Can't connect to internet on networked computer after ZoneAlarm instal

[A-jay]

I've tried everything I can think of...
Ok, here's the story:
Having suffered slow internet for 2 months running, I fugured someone was accessing my account and using up all my internet usage which slows my internet to 56k.
So as of today, the 1st of the month when it went back to full speed, I changed the password on my internet account and instaled ZoneAlarm firewall (free basic version).
Since then, though I have internet on my computer, I can't get access on my sister's computer which is networked to mine and was happily sharing the internet connection until today. Now I'm not sure if it's ZoneAlarm or the password change that has caused the problem but here are the things I've tried so far:
In ZA, I moved my sister's computer's IP into the trusted zone.
I ran 'set up network' again on both computers.
I tried setting up an internet connection on my sister's computer with the new password.
I tried turning the firewall off completely and I still couldn't connect on her computer.
Any help or further suggestions would be much appreciated.
I am running XP on both computers. My internet is conected via cable modem.

[bjgarrick]

How are you connecting the second computer? Wireless? Cable? Internet Connection Sharing thru your computer?

[A-jay]

The second computer is conected to mine via a hub. My modem is connected to my computer via USB.

[bjgarrick]

Originally Posted by A-jay

The second computer is conected to mine via a hub. My modem is connected to my computer via USB.

Okay! Let me get this straight.

From the cable modem, you have an ethernet cable going to computer 2 and a usb cable going to your computer from the modem?

Unless your using static IP's I would bypass the USB cable, this reduces speed especially if you don't have USB 2.0.

I would go from the cable modem via ethernet cable into the hub, from the hub to the two comptuers via ethernet cable. If you can't or don't have the cables for this that's fine but I never use USB cables with networking.

[A-jay]

not quite, from the cable modem, i have a usb going to my computer and from my computer i have an ethernet cable going to a hub and another from the hub to the second computer. This was all working fine until today.

[studiot]

With that setup to work you must have internet connection sharing enabled on your pc.

What are the settings (choose the advanced tab of the properties of your internet in network connections)

Are the any activity lights on the hub and are they correct?

Check the IP address of sister pc (ipconfig /all at a command prompt)
Can you ping this from brother pc? (ping sister IP or pc name) does both work?

[bjgarrick]

Originally Posted by A-jay

not quite, from the cable modem, i have a usb going to my computer and from my computer i have an ethernet cable going to a hub and another from the hub to the second computer. This was all working fine until today.

Okay! I would do this first, this is just my suggestion you do not have to go with this. It would just make things easier.

From the cable modem via ethernet, go into the hub, from the hub go to your two computers via ethernet cables.

If you keep it the way you have it now I would try uninstalling ZoneAlarm, see if this fixes the problem.

[A-jay]

UPDATE:
Ok, I know the network connection is fine because I can still share files etc. And the actvity lights on the hub are correct. I didn't uninstal ZA but I did try exiting it completely as opposed to just turning the firewall off while still running the program. This seems to have worked and I have turned windows firewall back on and that doesn't seem to cause any trouble (had it on before I instaled ZA as well).
I will try connecting the inernet to the hub and the computers to the hub also, but which port do I put the internet into? It's a basic 5 port hub. And will I then need to reconfigure my internet connection on my pc? Or on both pc's?
Thanks for the help so far by the way.

[studiot]

Depending on the age and design of your hub you may need either a straight through or crossover cable to connect the modem to.

Modern hubs (switches these days) are autosensing and can accept either cable type.

Some older hubs had one special port labelled uplink or similar and perhaps an adjacent switch. This is the one you want, but you will have to consult the manual for the switch position.

If there is no such port it is likely that the ports are autoswitching and it doesn't matter.

In any event you can't do any damage with a wrong cable or connection - it just won't work so suck it and see.

You will be pleased how much better the system performs over ethernet than USB though - as BJG said.

[A-jay]

Well, I tried. I tried different ports in the hub and I tried reinstaling internet from the cd to configure for ethernet connection as opposed to usb, but it wouldn't connect. Maybe I did something wrong as I'm still fairly novice at all this, or maybe this particular hub just doesn't autocross. I don't know.

[A-jay]

UPDATE:
I have been running without ZA turned on so both computers can access the net at the same time. I checked my usage statistics tonight (after midnight) to discover that today (before midnight) my usage was 1,716.98MB including 989.67MB of upload. Now, I didn’t use the internet much today, nor did my sister or niece (who I live with), compared to say the 2nd of Sep when I uploaded a heap of pics onto my Photobucket account but that day the usage is only 369.31MB including 80.86MB of upload. Would this indicate that someone else is somehow using my internet account? Even after I changed the password. I ran Spybot S&D and found 2 problems, one being Microsoft.Windows.IEFirewallBypass which would indicate to me that someone has bypassed my Microsoft firewall. Would that allow them access? And is there any other way to stop them other than ZA? Or is there a way to use ZA and still have internet on both computers? I have read some similar threads and found other people have a similar problem with ZA. Will I need to buy a crossover cable to run the internet directly into the hub so both computers can access internet from there without having to connect to each other?
I know, I’m asking a lot, but I’m getting really annoyed with whom ever is using up all my usage allowance. Is there a way of tracing them?
Any and all help is hugely appreciated! And thanks to those who have offered help already!
A-jay.

[bjgarrick]

one being Microsoft.Windows.IEFirewallBypass

This is just letting you know that in the Windows Security Center, you have it set to ignore the status of the Windows Firewall. This is a legit entry if you have it manually configured.

[A-jay]

Originally Posted by bjgarrick

This is just letting you know that in the Windows Security Center, you have it set to ignore the status of the Windows Firewall. This is a legit entry if you have it manually configured.

Ok, but I didn't manually configure anything. Anyway, further update:
I don't know why I didn't think of this earlier. The modem has both an ethernet and a USB connection. I simply pluged my sister's computer in via ethernet and mine via USB and instaled ZA on her computer as well to protect it. Now both have internet and both are secured. I checked the usage stats again tonight and they indeed seem to have slowed compared to when I had ZA turned off. The computers aren't networked anymore but that's not that important to me. We hardly share files and we each have a printer so that's fine.
Now onto the next problem, why not all keystrokes are accepted in IExplorer. But that's a problem for a different thread.
Thanks to all who offered help!