Internet go boom

Ah, Microsoft. Why don't you play well with the other kids?

So I run the free Zone Alarm firewall on my PC. It's always worked well for me.

Yesterday, Microsoft hit me with another of the endless Windows updates. I went through the normal b.s. of having my workflow interrupted and rebooted. While that was going on, I got distracted by some bright, shiny, something-or-other.

I went back to my PC and attempted to access email.

Nada. Zip. Nothing.

I tried to hit some sites that I knew were up, like Google and my work. Nothing.

My modem's indicator lights were all fine. Everything was connected to the walls fine.

I ping'd my ISP and my work. I got results. The Internet connection was fine, my browser and email could not connect.

After rebooting (twice) and restarting my DSL modem, I was getting a tad irritated.

So I killed the firewall and tried.

And I connected.

So I installed an older version of Zone Alarm's firewall. No problems.

The Microsoft update doesn't play nice with the latest Zone Alarm. I'd blame Zone Alarm, but that updated a few days ago and I've been able to connect until the latest Microsoft update.

Gah!

There's a workaround I discovered on some newsboard, so I went back to the latest Zone Alarm but this is annoying as hell.

Then again, I guess I get what I pay for.