[jayjay23]

Win 7 HP x 64
Google Chrome
Zone Alarm

Hi guys,

I hope this is a quick fix.
I clicked on google chrome icon to open a browsing session and I am told "Unable to access the network" with an option to read more. Clicking more reveals this...

"Google Chrome is having trouble accessing the network.

This may be because your firewall or antivirus software wrongly thinks Google Chrome is an intruder on your computer and is blocking it from connecting to the Internet.
Allow Chrome to access the network in your firewall or antivirus settings.
If it is already listed as a program allowed to access the network, try removing it from the list and adding it again.
Error code: ERR_NETWORK_ACCESS_DENIED"

So, I right click on the ZA icon and select exit, turning off the firewall. Then I can access the internet without any trouble.

So I turn on Zone Alarm and I am locked back out.

I looked through the list of allowed programs and found google chrome had a number of entries all set to Auto.
I rebooted. Same issue.
Went in to ZA program control again. Deleted all google chrome entries so there were none left.
Tried Chrome again. Same error message.
Turned off firewall. Connection is fine.
Turned on firewall. Checked ZA program control settings. There is now 1 instance of Google Chrome in the list, set to Auto.
I changed the permission to trusted (allow).
Tried again. Same problem.

I have looked in other forums and not found a solution although some people had experienced the exact same thing including after re-installing both chrome and ZA.

Prior to today I have used chrome and Zone Alarm together without issue for around 12 months.

Any ideas? (pretty sure it's not an infection)

Edited by jayjay23, 14 July 2013 - 02:22 AM.

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Hi jayjay23,

Could be a couple things that caused this.

Check to make sure the Windows Firewall (for some reason) was not enabled and both are running. Which AV do you have installed?

Zone Alarm may have had a recent update that caused this as well. Do you have ZA set for auto update?

Windows Vista and above do have excellent Firewalls. I see no need to install a 3rd party firewall on W7 unless the computer is used for work or in a corporate setting. My opinion does not reflect what other members may think.

Donna

[DonnaB]

Hi jayjay23,

Could be a couple things that caused this.

Check to make sure the Windows Firewall (for some reason) was not enabled and both are running. Which AV do you have installed?

Zone Alarm may have had a recent update that caused this as well. Do you have ZA set for auto update?

Windows Vista and above do have excellent Firewalls. I see no need to install a 3rd party firewall on W7 unless the computer is used for work or in a corporate setting. My opinion does not reflect what other members may think.

Donna

[jayjay23]

Hi Thanks for the reply but I do need zone alarm for various custom settings I require with my work.
I still don't have a solution to this problem and zone alarm continues to block chrome despite me having updated both zone alarm and chrome to the latest settings.
I have also deleted all chrome entries from the allowed list, then opened chrome and been prompted "google chrome is trying to access the internet allow or block" and have clicked allow but then been presented with the "unable to access" page again.

Any more thoughts on this?

[DonnaB]

Hm??? Well, if you can access with ZA disabled, it appears that may be the problem.

May I ask which AV is installed? You don't happen to have more than one Firewall enabled do you?

Edited by DonnaB, 14 August 2013 - 11:08 PM.

[jayjay23]

AVG free is my antivirus. But I also tried with AVG fully disabled. Still the same.

[DonnaB]

Hm? I wonder. Have you tried other browsers as well? Same thing with them?

You might try uninstalling AVG completely, use the correct uninstall tool for your version of AVG found in this link. Try to connect to the internet thereafter with Chrome but be very careful since you will be totally unprotected. You don't have to surf around much, maybe just try to access your thread here at GTG and see what happens.

I'll be completely honest here. I am not a big AVG nor Zone Alarm fan. I've seen the many false positives (with AVG) and connection issues that they can cause, especially right after updates.

If no success, you can then re-install AVG if you like. If you choose not to, then install Avast8 Free or purchase the Premium version which includes a firewall.

Please note: I'm not trying to toss out a sales pitch to you, just providing some sound advice from personal experiences.

Edited by DonnaB, 19 August 2013 - 07:15 PM.