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Thread: Zone Alarm Pro 3

  1. #1
    Senior Member
    Join Date
    Oct 2001
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    677

    Zone Alarm Pro 3

    Having just downloaded and installed Zone Alarm Pro 3, the latest and greatest update from ZoneLabs to this windows firewall, I'vecided to share my thoughts of it with everyone.

    Whilst it has improved oover the previous versions as far as customisabiltiy and security are concerned (for example, it now offers cookie blocking, popup/banner ad blocking etc.) the user interface has grown out of all proportion, making the previously easy to use interface into something out of a technical guide for a nuclear fusion reactor!

    Overall, it remains a good firewall, and has greater customisability in V3 over V3, but its interface has matured perhaps too much. It needed that bit more to it, to make it into a full featured firewall, but it's too big... it takes over the screen, and you still can't see all of the info it offers!
    One Ring to rule them all, One Ring to find them.
    One Ring to bring them all and in the darkness bind them.
    (The Lord Of The Rings)
    http://www.bytekill.net

  2. #2
    Senior Member
    Join Date
    Oct 2001
    Posts
    677

    Zone Alarm Pro 3

    Having just downloaded and installed Zone Alarm Pro 3, the latest and greatest update from ZoneLabs to this windows firewall, I'vecided to share my thoughts of it with everyone.

    Whilst it has improved oover the previous versions as far as customisabiltiy and security are concerned (for example, it now offers cookie blocking, popup/banner ad blocking etc.) the user interface has grown out of all proportion, making the previously easy to use interface into something out of a technical guide for a nuclear fusion reactor!

    Overall, it remains a good firewall, and has greater customisability in V3 over V3, but its interface has matured perhaps too much. It needed that bit more to it, to make it into a full featured firewall, but it's too big... it takes over the screen, and you still can't see all of the info it offers!
    One Ring to rule them all, One Ring to find them.
    One Ring to bring them all and in the darkness bind them.
    (The Lord Of The Rings)
    http://www.bytekill.net

  3. #3
    Senior Member
    Join Date
    Dec 2001
    Posts
    884
    Thanks for the review. I'm beginning to go away from ZA; they're, it seems, trying to hit the "mainstream" now, or something.

  4. #4
    Senior Member
    Join Date
    Dec 2001
    Posts
    884
    Thanks for the review. I'm beginning to go away from ZA; they're, it seems, trying to hit the "mainstream" now, or something.

  5. #5
    Priapistic Monk KorpDeath's Avatar
    Join Date
    Dec 2001
    Posts
    2,628
    ZA still has issues with it's mutex engine. it can be tricked to do many things by virii and trojans, etc. etc.

    I'd go with Sygate, NeoWatch, or Tiny. In that order....
    Mankind have a great aversion to intellectual labor; but even supposing knowledge to be easily attainable, more people would be content to be ignorant than would take even a little trouble to acquire it.
    - Samuel Johnson

  6. #6
    Senior Member
    Join Date
    Dec 2001
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    Thanks for the review, I almost bought Zone Alarm Pro 3... so you see Tiny PC, NeoWatch or Sygate? I'll look into those.
    Search First Ask Second. www.google.com

  7. #7
    Senior since the 3 dot era
    Join Date
    Nov 2001
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    I agree with KorpDeath

    Sygate comes at 1st place when talking about Win application firewalls

  8. #8
    Senior Member
    Join Date
    Aug 2001
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    130
    I agree with Rewandythal about the cookie blocking, popup/banner ad blocking etc. Thats a nice feature, but i'm having a slight problem with file uploads through web pages with ZA.

    Sygate and tiny are spot on, except sygate doesnt react to everything when i run a few of them at once.

  9. #9
    PHP/PostgreSQL guy
    Join Date
    Dec 2001
    Posts
    1,164
    I've got ZA Pro 3 purchased and with exception of a few minor things, I'd say the upgrade to 3 was worth the upgrade price (19.95). As a full purchase, I can see it being a little bit more of a decision but it does do a good job of handling things. The issue with the mutex might still be there but then again, if you allow things to be run automatically or just answer yes to any ActiveX script, then having a firewall is really a moot point. Sygate was good for the time I had it but I kept having problems with all of the logs. It seemed as if every day or so, the box would crash/reboot and when it comes up, there's a lost chain pointing to one of the three logs that Sygate writes to ALL the time or there's a lost cluster with the message complaining about the space not being enough for it. Maybe now that I've done a complete rebuild, it'll go away but ZA's never done that to me.

    ZA Pro 3: pretty good firewall with slight issues with TrueVector but no base-line file problems.
    Sygate: better than ZA Pro 3 but had repeated problems with crashing and file problems.

    I'll turn off ZA and install Sygate tonight and see what happens for a few days. If I don't have a problem, I'll go back to Sygate.

    Moral of the story: firewalls are only as good as the users administrating them. 10 minutes of education on any firewall and the programs that access the internet or local intranet is well worth it.
    We the willing, led by the unknowing, have been doing the impossible for the ungrateful. We have done so much with so little for so long that we are now qualified to do just about anything with almost nothing.

  10. #10
    Junior Member
    Join Date
    Mar 2002
    Posts
    15
    Zone alarm in itself is a security hole. It opens a nice port to aim packets at. I tend to use blackice... not as a defence but as a logging system as that is alot of time all you can do. ZA's stack can be overrun with massive packets and thus made unusable. My advice is make friends with the IT guy at the local branch of your ISP. When ever I get hit with anything, it has to go through their FW first and he provides me with the logs I need to send to the appropriate ISPs. ZA also tends to make my internet games lag badly even if I give tem full internet rights.

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