Zone Alarm Pro: is it worth the extra money

[Marc]

I was going through the settings of the free version of Zone Alarm that I downloaded last week. I was in the "Program Control" section and noticed it was set at "medium". When I tried to set it to "high", I got the following message: "HIGH protects program components for extra protection against the abuse of trusted programs. This protection is available in Zone Alarm Pro". How much protection am I lacking by not upgrading to Zone Alarm Pro to get this extra protection?

[Confused]

Personally I like hardware firewalls much better than software. So if you are on a high speed connection such as cable or DSL using ethernet I would suggest using the money towards the purchase of a router. They can be had for $30.00 on up depending on sales and rebates.
Chas

[glc]

The free ZA is adequate on a standalone connection, it hasn't let me down yet.

[james8547]

Originally posted by Marc
I was going through the settings of the free version of Zone Alarm that I downloaded last week. I was in the "Program Control" section and noticed it was set at "medium". When I tried to set it to "high", I got the following message: "HIGH protects program components for extra protection against the abuse of trusted programs. This protection is available in Zone Alarm Pro". How much protection am I lacking by not upgrading to Zone Alarm Pro to get this extra protection?

It's more of a nuisance rather than protection. I have ZAPro. When I set the settings to the highest protection, practically every program asks permission to access the Net. It's kinda like having 3 yr olds asking if they can have candy every 5 mins...

[mike breck]

That's the way I like it. Nothing accesses the Net without my permission and I always know what is trying to access the Net.

That's how I knew I had the Bugbear virus and then I was able to remove it before it could start spreading from my PC.

So I think, keeping tabs on what programs are trying to access the Net is a good security measure. With so many viruses, worms, and trojans flying around, we advanced users have a responsiblity to make sure <i>we</i> aren't helping to spread them.

Also, I thought this was the advantage of using a software firewall - software monitors inward and outward bound - but routers just monitor inward bound?

So having both software and hardware firewalls was the most secure.

Or do these new Routers monitor what is trying to connect to the Net, as well?

[Confused]

Originally posted by mike breck
That's the way I like it. Nothing accesses the Net without my permission and I always know what is trying to access the Net.

Or do these new Routers monitor what is trying to connect to the Net, as well?

I don't believe routers being sold today monitor outbound. I don't worry about that though. By it blocking inbound I avoid most of problems. I depend upon keeping my antivirus up to date, AdAware, and Spybot to take care of the rest. ZA (Free version) left a bad taste in my mouth when I got my second PC and hooked both up to a router and tried to share files. My WIN98 PC got so hosed it would not access the internet.

In short I depend on router (inbound), keeping antivirus up to date, and Adaware & Spybot (Outbound). My three PC's (one witn XP, other two WIN98FE) all live peacefully with each other and share files and printers. ZA complicates that process.

This is a matter of personal preference and will be argued on these forums just like the Intel versus AMD discussions. Each person has to make their own decision based on their own requirements and level of paranoia.
Chas

[pillainp]

IMHO, ZA Pro definitely is worth the extra dough. I am now running 4.0.123.012. It is set to run in stealth mode, and the only way I even knew of the WinXP RPC exploit was from these forums.

Plus you get a lot of other features such as ActiveX, Javascript and VBscript blocking.

I personally have tried out ZA Pro, Sygate and Kerio on this system and I find that ZA Pro is by far the best.

[Marc]

Originally posted by james8547
It's more of a nuisance rather than protection. I have ZAPro. When I set the settings to the highest protection, practically every program asks permission to access the Net. It's kinda like having 3 yr olds asking if they can have candy every 5 mins...

Isn't that what the free version of Zone Alarm does? Unless I tell ZA in advance that that program is OK, it will prompt me. OR does ZA Pro go to another higher level of prompting?

[c-learner]

I'm being using ZAPro, it's pretty good. it's kinda annoy at first tiime 'cuz you not use to the setting. the program keeps asking you every minute but when you in an advance mode.
dont turn on the privacy adviser...

[TwoRails]

I like ZAP. One of it's features is it will handle a home network.

BTW, Best Buy is selling ZAP 4 for $19.95 (after rebates, I think) this week.

TwoRails

[QuickSilver]

The router is not enough. Software protection is a must.

[HAL9000]

Nah... software protection is added security, but not a must. I ditched ZA a while back and found it a nuisance under XP... it was always forgetting the settings. I have XP set to check for updates every day so patches like the one protecting against MSBLAST, I have right away. Outbound protection is nice, but I wouldn't say a must.

[QuickSilver]

I guess maybe if your running XP you are in better shape. I'm still stuck with 98 myself. :(

[Prew]

You can download the Pro edition and try it out for free for 30 days.

[blockcipher]

If you all want to try something different for a software firewall solution other than ZA you can check out Kerio Firewall http://www.kerio.com. I'm testing out the beta and runs pretty darn good. If interested check it out!

[TwoRails]

Originally posted by QuickSilver
I guess maybe if your running XP you are in better shape. I'm still stuck with 98 myself. :( I love 98.2 and have several personal boxes running it! ZAP works just fine with that OS. Also, I've been running ZAP with my only XP (Pro) box for almost a month now, and it runs fine there, too.

[Captn]

Im running Zone Alarm Pro on my XP Pro box, Along with my Linksys Router and everything is running great. :D

[Confused]

Originally posted by Captn
Im running Zone Alarm Pro on my XP Pro box, Along with my Linksys Router and everything is running great. :D

XP has a built in software firewall. Not much need to purchase or clutter up system with additional software firewalls if running XP in my opinion.
Chas