To protect my computer from unwanted people and processes attempting to access the computer it is running the Windows Firewall on the network connection. However, when the firewall is enabled both Windows Update and AVG 8 will not operate correctly and refuse to download updates. The error code being reported is 8024402c. Can you provide a suggestion as to why this problem is occurring? Additionally, I have been considering upgrading to a more powerful firewall that can also do outbound program blocking. However, all the packages that I have reviewed require the user to make a decision about which programs should and should not access the internet, with many of these programs having rather cryptic names making it difficult for the average user to make an informed decision. Can you recommend any programs that are easier to use? Finally, can you advise whether I should be running a registry cleaner on the computer? When searching Google advertisements for such utilities regularly appear, but I am unsure about their usefulness and effectiveness. The computer is running Windows Vista.

The error code which you mentioned (8024402c) is a Windows Update error code, so we will deal with this issue first. I imagine that the problem of AVG not updating is probably due to the same root cause as Windows Update not functioning, so resolving the Windows Update issue should also hopefully resolve the AVG updating problem. From researching this problem on the internet, it seems that many other users have experienced the same problem with Windows Update running on Windows Vista. Making things trickier is that the error message does not point to a specific problem but instead seems to be a more general message that could indicate several different root causes of the problem. Therefore, we will need to perform some more troubleshooting to get to the bottom of the issue. In the first instance, if you are running any third-party firewall then it could be blocking access to the update sites (for one reason or another). I raise this point because the second part of your question asks about possible different firewall solutions, which implies that you are currently running a firewall solution. Even though you are running the Windows Firewall some people run two firewalls, which is not necessarily recommended due to potential conflicts. To check whether this is the issue I suggest that you temporarily disable the third-party firewall and check whether the problem continues. If the problem does not persist then it seems the third-party firewall is the problem, or a conflict between that firewall and the Windows Firewall. To check whether a conflict is the problem, re-enable the third-party firewall and then disable the Windows Firewall. If the problem does not occur under this situation there appears to be a conflict. In this case you need to make a choice between running the third-party firewall or the Windows Firewall, as only one should be enabled at a time to avoid the conflict occurring.

However, if the problem is not related to a third-party firewall then some users have reported that the problem is caused by an ActiveX misconfiguration on the computer. ActiveX is a small program that can run through a web browser over the internet. This is quite like Adobe Flash animations or Java, whereby a program can run which is embedded with a web page. ActiveX is used by Windows Update to detect things such as the operating system on the computer and also which updates have already been installed, so that Windows Update can provide you with only the updates that are relevant to your operating system and which have not already been downloaded and installed. If ActiveX is not functioning correctly then this could stop Windows Update from working, given the critical function which ActiveX controls perform for the Windows Update system. We first need to check the security settings for Internet Explorer to ensure that the required ActiveX controls are able to run. Go to the “Start” menu > “Control Panel” and open the “Network and Internet” control panel. In this control panel, open “Internet Options” which should produce another window. Click the “Security” tab in the Internet Options window. On this tab you will be presented with a list of different security zones: Internet, Local Intranet, Trusted Sites, and Restricted Sites. When you visit a website (or an online service which uses ActiveX) the site is categorised into one of these categories which dictates the security level which is applied to that site (such as which ActiveX controls can launch, what content Internet Explorer will allow that website to download to your computer, etc.). The default settings for each zone should allow Internet Explorer to have access to the Windows Update website, and it is possible that these default settings have been changed. Therefore, we will reset all of the zone settings to their defaults. Click the “Reset all zones to default level” button and then click “Apply” and OK. Once this has completed, check whether Windows Update and AVG updating is now working correctly.

If you continue to have problems other people have reported that this can be due to the DNS settings on your computer. Each computer on a network, including the internet, can be uniquely identified using an IP address such as 66.102.11.104. However, these numbers are not particularly memorable so it would be difficult for a human to know the IP address for a particular website that they wanted to visit. Instead, we remember the much friendlier domain names such as google.com. This presents an issue though – computers communicate based upon IP address and need that address to locate other computers on a network, whereas humans use domain names. DNS stands for the domain name system and provides a translation service between domain names and IP addresses. When you type a domain name into your browser, the DNS system converts this into an IP address which the computer can then use to locate that resource (such as a website) on the internet. The users who have reported problems using Windows Update have indicated that they had a DNS server configured which did not appear to correctly locate the Windows Update server. Therefore, we should check that your internet connection has been setup with the correct DNS server for your ISP. In most cases this will be automatically provided by your ISP, so we just need to make sure that the setting is correctly configured.

Return to the Windows Vista control panel, open the “Network and Sharing Center” and in the left-hand pane click “Manage network connections”. This should present a listing of the different network connections for your computer. Locate the connection being used for your internet connection which is likely to be a Local Area Connection, assuming that you have broadband internet. Once you have located the internet connection for your computer, right-click on the connection and select “Properties”. In the Properties window for the network connection, click the “Networking” tab and select “Internet Protocol Version 4 (TCP/IPv4)” and click the “Properties” button. Another window should appear for the Internet Protocol Version 4 (TCP/IPv4) settings. Check that both “Obtain an IP address automatically” and “Obtain DNS server address automatically” are enabled. If either of these settings are different then you should contact your Internet Service Provider before making any changes to verify the correct settings. It is possible that as part of your ISPs configuration they require a specific IP address or DNS server to be configured, so before we go changing any settings it is important to check with them. Make any necessary adjustments as specified by your ISP. Once you are done click OK to save and close the settings. Please let me know if the problem continues after following these procedures.

Moving onto your next question about outbound program firewalls. Most firewalls try their hardest to provide you with as much information as possible to make a decision about whether a particular program or process is safe and can be allowed access to the internet. However, some processes can be fairly cryptic, making it difficult to determine their legitimacy. Unfortunately this is just a fact of life for outbound program firewalls since it cannot make a determination about each program automatically (otherwise the point of the firewall prompting you for consent to allow a particular item access to the internet would be moot, as it could make that determination itself). Therefore, if you find that you are being presented with messages asking whether a particular item can access the internet, and you are unsure about its purpose and legitimacy, I would suggest that you conduct a quick Google search to check whether any additional information about that item is available which will allow you to make a more informed decision. A general rule of thumb is that if you are unsure about a particular item you should err on the side of caution and deny the item access (just make sure if there is a box asking whether you want to save that action that you do not tick the box, as you may want to allow this item access in future instances depending on the outcome of this deny action). In the worst case scenario you will notice that something on the computer does not work correctly and can make a determination as to the nature of that program or process which you denied internet access. Assuming that you have determined that it is legitimate, next time you are prompted you can allow that item access, or if you need access immediately you can restart the computer and should hopefully be re-prompted whether you wish to allow that item access.

Addressing your final question about registry cleaners, I would recommend against using such utilities. As you have mentioned, when searching Google often many registry cleaners (or other system fixing utilities) appear as advertisements in response to certain search key words. In my experience such utilities do more harm than good, as I have found that sometimes they will remove legitimate registry entries causing undesirable side effects and system instability. There may be some utilities which are less aggressive and work better, but as a rule of thumb I tend to avoid registry cleaning utilities all-together. Instead, I find that a much more efficient method of cleaning the system registry is to do a clean reinstallation of Windows every year or two, depending on the volume of work that you do on the computer (such as installing and removing software). This will ensure that any build-up of data in the registry and files on the computer are removed and increase the performance of the computer as much as possible. While this is a somewhat inconvenient process (as you need to backup all of the data on your computer, reinstall Windows, reinstall all programs and device drivers, then copy the data back onto your computer) it is a much better way of improving performance and removing any data build-up than by using a registry cleaning utility.