Firewall protection

Question

I don't know if this is the right place, so if this isn't the right place then sorry :( But I've never really used a firewall before and I really don't feel safe enough with my built in Windows firewall, so I'm thinking about getting another firewall. I've downloaded the ZoneAlarm Security Suite free trial, but I don't know if it's worth buying. Any suggestions?

joe53 · Answer

GameMaster1990:   There is nothing wrong with XP's integrated firewall.   It is true that it only protects against incoming threats, whereas third party firewalls (such as ZA) supposedly protect against malware 'phoning home' ie outbound protection. The fact is that many malware programs, once they get onto your PC, have no problem bypassing any firewall. The point is to prevent malware getting into your PC in the first place.   My best advice to you is to get a hardware firewall (such as typically is found in a router, eg Linksys). I use such a hardware firewall myself. It might cost a few bucks, but I think it's the best security investment one can make. It's a one-time expense that probably equals what ZASS would cost, after a year or two. A hardware firewall plus XP's software firewall is hard to beat.   I used to use ZA's free firewall, til it became too bloated. I believe ZASS also falls into this category. I no longer recommend anything from ZA.

jdelidc · Answer

i've worked on a few computers running zone alarm. there's a fine line between where the spyware slows down the computer and where the spyware remover slows down the computer. it takes a long time to accumulate enough spyware to justify having it on the machine. you're best bet is an external firewall. but also, use the administrator account as little as possible

dunedin · Answer

If you only need a firewall Zone Alarm has a good stand alone free firewall   I don`t think it is bloated http://www.zonealarm.com/store/content/catalog/products/sku_list_za.jsp?dc=12bms&ctry=GB&lang=en

tommyo1954 · Answer

Same thing here....  The free Zone Alarm firewall performs beautifully for me; never a stutter or hitch of any kind with it.  I use the free firewall; not their all-in-one security suite package.   For my antivirus, the free AVG works very well for me too.

joe53 · Answer

Bloated or not, ZoneAlarm Free 7.0.302.000 was rated " Very poor" in recent leak-testing by matousec.com:
"Twenty of the tested firewalls were marked with a Very poor or None anti-leak protection. This result is quite worrying because it shows that even today, when the malware programs are very sophisticated, still a lot of vendors simply do not care about the outbound connection control too much."
http://www.matousec.com/projects/windows-personal-firewall-analysis/leak-tests-results.php

Two of the top-rated FWs, Online Armor and Comdo Firewall Pro, are free.

[edit] Scot Finnie has been running a series evaluating FWs over the past year, and dropped ZA Free from contention early on, based on its poor outbound protection by his testing. As he said:
"The moral of the story: If you’re concerned about your level of outbound protection from a software firewall, free ZoneAlarm is a bad way to go."

You can read about it here.
http://blog.scotsnewsletter.com/2007/06/05/more-on-software-firewalls-for-windows/#more-55

Message Edited by joe53 on 01-20-2008 06:14 PM

Windows General

Firewall protection

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