Firefox - Internet connectivity problem due to zonealarm

For the last 24 hours, I had been fighting to get internet connectivity on firefox. It just would not get connected and royally frustrated me.

It so happened that Firefox had auto-updated itself to version 2.0.0.9 yesterday and this issue started right then. Internet connection was fine on Internet Explorer, so I resorted to the loyal Google Search Box and started scouring through numerous entries for search terms such as "internet connectivity issues on firefox", "firefox internet connection problem" and others.

After years of searching and sifting through the net, I am convinced that "Search" is an art. By no means is it an average Joe's cup of tea. You need to understand its nuances and be well acquainted with the little known smart searching techniques. And, if you thought it sounds geeky, well, it is and unfortunately I'm not the kinds. So, as usual I had a tough time reaching the holy-grail for my Firefox net connectivity issue. However a series of posts on googlegroups clearly identified a connection between firefox and zone alarm firewall. It seems, when an update happens to an application, sometimes the firewall doesn't recognize it and ends up blocking the application for internet access. Firefox, running with zonealarm firewall had such instances reported. Now, I used to use zonealarm earlier but had recently shifted to AVG. I had supressed zonealarm by deactivating it, however had not uninstalled it completely. There wasn't any reason for zonealarm to be in action, however just to verify I ctrl-alt-deleted to "Windows Task Manager". A cursory glance through the processes showed me that "vsmon.exe" was in action. I knew this was the zonealarm instance and promptly terminated the process. With trepidation, I returned to firefox tab and refreshed the page. Voila! firefox loaded the page. It was a great relief.

This, however, clearly establishes a connection between zonealarm and firefox's internet connectivity. Hence, for the sake of lesser mortals like myself I am writing this post so that if you face a similar issue, you know its your firewall playing the villain.

Please leave a comment, if you've had a similar experience.