Searched the forum, as told, and found these answers:
check the IM tab
--> doesn't apply in the free version (latest)
uncheck "filter IP traffic over 1394"
--> didn't work
the mirc is all green in zone alarm. Never had this problem with previous versions of zone alarm (7.0.302.000)
internet protection is default to high
tried turning firewall off --> didn't work. "blocked by zone alarm"
interesting, while the zonealarm isn't supposed to be blocking anything ?:P
