Patching with ZoneAlarm, etc.

[auldian]

Civ4 in full-screen won't permit you to alt-tab to see the "dangerous behavior" pop-up of ZoneAlarm (by default at least). When this occurs, it appears to be frozen though it's just waiting for your response to ZoneAlarm.

Ahead of playing and checking for updates you must give "Sid Meier's Civilization 4" permissions ( I do them all, though I'm wreckless). I also right-click on it's entry to tick "Changes Frequently" so I don't have to revisit ZA after every patch. ZoneAlarm has a fair amount of documentation on these in the [Help] button

A lot of full-screen 3D titles behave similarly.

 

[robaughjr]

Also you can go to advanced-options-graphics, uncheck fullscreen mode and restart game. You can just minimize window to check ZA popups.