ZoneAlarm

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For those of you who have not tried it, I was really impressed with ZoneAlarm. I have a dial-up 56k and generally stay connected for 4 to 8 hours at a time before something becomes “unconnected”. ZoneAlarm alerted me to numerous incoming requests on ports which I did not even know existed. Probably something on the order of 20 or so incoming requests in the most recent 10 hours of internet connection. I like it so much, I think I am going to buy the Pro version.

I think if you do a Google search you can find it, or go to ZDNet and you can get it there.

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Mike,

I think you will find that most people are aware of ZoneAlarm. It’s a good firewall, but IMHO not “good enough” to buy. Unfortunately I did buy ZA Pro and liked it for a couple of years but the newest version is riddled with problems and it caused me much grief on my Win XP PC with IE 6.0.

Before you go and spend your hard earned dollars, why not take a good look at the “new kid on the block” which has already been recognized as a product that excels beyond ZoneAlarm. You can take a look at it here: Outpost Firewall. There is a Free version as well as the “Pro” version, which incidentally, sells for $10 less than ZA Pro. And aside from the superioty of the firewall itself, the support given is INCREDIBLE! (just in case you are wondering if I work for the company, hahaha…. the answer is NO…. I am just one satisfied customer!).

Jeff

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Well, I have been aware of ZoneAlarm for quite a while, it’s just been with a dial-up connection I was never very worried about what tried to get in. One night when I ran out of things to do for work, I decided to try it.

For free, and compared to what I had, I think it is pretty cool. I even had my “Multimedia keyboard trying to access the internet” – whatever that means! (maybe one of the relics from uninstalling RealPlayer still trying to call home!)

Not quite sure if I want to buy it yet though, especially after your comments. Right now, the “free” version is pretty cool in my book.

BTW, even though I have never had Kazaa, I get many, many requests for filesharing from what appears to be Kazaa clients.

Can’t say that I will ever try WinXP, or OfficeXP, or anything else that requires me to check in from time to time. Just bought a new motherboard and processor and had plenty problems without activation wizard helpful hints. Maybe ZAPro is not XP ready?

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Mike,

Don’t get me wrong… ZA is a fine firewall, but it’s days of being the best are numbered. It’s #1 because it was one of the first and to also offer a free version. Marketing played a big part in its popularity too. But it has gone downhill lately and some other companies have picked up the challenge and came out winners. FYI, if you go to the site I gave you, you will see that Outpost has a Free version also.

The big difference at this point in time is that ZA is producing buggy firewalls while Outpost is producing a superior product and improving constantly. A new version is due out soon with even more features. And FYI, when I had ZA Pro on this current computer and ran some security checks, eg., on “Shields Up”, I always had a couple of “Closed Ports”, even behind my Router which has a NAT….. but immediately after installing Outpost and running the very same test, I got 100% Stealth. Hey, the results speak for themselves. Plus I have the advantage of a WORKING ad, banner, active X, popups, etc, etc., blocking utility included with no bugs.

So, go ahead and take a few minutes to at least give Outpost a read. You owe it to yourself.

Jeff

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Do I need both ZoneAlarm AND Norton? I have been having trouble getting Norton to load and update and I am wondering if I really need to.

My system is an antiquated 85/5.5 dialup.

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You can’t get Norton “what”? to load and update? Are you talking about Norton AntiVirus?, System Works? hehe

What Operating System are you running?
What version of Norton do you have?
What version of ZoneAlarm do you have?

We need to know this before any helpful advice can be given.

Jeff

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YES, 1, ‘Nortons” works on the viruss as where 2, ZoneAlarm prevents Hackers getting in and shows what is trying to get out. ZA will ask if a program may have access to the internet and you must give permission. This is where it works to help catch SpyWare and the such.
So do you need both, again YES.

DaveA I am so far behind, I think I am First
Genealogy....confusing the dead and annoying the living

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**Edited by KT to include hyperlinks**
If you are having problems with Norton’s updates you may want to look at AVG, found at http://www.grisoft.com[/url%5D. They have both a free version and a fuller featured pay version.
I have used AVG alongside Norton’s and McAfees as another tool in the arsenal to scan suspicious attachments coming into our company. Several time AVG has picked up problems missed by the others. Updates are regular, so you may wish to add AVG to your system. HTH

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Tx all once again I get confirmation of what I supposed was the case.

After four days of not being able to connect with Norton to upgrade the virus definitions, I got frustrated and gave up. Four days later I tried again and everything worked fine. Just love these intermittent, unidentified, self correcting glitches.

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It may have just been busy doling out new definitions. We’ve had two automatic emergency updates in the last 36hrs on our system and after around 4 weeks with no incoming virus, 19 infected emails in the last 24 hours! – all from different sources and all with the ‘I-Worm.Klez.h’ virus

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…I can confirm for you, should you need it, that AVG does a superb job in XPP (I use NAV in Win 2kP, but refuse to shell out for the XP upgrade) and has no conflicts with any version of Zone Alarm. afaik AVG (unlike McAfee ) does not conflict with anything and updtaes both regularly and frequently.
Also, contrary to popular belief, XPP does not seem to need ‘activating’ or ‘registering’ to work. It must be the Home version these requirements refer to. I have not been asked to do either of these and have had XPP for several months, with a series of major upgrades along the way.
I use Zone Alarm Pro and again it has never caused me the slightest bother – except I have to shut it down to play Dark Ages of Camelot. The free version seemed perfectly adequate for a home system. In any case, XPP has a built-in firewall. Don’t know how good it is, but ZA and it don’t work together.
A further advantage of ZA is that you can get hold of an app called Zone Log Analyser, which identifies the attacks being made that ZA blocks, prepares (if you ask it to) a report and enables you to er.. report the culprit(s).

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Merc Welcome back. Hope you had a nice vacation or whatever.

Is Zone Log Analyzer only available with ZonePro or can I find it somewhere else?

And how come your home page always knows it is me when I sneak in there?

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Cookies, Madam, cookies. Thanks for noticing I’ve been away. Ill as it happens.

You can get Zone Log Analyser here. afaik it only work with the Zone Log species.

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You can also use NeoTrace to trace it…the free version only shows you graphically which city it originated from (I think). It was fun tracing all those pokes at my machine for a while, somewhat old now. I think I got it at ZDNet?

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Hey all – Tx for all the good tips.

Another redhead question.. How do I stop a popup ad or site from taking over IE? I don’t mind the popups themselves but this time it went too far. It made itself my home page and added two entries to my favorites menu. Even after I changed my home page back the next time I logged on it took over again. I seem to have gotten rid of it but I am steamed.

ZA didn’t even twitch. I am supposing that Outlook or one of the ones that stops popups would catch this?

So with W98 at 56K I need:
a virus checker like Norton or AVG to catch things attached to incoming.
a firewall like ZA or Outpost to stop unauthorized connections
a popup arrest like Oulpost or Proxomitron(?) for the ads

At this rate I will have more security programs than operating programs. Now don’t anyone fall off their chair laughing but how come IE Security doesn’t do all this?

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You might want to check out this thread in the Internet Explorer forum for some discussion on hijacked browsers. Follow this link, http://www.spywareinfo.com/hijacked.html%5B/url%5D (which is given in the thread noted above) directly if you just want to cut to the chase. Some ‘home page attacks’ will automatically reset themselves if you change them yourself, while others will even remove your ability to fix the problem without having to go to extreme lengths.

With all the nasty stuff being added to some web sites, it is definately recommended that you use an anti-virus program, firewall, and some other ad/script controller (sometimes built into one or the other program types listed). Proxomitron is good, and was even featured on a TechTV show earlier in the week. You might also want to supplement these with a trojan scanner and/or adware/spyware scanner.

PS – I think you intended to refer to Outpost, not Outlook? I do use Outlook for mail, and with the SP2 security patch it is also a significant part of my overall security system.

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Thought it was about time for me to chime in with my .

XP Pro’s internal firewall is excellent but is terribly hard to configure. It blocks things sielntly. One of the things that I like about ZoneAlarm is that it traps any program attempting to get out to the network – the Internet or otherwise – and gives me an option to do what I want with it.

On the down side, I have had more than one experience with ZA – both the free and the Pro versions – tanking my Win2000 and XP systems and causing oddball programs. These ranged from a BSOD at the office, at odd an unexplainable times, with the culprit being VSDATNT, all the way to the inability to access network resources (again, internal and external). I’d agree with the conclusion that it can be a buggy piece of code. I can’t accept software that hoses my PC when it’s not even running. So at the office, ZA is gone.

At home, I use the Pro version for two reasons: I paid for it, so I’m going to get my money’s worth. The reason that I paid for it is because it is an excellent product for home LAN setups. I can add certain systems to the trusted zone and never worry about it. There again though, when I bring the laptop home and plug it in, ZA Pro can’t seem to remember that the network connection was a trusted one and prompts me every time. That’s asinine, quite frankly, after you instruct it to trust the network once – you shouldn’t have to do it again.

I’m intrigued by Outpost and will give it a whack to see how it fares in comparison. For now, ZoneAlarm is a great choice for a single PC, and Pro is good for network situations – but the fact that I’m evaluating other products means that it could stand improvement, or I wouldn’t be looking.

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I’m intrigued by Outpost and will give it a whack to see how it fares in comparison.

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[/indent]I was running ZA to control overall security, and Proxomitron to control ads, cookies, pop’s, scripts, etc. Then I tried Outpost, which promised to do all of the above – and it did. However, I was used to the notifications that ZA gave whenever there was an attempted intrusion, whereas Outpost did not. I also found Outpost more difficult to configure. In the end, I switched back to the two-program system. Sometimes a good program goes too far by trying to do too much?

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David – thanks for the additional information. I like those little alerts that ZA gives me and to this day have not found a valid reason for NTBACKUP.EXE to access the internet.

i have a test rig with XP Pro installed on it so I can tinker with these things. Mayhaps Outpost will wind up on there (actually, I’m sure that it will if for no other reason than because I want to see what it’s like).

Now…..[indent]

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Sometimes a good program goes too far by trying to do too much?

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[/indent]You mean, like Windows?

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One of the coolest things about it is seeing what ZA thinks the other computer is trying to do…sometimes I will use NeoTraceExpress to trace where the other computer is. If I am typical, it is fairly amazing that the number of blocked attempts I get. Never have used Kazaa, but goodness gracious at the number of attempts at file sharing!

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