To all Window users

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mikeymike wrote:
ZoneAlarm is a gaping security hole.  

huh?!? Why do you say that?!?

  - Mike

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Because he's right. Unless you buy the pro version, which is slightly better. But then again, software firewalls will always be inferior to hardware firewalls. If your only option is software, however, I suggest Tiny personal firewall.

No offense, but I was hoping for a more technical response then that.

And as for hardware/software firewalls, they're all the same really. I mean, my router has a "hardware" firewall, but really all it is is a tiny computer with firewall software on it's firmware. It's still software, it's just burned onto an EPROM. What's the diff?!? And "hardware" firewalls like the ones found on routers will not be able to stop spyware from phoning home on randomly selected ports. In fact, this is the main reason I run ZA Pro as I'm already behind my router's firewall and I use ZA to stop any unwanted outgoing traffic.

Now, unless you can point some technical flaws in ZA that could allow hackers in through some back door, then I don't see where you're comming from.

  - Mike

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Right. Go to www.securityfocus.com and search for the number of issues about ZoneAlarm in the past.

I did, and found some vulnerabilites, but same goes for all other firewalls. Haven't found a perfect one yet. The important thing to note is that these bugs are fixed, and some vulnerabilities aren't even real vulerabilites.

This article defends ZA, and the author still considers it to be one of the best firewalls on the market. A far cry from your "poor product" statement. After reading bit of SecurityFocus I'm still convinced that ZA is better then BlackIce and Norton's personal firewall. ZA is the only firewall I know of that can prevent spyware and bots from accessing the net, and that's pretty significant if you ask me.

And AFAIK no other firewall has been quite so lame as to not withstand a portscan.

Now you're really getting silly. My system shows up as stealth, and I've tested it using Gibson Research Center's Shields Up security tool. My system passed with flying colours on all tests, and that was before I got the hardware firewall installed. Not bad for a firewall that's so lame it can't withstand a simple portscan! :roll:

ZoneAlarm was not anywhere the first on the market. There are tonnes of other firewalls available out there, hardware or software ones, which have been around longer than ZA. None have vulnerabilities as embarrassing as ZA's.

Perhaps it's because the vulnerabilties you've so far described don't exist?!? Hey, I have no loyalty to ZA, and if you can actually point me to some real hard evidence I'll be more then greatful, but so far you've given me nothing but nonsense.

  - Mike

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Martyn wrote:

NightShade737 wrote:
The best free Firewall available is Kerio Personal Firewall, it is alot more powerful than ZA and alot more customizable too.

Thanks for the heads-up, that looks pretty good on paper, I'll download it and give it a go.

While searching for some info about it, I found this great comparison, maybe some people will find it helpful.

Here

Well, it does seem like Kerio is a decent FREE firewall. The comparison chart provided only included the free version of ZA, which is unfortunate as the Pro version has a lot more features then the free version. I also wouldn't take the final score too seriously as the best of the free firewalls seems to be Outpost FREE, yet it failed 3 of the leak tests!

Btw, I'm gonna download those leak tests and try them out. I've already tried the one from grc and my ZA Pro 2.6 passed without problem.

  - Mike