour marriage?), this is a truly wonderful story and really highlights what marriage is supposed to be about.

Here's wishing all the best to Nell and Jim Hamm.

Who Is To Blame In The Tragic Nintendo Wii Contest?

"No Big Deal - Drink Water For A Nintendo Wii". That is exactly what 28-year old Jennifer Strange (mother of 3 kids) probably thought when she entered the "Hold Your Wee For A Wii" contest at Radio Station KDND 107.9 on January 12th in Sacremento, California. She wanted to please her kids by winning the much-sought-after Nintendo Wii Video Game Console. ("Wii" is pronounced as "We").

The premise was simple - win a water-drinking contest without having to use the bathroom and take home a Nintendo Wii to your family - "simple" that is, until she died.

About 18 Contestants were initially given 8-Oz bottles of water every 15 minutes to drink. "They were small little half-pint bottles, so we thought it was going to be easy," said fellow Contestant James Ybarra. He quit after only 5 bottles. "My bladder couldn't handle it anymore", he said. "They told us if you don't feel like you can do this, don't put your health at risk." After quitting, the remaining Contestants, including Jennifer Strange, were provided with even larger bottles of water to drink.

Eventually, she gave in and settled for the second-place prize: tickets to a Justin Timberlake concert. By that time, she may have consumed as much as 2 gallons of water (7.5 litres).

Assistant Coroner Ed Smith stated there was evidence "consistent with a water intoxication" in the death of Jennifer Strange. Shortly before she died, she told one of her Supervisors that her head was hurting really bad and she was also in tears.

Has anyone over at KDND 107.9 ever heard of a "small" search-engine named "GOOGLE"? Then why didn't anyone PROPERLY research the effects of water intoxication - or take the results of that research seriously? One of the top 3 results for "water intoxication" in Google shows "Too Much Water Can Kill You"! Try the search yourself. They should have also commissioned a doctor for medical advice on carrying out such a contest and have the doctor present during the event. Obviously, neither were done.

There is however, clear evidence that the on-air disc jockeys DID in fact know about the possible fatal nature of drinking too much water - a listener even called into the radio show to warn them. "Yeah, we're aware of that," one of the DJs responded. Another DJ said with a laugh "Yeah, they signed releases, so we're not responsible. We're OK." At one point, the DJs even alluded to a college student who died during a similar stunt in 2005! The Radio Station said its Staff were "stunned" to hear the tragic news that Jennifer Strange had died. Really? "Stunned"? Were they "stunned" during their on-air jokes about "signed releases" or afterwards?

KDND's Parent Company, Entercom/Sacramento, has since fired 10 employees involved with the fatal contest, including 3 of the DJs. The morning show that hosted the contest was also discontinued. No doubt this was all done as "damage control" - in an effort to keep their operating license.

So where exactly does the blame lie for this woman's death? With the Radio Station itself? With the DJs? With the woman who willingly allowed her body to be poisoned with too much water? Ultimately, the blame (to various degrees) lies with everyone involved - sadly, that also includes Jennifer Strange. Contestant James Ybarra could have also quite possibly ended up suffering the fatal consequences of water intoxication - had he not listened to his body in time, saying "enough water!".

In a world where publicity, sales and ratings rule, simply listening to your favorite Radio Station and participating in a contest to win a "fabulous" prize, can lead to your death.

An Attorney for the family of Jennifer Strange is now seeking to have the license for the offending Radio Station pulled. So much for "damage control".

Why Bill O'Reilly Is Right About Vermont

Bill O'Reilly is once again fuming about Vermont's lack of sufficient justice when little kids are molested and sodomized. Here is why he is right.

Last year, Judge Edward Cashman in Vermont delivered a sentence of only 60 days in prison to a man who sodomized a 6-year old girl over 4 years! 60 days behind bars for mentally and physically scarring an innocent girl, possibly for life. Would you rest peacefully if this was your daughter or relative? - knowing in just 2 months' time the perpetrator would be out on the loose again - living life? Of course not. Neither did most Americans.

When the news broke about this blatant injustice, mounting pressure forced Judge Cashman to up the sentence to 3 years - an improvement, but nonetheless far too lenient when you consider the repeated crime that was committed against this little girl.

Flash forward now to Judge David Howard, again from Vermont. This Judge has recently sentenced a man who molested a 4-year old boy - at least 10 times - to "probation and mandatory treatment". This child molester already had a violent criminal history and was previously sentenced to prison for only 30 days for using a screwdriver in an attack on his own wife - in plain view of his own kids.

Sadly, this child molester is now "free" to do as he pleases - with no prison time. Thanks to Judge Howard and Prosecutor Andrew Costello - who cut a deal with the child molester so he could plead "guilty" to the charge and receive the "watered-down" sentence. There was so much "water" involved that it is hard to believe no one drowned!

Both Vermont and Minnesota practise what is known as "restorative justice" - meaning that it is better for society when both the accuser and the accused is "healed". Well what about "punishment should fit the crime"? Why has that been conveniently left out? Is "probation" the proper punishment for molesting an innocent 4-year old boy - at least 10 times? The phrase "restorative justice" should really be cut down to a single word - "restorative" - because there is NO justice done for those who have been violated and scarred for life.

Needless to say, Vermont has NOT approved "Jessica's Law" - which was passed in Florida in 2005 and ensures first-time child sex predators are sentenced to prison for a minimum of 25 years and a maximum of life.

Until all states pass a version of Jessica's Law and get really serious about putting away child molesters for a long time - your children remain in harm's way.