Manual Tutorial For Adding PG Blocklist.

Step 1 - BACKUP YOUR SECURITY SETTINGS:

1. Open ZoneAlarm’s control panel.

2. Navigate to Overview > Preferences.

3. Under “Backup and Restore Security Settings”, select Backup.

4. Give your .XML file a new name.

For the purpose of this tutorial, from now on I will refer to this file as “backup.xml”.

5. Save this file to your desktop.

6. Now minimize ZoneAlarm for the time being.


Step 2 - UPDATE YOUR PEERGUARDIAN “GUARDING.P2P” FILE:

1. Make sure that your “guarding.p2p” file is current. Visit the following web site: http://methlabs.org/sync/


Step 3 - USING PEERGUARDING’S EXPORT FEATURE:

1. Open PeerGuardian.

2. Navigate to Tools > Blocklist.

3. When the new “PeerGuardian List Management” window displays, navigate to File > Export Blocklist > ZoneAlarm v4 XML.

4. Now you must give the new file a name.

From now on I will refer to this file as “ip_ranges.txt”.

5. Save this file to your desktop.


Step 4 - EDITING YOUR .XML FILE:

1. Locate and open the “backup.xml” file using notepad.

2. Here’s the confusing part, scroll the text down until you come across the following section (it’s in there somewhere I promise, it's within the top half of the document):

<zones>
<trusted clearOldEntries="true" defaultNetworkStatus="ask" defaultAdapterMode="off">
</trusted>
<restricted clearOldEntries="true" defaultNetworkStatus="ask" defaultAdapterMode="off">
</restricted>
</zones>

3. Highlight this section of the text so that it's easier to find again and minimize notepad for the time being.

4. Next, locate and open “ip_ranges.txt” using notepad.

5. Press Ctrl+A to select the entire blocklist.

6. Copy the list to your clipboard. Use right-click + copy, or Ctrl+C.

7. Next, maximize the “backup.xml” file.

8. Now, locate the highlighted section of “backup.xml” – and replace it with the blocklist that you copied from the “ip_ranges.txt” document.

9. After a few small edits, your “backup.xml” should now look something like this (but much longer of course):

NOTE: Please study this example and make sure that your <zones> tag is formatted correct!

<zones>
<trusted clearOldEntries="true" defaultNetworkStatus="ask" defaultAdapterMode="off">
</trusted>
<restricted clearOldEntries="true" defaultNetworkStatus="ask" defaultAdapterMode="off">
<iprange address="195.141.102.**" toAddress="195.141.102.**" status="true" description=""/>
<iprange address="64.75.133.***" toAddress="64.75.133.***" status="true" description=" WebDAV exploit"/>
<iprange address="64.163.151.***" toAddress="64.163.151.***" status="true" description=" WebDAV exploit"/>
<iprange address="64.83.49.***" toAddress="64.83.49.***" status="true" description=" WebDAV exploit"/>
</restricted>
</zones>

10. Next remove any extra blank spaces added to the “backup.xml” file after pasting the new blocklist.

11. Now save the changes made to the “backup.xml” file.


Step 5 - RESTORING YOUR SECURITY SETTINGS:

1. Maximize ZoneAlarm’s control panel.

2. Navigate to Overview > Preferences.

3. Under “Backup and Restore Security Settings”, select Restore.

4. Locate your “backup.xml” file and select OK.

5. This should take a few minutes.



And that’s it. It’s best to now delete the “backup.xml” file and generate a new backup file with all the new ranges. And save it somewhere for safe keeping until the next update.

This is a simple method to use since the ZAUpdater 2.0 has not been reliable as of late. I'll add pictures to this later on if necessary.

If this is too bogus to follow, leave your comments and have it be removed!

hed,

Thanks for taking the time to put this together. Many peeps need this info and since I use Sygate Pro and hate ZAP, this will help the ones who do use ZAP.

BTW, is this for Zone Alarm (free one) or Zone Alarm Pro?? Or can this be used for either? :confused:

Making this a "sticky" in the PeerGuardian Forum.

Thanks, Again

:) Pepsi One

This is for the Zone Alarm Pro ;) I tried out the ZA Free, and it doesnt allow backing up of settings, nor importing these kind of rules :(

BTW, whats wrong with ZA Update 2.0? Mine worked fine a few months ago :P I havent used it much now since Im not on p2p much

__________________
PeerGuardian § Posting PeerGuardian 2-Logs § HOSTS File § Windows Worm Doors Cleaner § "Personal Firewalls" are snake-oil! § VLC media player § Media Player Classic § FrostWire (LimeWire alternative) § µtorrent § Invalid IP Reports (Bluetack)

well i've been running into a number of problems lately, for some reason the ZAUpdater will freeze up trying to find the host, i can almost never count on it working on the first try, sometimes after 5 tries, i still get no resopnse... at which point, i'll resort to the manual method... when using Blocklist Manager for export, ZA XML 4 is an unsupported format, hense my reason for using PeerGuardian's export feature instead. it works perfectly (at least for me)... not to say that there isn't a way to work around the unsupported format thing... it's just a bit more time consuming, but i guess that's the price you pay for adding so many ranges.

the manual method needs to be tested by more people, because, it's a very strict process. sure the steps are easy, but you must make sure that you clean it up after you've pasted the blocklist into the original "backup.xml" file. otherwise, you'll get an error message saying, the .xml file was not properly formatted! and that's definitely a drag considering it takes several minutes to find out if it worked or not.

i wrote it using ZA 4.5 Pro, i should have specified that... oops! but i'm about to test this manual method with ZA 5.0 Pro.

it is important to note that with ZA 5.0 Pro, it's a bit tricky to restore your "backup.xml" file if ZA does not recognize your AV software. this is a known problem and the only solution for the time being is to revert back to ZA 4.5 Pro.

i am using NOD32 and it's possible to run ZA 5.0 Pro, even if ZA does not recognize NOD32. heck, you can even run both AV's at the same time (but that would be a bit silly)... but however, if i want to restore my security settings with all the new ranges, it won't let me until i uninstall NOD32.

there's obviously more methods to achieving the ultimate goal, which is to successfully import the blocklist without any error message(s). but, sometimes you'll find that one method doesn't work and because of that, it's handy to know what else you can do in that situation.

anyway i'll let you know what i find out after testing all other methods.

well i've been running into a number of problems lately, for some reason the ZAUpdater will freeze up trying to find the host, i can almost never count on it working on the first try, sometimes after 5 tries, i still get no resopnse... at which point, i'll resort to the manual method... when using Blocklist Manager for export, ZA XML 4 is an unsupported format, hence my reason for using PeerGuardian's export feature instead. it works perfectly (at least for me)... not to say that there isn't a way to work around the unsupported format thing... it's just a bit more time consuming, but i guess that's the price you pay for adding so many ranges.

the manual method needs to be tested by more people, because, it's a very strict process. sure the steps are easy, but you must make sure that you clean it up after you've pasted the blocklist into the original "backup.xml" file. otherwise, you'll get an error message saying, the .xml file was not properly formatted! and that's definitely a drag considering it takes several minutes to find out if it worked or not.

i wrote it using ZA 4.5 Pro, i should have specified that... oops! but i'm about to test this manual method with ZA 5.0 Pro.

it is important to note that with ZA 5.0 Pro, it's a bit tricky to restore your "backup.xml" file if ZA does not recognize your AV software. this is a known problem and the only solution for the time being is to revert back to ZA 4.5 Pro.

i am using NOD32 and it's possible to run ZA 5.0 Pro, even if ZA does not recognize NOD32. heck, you can even run both AV's at the same time (but that would be a bit silly)... but however, if i want to restore my security settings with all the new ranges, it won't let me until i uninstall NOD32.

there's obviously more methods to achieving the ultimate goal, which is to successfully import the blocklist without any error message(s). but, sometimes you'll find that one method doesn't work and because of that, it's handy to know what else you can do in that situation.

anyway i'll let you know what i find out after testing all other methods.

hed,

I have changed the name of this thread to "Zone Alarm Pro (ZAP) Tutorial For Adding PG Blocklist" to make it more "user friendly" as a "sticky".

:) Pepsi One

hey thanks Pepsi_One! that definitely makes it direct! hopefully it'll work for other people! :)

this manual tutorial also works with ZA 5.0 Pro.

for this to work you'll need the right installation setup for ZA 5.0 Pro.

for the FIXED installation file, visit:

h&&p://www.zonelabs.com/zapdownload

this is necessary if ZA 5.0 does not recognize your AV program! for more info on why and what to do, visit:

h&&p://www.zonelabs.com/store/content/support/zaav/generalFAQs.jsp

if your current AV software is not supported at this time, and you want to continue importing IP ranges, you must revert back to ZA 4.5 Pro. otherwise you'll get an error message. i think that's all you have to look out for.

NOTE: if you are using BitTornado or Azureus, ZA 5.0 Pro may cause your client to freeze up and stop downloading for some reason (i am not sure about other BT clients as these are the only 2 that i use). i'm not sure why this is happening but it is and you need to be aware of that. to solve this problem, you must revert back to ZA 4.5 Pro. this is the only solution that i know of at the present time.




follow these steps:

The link you posted for the fixed Installation file, and why this is necessary don't work. Could you repost them as a clickable link.

I using the latest upgrade to ZAPro (50 590 015), and Norton antivirus 2003, and have had no problems so I'm assuming your instruction for adding the Blocklist should work.

Thanks for your time and effort in making thid tutorial available.