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Alright I am wondering what would be a better firewall software. I have used sygate for awhile but a fellow employee just picked up a copy of ZoneAlarm Pro 4 and I am wondering what the AO community feels is a better firewall. I have been using Sygate for about 8 months now and it has never let me down but I always like upgrading. I do not know much a ZoneAlarm and have been doing some reading on it.
Please let me know you input on the situation.
- Adiz
In my opinion sygate is a better product but don’t let that stop you from trying something new. Install zone alarm and if it sucks just go back to sygate. Heck you’re probably going to encounter Zone Alarm while you’re fixing your family/friend/coworkers computer anyways so might as well get familiar with it.
I used Sygate briefly but found ZA easier to configure, personally.
Another vote here for Sygate. I used ZA for a long time, but found that it was not as stable as sygate after updates. I use Sygate Pro and have never had a problem with it. ZA is easy to configure and in fairness to the product I have not used the latest and greatest, so it may now be more stable.
I am a creature of habit. I know Sygate, I liker the product and will stick with it....My two cents.
Sygate is a very good product, ZA blows chunks, IMHO. ZA has a history of ignoring serious bugs and limitations in the product as well as trying to stiffle real concern about their QA practices. Just because it's a "best selling" or "easiest to use" (which it isn't) product doesn't mean it's the best for the job or the most capable.
I personally use Agnitum's Outpost because of it's open source nature and the fact that I can custom build plugins for it. I like having control. hehehe.
peace
No kidding? I hadn't heard about this. What's the story?Quote:
...as well as trying to stiffle real concern about their QA practices.
Personally, I like ZA firewall, Open source nature seems interesting,
If you say you are comfortable with Sygate, then why change that? You like it and you know how it work's, it's performance, etc then why change that and use something that could possibly screw up on you? Now, I agree with cwk9 in an aspect that you should try it, but try it at home or on another box.
Agreed, Open Source is the best :)Quote:
because of it's open source nature and the fact that I can custom build plugins for it. I like having control.
Here're a few links:
http://www.sysopt.com/reviews/firewall/index5.html
http://www.sysopt.com/reviews/firewall/index6.html
http://www.sysopt.com/reviews/firewall/index7.html
They do suggest that Sygate's the better product..but I found ZA easier to configure
Ofcourse,a firewall in the end's only as good as you configure it,so make sure you read up on whatever you decide to use
Here's a nifty little program that claims to check the usefullness of your firewall..I believe it's proved that BlackIce Defender has a pretty serious flaw..check it out..
Network ICE's BlackIce always has proved to have some kinda flaw in it. Sad, it's not THAT bad but far from close to any of the other's in term's of performance or reliability.
Personally i use an old box runniong smoothwall for my firewall, i`ve never been a fan of desktop firewalls.
I`d say its proberly best to stick to what you know. I`m not saying you shouldn`t try new programs or experiment but its best to do that on a seperate computer. You should just install zone alarm on an old computer and have a little play around. once you feel comfterable with it and if you think its up to the job then put it on your main desktop.
Anyway thats just my 2 cents.
Good advice homenet. That's how I feel, but he shouldn't do it on his work computer. Maybe an old box or his home computer.Quote:
You should just install zone alarm on an old computer and have a little play around. once you feel comfterable with it and if you think its up to the job then put it on your main desktop.
Thanks guys,
What I am planning on doing is setting up a new network (home office about 6 computers) I will be running win 2003 server with a software firewall running on the server machine along with a Watchguard FB1000 (hardware firewall) I feel that this should be adaquet if I keep the security tight with a good configuration. I mean a system can always be hacked but I wanna make it at least a challenge for the l33t hackers.
- Adiz
Long time since I tried Zone Alarm, but at that point I thought it was TOO easy to "configure". Felt like it was made for somebody that never used a firewall before, and thus not giving you full control over it. (may have changed by now?)
Sygate I think is a very good software firewall, which gives you full control over everything plus it works very nice as a real time monitoring tool over what connections/apps you have running on your computer.
ZoneAlarm does too, just in a more annoying and less secure manner.Quote:
over what connections/apps you have running on your computer.
adiz,
Firewalls, interesting that you should be asking. Here's part of a thread I worked up that discusses the firewalls recommended by AO Members.
Time frame used: 17 Jul 2002 thru 15 May 2004.
So directly from the AO Members:
Hardware:
Pix: dominated (had to put it by itself)
Linksys router (nat) – 4 times
Sonicwall – 4 times
Dlink – 2 times
Netgear (nat) – 2 times
Watchguard – 2 times
Fortigate – 1 time
Netscreen – 1 time
Raptor – 1 time
Sidewinder – 1 time
Software:
*nix:
IPTables - dominated (had to put it by itself) {duh}
Smoothwall – 11 times
Coyote – 4 times
OBSD (default Install) - 4 times
Astaro – 3 times
IPCop - 2 times
Securepoint – 2 times
Devil Linux – 1 time
Mandrake – 1 time
Sentry – 1 time
Windows Compatibles:
Zone Alarm (Free & Pro combined) – 44 times *Popularity stayed steady throughout (especially for ZA Pro), however many members tossed ZA for Outpost and/or Sygate.
Outpost – 40 times *Really favored 2002-2003
Sygate – 36 times *More recently favored 2003-2004
Tiny – 25 times *Really popular 2002
Kerio - 20 times *More popular 2003-2004
BlackIce - 9 times
Norton – 8 times
Checkpoint – 7 times
McAfee - 5 times
VisNetic – 4 times
Bordermanager – 2 times
ICF (XP) – 2 times
Look’n’Stop – 2 times
Symantic – 2 times
BitGuard – 1 time
Gnatbox – 1 time
Kaspersky – 1 time
OmniQuad –1 time
For those that may not know: The original team that developed Tiny left the company and started the Kerio Firewall. It was based on the Tiny’s engine but with many improvements. That may help explain the popularity of Tiny in 2002 and then the Kerio popularity in 2003-2004.
Summary: For Hardware Firewalls – PIX most recommended. For *nix Software Firewalls – IP Tables was most recommended. And for Windows Compatible Software Firewalls – Kerio, Outpost, Sygate, Tiny, and ZA were the most recommended, however Kerio and Sygate were the most popular 2003-2004.
http://www.antionline.com/showthread...hreadid=257776
cheers
:cool:
I used the free version of ZA for a long time (like 2 years) but it just started to piss me off. I ended up switching to Sygate a couple months ago and it's been working smoothly so far.
*crosses fingers*
mjk
I use Kerio Personal Firewall, robust and free. You can download it from http://www.kerio.com/kpf_home.html. Pooh Sun Tzu has also written an excellent article you can find here: http://antionline.com/showthread.php...hreadid=255443 as to configuring it.
Security software maker Zone Labs updated its desktop firewall on Monday, adding new features that aim to put the kibosh on viruses, the company said.
Interesting what?
http://newsense.nnsol.com/readnews.asp?artid=49
They tried suing a few companies that did tests on their firewalls. A simple script could crash the thing and it would crash "open", that's not a good thing. ZA contended that they were "reverse-engineering" their code, etc. etc. put a couple of them out of business because of the legal fees.Quote:
ZA also has ahistory of not listening to it's users and their concerns.
Eh, they might have changed by now..... yeah like M$ has changed.
I believe ZA is now owned by Checkpoint, my experience with Checkpoint has been very positive, so maybe they have changed. ;)Quote:
Originally posted here by KorpDeath
They tried suing a few companies that did tests on their firewalls. A simple script could crash the thing and it would crash "open", that's not a good thing. ZA contended that they were "reverse-engineering" their code, etc. etc. put a couple of them out of business because of the legal fees.
ZA also has ahistory of not listening to it's users and their concerns.
Eh, they might have changed by now..... yeah like M$ has changed.
Cheers: