"True, two-way firewall protection" is just marketing drivel. Anytime someone tells you that a two-way host based firewall will make you more secure, you should run away.

Outbound filtering for security (as opposed to management) purposes violates the 1st law of computer security: If a bad guy can persuade you to run his program on your computer, it's no longer your computer.

I've been looking forward to getting ZA for my new vista laptop and also thank Check Point for keeping it free. I am not familiar with the OS-firewall feature. How important/useful is it?

BK, in answer to your question, I also think suites are more trouble than they're worth. I uninstalled Mcafee and Norton from my two computers before the free trials were up. There's the memory drain like you mentioned. The other thing was the interface, sometimes I wasn't sure exactly what it was I was looking at. I don't have that problem without a suite b/c I know Zone Alarm = my firewall settings, AVGfree = my AV settings, Ad-aware = spyware. I also use a limited user account for surfing the net/random programs. Aside from tracking cookies that Ad-aware finds, I haven't been concerned that the computer may be compromised.

Mr. Matt: Having a loose conceptual grasp of a thing clearly doesn't confer common sense.

Bad guys don't *persuade*, they *trick* or simply *break in*. And so, your assertion is exactly analogous to the imbecilic assertion that, if someone breaks into my house while I'm at work, makes a few phone calls, raids the fridge, and then takes a nap on the couch, it's *his* house now.

The fact of modern computer usage, especially on the Windows platform, is bound up with deception and co-option. If a package does *not* provide outbound filtering, run.

The OS-Firewall was the most annoying part of ZoneAlarm when I used it. It threw up warning dialogs anytime a program tried to do *anything*. I couldn't turn the useless feature off fast enough.

Geez. I wonder what/if/who these guys complain to when they actually PAY for software, like Vista...

.

One question I have is whether the new version also works on Windows XP or is tailored solely for Vista? I now have the latest ZoneAlarm 7.0 version running on XP.

If you're getting rid of their security suite and want to start over from scratch:

Be sure to uncheck the option to "load Zonealarm at startup" BEFORE uninstalling Zonealarm. Otherwise, ZA's "Truevector" service will continue to run in the background, even after the rest of ZA has been uninstalled.

And you can't stop this service from the Windows snap-in for services (services.msc).

I noticed this behavior with ZA 6 on Windows 2000 and Win XP.

Zone Alarm? No thanks.

Used it for quite a long time before learning that it was 'phoning home' to the vendor - Checkpoint.

I'm not sure, and I don't care whether that's been 'fixed'. They lost my trust in them.

yea but the free versions of zonealarm are worthless and useless.

I've been using Zone Security Suite for a few years now. I've had no problems with it. Hasn't seemed to hog my resources. I've had it long enough to tweak it into doing what I want it do. I like the 'Privacy' feature, that will not allow something to download unless I give the go-ahead. I also use other anti-spy progs. And Firefox. However, after reading the article, I'm going to uninstall the Suite from my daughter's slow, weak PC. I'll put a bit more zip in her machine by using the free version, a free anti-virus and my usual anti spy. Both of our PCs have been pretty clean for a long while now. Suite. PS: good tip about uninstalling; doing it 'wrong' can be a real hassle.

If the guy who breaks into your house sets up a video camera or three without your knowledge, is it still your house? Obviously you still own it, but would you want to live in it?

Or the guy could sabotage the house such that an electric fire starts when you turn on the telly and burns your house down.

The point is, it doesn't matter *how* the guy gets in, it's that he got in period. Once in, he can do whatever he wants, and can most likely do it without you ever knowing about it. With malware, once on your box, it is ridiculously trival to circumvent your true outbound filtering kit from ZA or whomever.

I never said that outbound filtering doesn't have merits. But as a way to increase your security, it's a complete sham.

In some cases outbound filtering will alert the user to malware seeking to connect (take a look at the Comodo forums if you don't think this is the case). True, the malware is already on the machine and the machine is thus already compromised, but if the firewall's outbound filtering can alert the user to the presence of malware, then it surely does provide extra security. To say that it's a "sham" is a crude oversimplification.

Zone Alarm customer service tells me that the Krebs piece is wrong: the new Zone Alarm for Vista has not (rpt, not) been released. Further, that when it is released, if you have registered with ZA, you'll automatically receive an email with directions for a free download. To register, go to www.zonealarm.com/vista

Suites are okay if you enjoy watching that stupid flashlight rolling around.

ZoneAlarm Vista is, unfortunately, still in Beta!!!!
See: http://www.zonealarm.com/store/content/catalog/products/vista.jsp

ZoneAlarm Vista has not been released yet, it's still in Beta and available (in Beta) for months already.

Found it: http://www.linkbucks.com/link/ffc46ff0.

"...Krebs piece is wrong"

Excuse the (apparent) double-negative, but "The beta has ended"

> http://forums.zonealarm.com/zonelabs/board/message?board.id=gen&message.id=43387
06-11-2007 11:12 PM - "The beta is ending so the discussion group was removed.
Forum Moderator - http://forums.zonealarm.com/zonelabs/board/message?board.id=gen&message.id=43385

.

I'm not sure what you're saying. There is a link to the Vista version of ZoneAlarm in the above blog post. It works great. Am I missing something?

Dropped windows. I use Linux Simply Mepis. Everything in it just works and best off all it is free.

Muahahaha! People make such stupid comments here. Most don't know what they are talking about. Muahahaha!

@wolf25
"One question I have is whether the new version also works on Windows XP or is tailored solely for Vista?"

The ZoneAlarm web site has been updated, and it appears the new version is for Vista only; the link for it (version 7.1.078) is now given as:
http://download.zonealarm.com/bin/free/1025_update/zlsSetup_71_078_000_en.exe

The current version 7.0.337 for Win 2000 / XP, which has been out for a while, is downloadable from:
http://download.zonelabs.com/bin/free/1025_update/zlsSetup_70_337_000_en.exe

The press release on the Vista version talks about the use of a new "Filtering Platform API" in Vista, so it makes some sense that there are two versions.

I downloaded from the link provided in the article. But when I try to install it, it first messes up the anti-virus software, but nothing much happens after that. The system pretty much hangs and I have to hit the power button to get it to reboot.

I guess it is still in beta, like some of the postings above say.

I'm running the new ZA free Firewall for Vista. It seems to be OK with program control but although it's been active for four days it hasn't thrown up a single intrusion alert. Normally I would have expected a few dozen alerts using Windows XP & this makes me wonder if it's working. The program also seems to disable the diagnostics function of my speedtouch modem. Any of you guys had similar problems or know any answers?

I have been testing Zone Alarm Beta and received the full Vista Version on the 11th June. I also gave a feedback with regard to the time it took to install the beta version which is just the same with the full version. With the XP version of Zone Alarm it would report that it had blocked hits on my PC with the new version it has not reported any. Either nobody is interested in my PC or Zone Alarm is not blocking.

I use zone alarm with avg antivirus and avg antispyware in zone alarm I use the program controlls to disable IE completely and use a different web browser called crazy browser this way I have the best security while using the IE engine to browse with a third party browser I still get all the copatability that IE gives and without the threats. Hope this is some helpful Ideas on security I have been browsing this way bor many years and so far it has kept me safe.

I use zone alarm with avg antivirus and avg antispyware in zone alarm I use the program controlls to disable IE completely and use a different web browser called crazy browser this way I have the best security while using the IE engine to browse with a third party browser I still get all the copatability that IE gives and without the threats. Hope this is some helpful Ideas on security I have been browsing this way bor many years and so far it has kept me safe.

Guys, let's just wait for another 12 months before the things settle with Vista! :)

It seems that the new [free] firewall for vista doesn't really block spyware from accessing your computer. I scan my computer everyday with Ad-Aware SE and it identifies at least couple of dozen tracking cookies that managed to bypass the Zone Alarm firewall for Vista. This scenario did not occur when I used the XP operating system. In my view, the current firewall version for Vista leaks quite extensively. Hopefully, future updates will improve the current state of Vista's firewall inefficiency, and thus, blocking more effectively the intruders that freely navigates on the World Wide Web (WWW) looking for a host computer.

Dr. Brady Brockway

zonealarm on vista seems to work ok now I get blocked intrusions all the time , thx for the great article, and zonealarm thx for the free firewall.