Norman wrote:

http://setiweb.ssl.berkeley.edu/account_setup.php
When I try to enter my account ID, after a few seconds, it just goes back to the
logon screen without errors.

I assume this is because the stupid software that I'm running (whose initials
are Zone Alarm) is stopping cookies from being saved on my system (and yes, I've
set ZA to allow cookies, ads, & javacrap). Is there anything there that I
actually MUST set? Otherwise, could somebody possibly post a direct link to the
software? Maybe it will run without any other online fiddling.

Have you tried bypassing zone alarm during the account process?  IIRC there is an option in zone alarm to turn it off, something like allow all internet activity.

In fact, unless zone alarm is functioning as your proxy you should be able to simply exit, register your account, then restart it when you are finished.  That way you will know for sure if ZA is causing the trouble.

On a related note, I hope ZA is not your firewall.  It is somewhat functional for stopping outgoing traffic (but programs CAN bypass it and talk directly to your network driver) but useless on incoming traffic. All it does for incoming is open ports that are not normally open anyway and report traffic on them.

Routers are cheap these days.  If you are on broadband - get one.