Well if you are then you might just have been caught out by the same thing as I was.
The culprit - well at least on the 3 PCs I've checked thus far - is ZoneAlarm.
To be precise it is the new version of ZoneAlarm - version 6.0.
Over the past few days the PCs I have control over have been upgraded to version 6.0 from 5.5 and somewhere along the line the upgrade process has reset the security settings for the DesktopX items in its Programs list.
What gave me a clue was the objects scripts failing on the http.send """" line - which is patently a communication with the outside world.
So I amended the permissions for the relevant DesktopX lines in ZoneAlarms' Programs list and as if by magic the weather objects and widgets are working again.
For anyone who might not completely understand what to change the here is some detail.
1) Find the lines in the Programs list for DesktopX Builder.exe and/or DesktopX.exe and make identical changes as follows.
2) Right click to bring up a context menu and select Options
3) In the dialog tick the 2 checkboxes under Advanced Program Control
4) Click OK to close the dialog
5) In the Programs list grid the program name is in column 2.
6) In column 3 should be the word Auto or Custom and in column 5 you should have a combination of 2 characters - ticks, crosses or question marks
7) What you need in column 5 are 2 ticks
Put ZoneAlarm back to the system tray, restart your weather object or widget and if you are as lucky as I have been then it will work.
As I say the above works and is related to ZoneAlarm 6.0. You may or may not have similar problems requiring similar solutions for other versions of ZoneAlarm and other brands of software firewall.
Finally, I can see similar problems arising with any object or widget that tries to communicate to the outside world from behind your secure firewall.
Hope this helps someone else besides me.
David John Bird
