Shoppers using EZ Firewall with the default settings have reported to merchants and to Yahoo! the inability to add multiple items to the shopping cart. After researching the issue with Computer Associates (makers of EZ Firewall), a problem with EZ Firewall has been identified. Yahoo! Store uses cookies as part of the shopping cart to track which items a shopper has placed in their cart. EZ Firewall incorrectly identifies the cookie set when a buyer attempts to add a second item as a "3rd party cookie" and thus blocks the cookie resulting in shoppers being unable to place a second item in their shopping cart.

This problem is further complicated by the fact that shoppers may not be aware that they are running such software that has this effect. For example, Road Runner, an ISP of Time Warner Cable, includes EZ Armor™ (which includes EZ Antivirus and EZ Firewall) as part of its service. During installation EZ Firewall asks users if they would like to enable privacy control to block popup ads, banner ads and third-party cookies.

When privacy control is enabled, EZ Firewall blocks tracking cookies; the Cookie Control setting is set to "Medium" when the user opts to enable privacy control (see figure 1).

Until the problem is corrected in EZ Firewall, merchants can advise shoppers of the issue and recommend the following changes to prevent the problem.

To resolve cookie problems in EZ Firewall:

1. Launch EZ Firewall.
2. Go to the Privacy section.
3. Set Cookie Control to "Off" by clicking the slider and dragging to the Off position.

You should now be able to place multiple items in the shopping cart. For more information about cookie settings in EZ Firewall, go to the my-eTrust Knowledge Base and search for "cookie control".

• Zone Alarm (Zone Lab)
• Personal Firewall (Sygate)
• BlackIce Defender (Internet Security Systems)

To resolve cookie problems in privacy or firewall software:

1. Launch your privacy or firewall software.
2. Navigate to the section with cookie controls.
3. Choose to accept cookies.

In addition to firewall/privacy software, shoppers can also be prevented from adding multiple items if the shopper has their Web browser set to not accept cookies. Merchants can provide shoppers with instructions for enabling cookies.

Instructions for enabling cookies for common browsers:

1. Open Internet Explorer.
2. From the Tools menu select "Internet options".
3. Select the Privacy tab.
4. Move the slider down to any setting other than "Block All Cookies".

Microsoft Internet Explorer 5.x

1. Open Internet Explorer.
2. From the Tools menu select "Internet options".
3. Click the "Security" tab.
4. Click the "Custom Level" button.
5. Scroll down to the "Cookies" section.
6. To enable:
   • Set "Allow cookies that are stored on your computer" to "Enable".
   • Set "Allow per-session cookies" to "Enable".
7. Click "OK".

Mozilla Firefox users:

1. Open Mozilla Firefox.
2. From the Tools menu, select "Options".
3. Click the Privacy icon.
4. Click the + sign to expand the Cookies section.
5. Select the "Allow sites to set cookies" option.
6. Click "OK".

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