Is ZA Pro still the king of FW's

[Albinoni]

ZoneAlarm, love it or hate but this FW has been one of the main Daddy's if not the Grandpa of all FW's. I know ZA is a FW that you either love or hate. It has probably been out well even before other's were made and today is still quite going strong. I've used ZA Pro with NOD32 and let me rest assure that it worked like a dream.

[Perman]

Hi,folks: Very interesting question indeed. But,IMO, this question shaould be instead directed towards ZA's master, CheckPoint, and the question perhaps can be properly adjusted to this effect; Do you, CheckPoint, want ZA to be the King of FW? or Do you, CheckPoint, think ZA deserved to be called the King of ZA? I am a happy ZASS user, w/ v.6.5.737 only, as far as V.7.0 it is a BIG question mark, therefore I can not provide a truly-reflected answer, I will toss the ball to CheckerPoint's court. ???

[henryg]

LoL!!! The "king" has become fat and bloated.... More fat....more problems. One look at their forum....tells all. LoL. Wheather or not Z.A. is the "king"....is greatly debatable.;)

[RAV]

Every year, I try a series of new AV/AS/FW and always end up going with ZA. As for me, last year, I used ZAAS and now that they have adopted Kaspersky I switched to ZAAV, with less bloat and less $ than their full suite that has too many things that I don't really need. For, $20 the ZA firewall with AV is a great buy IMO. If you already have a AV then the ZA with AS is a good choice just to get the advanced firewall features over their free version.

[Wordward]

RAV do you think if i am using a router firewall that advanced features needed and free version would be good enough?

[farmerlee]

I don't know if its 'the king' but it is definitely ranked near the top fighting it out with the likes of comodo and outpost.

[RAV]

{QUOTE-> RAV do you think if i am using a router firewall that advanced features needed and free version would be good enough? <-QUOTE}

Yes. I also use a router for inbound and ZA for outbound plus the advanced features of the paid versions include extra protection using their OS firewall for example.

[QBgreen]

The King? No, not even a Duke! I've used the thing off and on since its inception, and as has been mentioned before, the post Check Point versions tend to be bug laden pains-in-the-ass. The last version that I used that truly ran as expected was ZAP 5.5xx. Of course, this was a Zone Labs version.

[zapjb]

{QUOTE-> The King? No, not even a Duke! I've used the thing off and on since its inception, and as has been mentioned before, the post Check Point versions tend to be bug laden pains-in-the-ass. The last version that I used that truly ran as expected was ZAP 5.5xx. Of course, this was a Zone Labs version. <-QUOTE}
Maybe middle of the road FW. But thats it.

[mercurie]

{QUOTE-> The King? No, not even a Duke! I've used the thing off and on since its inception, and as has been mentioned before, the post Check Point versions tend to be bug laden pains-in-the-ass. The last version that I used that truly ran as expected was ZAP 5.5xx. Of course, this was a Zone Labs version. <-QUOTE}For me it is ZAP 4.5.594 with my key that expired in Oct. 2004. Just recently dug up and reinstalled. Vintage. Like a 57 Chevy. Works just fine on my XP OS. The future Vista, not likely to work and will slowly fade away.

FW King now a days ;D ;D :thumbd: maybe the town fool fat bloated and the jokes are usually at the users expense. ;D

Are you sure 5.5 was a zone labs version I think that was a version shortly after the buy out by Checkpoint?

[noway]

Version 5.5=Checkpoint

http://download.zonelabs.com/bin/free/pressReleases/2004/pr_8.html
http://download.zonelabs.com/bin/free/information/zap/releaseHistory.html

It looks like the press release for the completed acquisition was March 29, 2004.
Version 4.5.594 was released April 12, 2004 but this is so soon after the acquisition that it is doubtful whether Checkpoint had any input on this one.
I think the only "kingly" versions were 2.6.362, 4.5.594.000, 5.5.094.000 and 6.1.744.001.

[EASTER.2010]

Zone Labs releases, yeah they did have their share of issues, in fact for me a few too many that eventually turned my attention elsewhere as in a Super-Stable (set-it-and-forget-it) Kerio 2.15. Even replaced XP Pro default so-called firewall with it and the darn thing intercepted an "outgoing attempt" that even AVG AntiVirus let slip in at the time.

Nope, fool me once shame on you, fool me twice, shame on me.

Am currently on the bandwagon of the latest 2.4 release of COMODO and couldn't be more satisfied. If ZoneAlarm works for you then best of luck in that group, i gave my attention to it long ago and it disappointed, so will never look back again. Besides, too many good & new competitors are beginning to come of age now.

[Wordward]

just install 4.5.594 free version. i know it old but will try it out. only need some outbound detection since i have router firewall. so far it seem ok time will tell. low memory at 11,214k. new version was around 25,000. for something simple i hope this work out.

[mercurie]

{QUOTE-> just install 4.5.594 free version. i know it old but will try it out. only need some outbound detection since i have router firewall. so far it seem ok time will tell. low memory at 11,214k. new version was around 25,000. for something simple i hope this work out. <-QUOTE}Based on your set up as described I think it will serve you well. :thumb:

[acr1965]

What about one of the older ZA free firewalls? I am thinking about installing on of the older versions on one of my computers. I suspect that one of the older versions (4.5 or 2.6) will provide all the detection I need. Any thoughts on this or on which old version would provide adequate, yet lightweight, protection?

[rdsu]

ZA never was the king Firewall for me, but I still not found the perfect one...

[lucas1985]

A perfect firewall does not exist and isn´t going to exist.

[rdsu]

{QUOTE-> A perfect firewall does not exist and isn´t going to exist. <-QUOTE}
Of course...

I should said "perfect"...

[chaos16]

I think for now Comodo could be one of the best? top 5? i would say it is Number 1 but ppl will disagree.

[rdsu]

{QUOTE-> I think for now Comodo could be one of the best? top 5? i would say it is Number 1 but ppl will disagree. <-QUOTE}
I agree with you, but still needs a lot of work to became stable...

[lucas1985]

The better firewalls are rule-based firewalls. Sadly, they don´t suit everyone.
Rule firewalls have less overhead and less "holes".
Talking about application-based firewalls, Comodo is among the top-three together with ZA and Outpost.

[BlitzenZeus]

I've been using firewalls before ZA was even in beta, and ZA has never been the king of anything except for being bloated while not being as configurable as other firewalls. It is just one that many newbies have flocked to as they don't know jack so they need something an beginner can use, and it has a fancy gui.

Firewalls are personal preference, there is usually a direct connection with the users level of knowledge, there is no best, but the more complex firewalls do offer more control while others lack the ability to do many things, however don't assume that just because a 'firewall' filters cookies doesn't mean that what you should expect, if that is what you expect, then your really don't know what you need.

[Hipgnosis]

maybe a stablehand or court jester....:) ....definitely not king

[ccsito]

Zone Alarm has a large number of users. As for being king of the FW arena, if it is, its position will be tenuous at best. Remember, Netscape was king of the browser arena in the mid-1990's and we all know what happened to that program. ;D

[Jarmo P]

{QUOTE-> Remember, Netscape was king of the browser arena in the mid-1990's and we all know what happened to that program. <-QUOTE}

From the "Book of Mozilla", http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Book_of_Mozilla
:
'And so at last the beast fell and the unbelievers rejoiced. But all was not lost, for from the ash rose a great bird. The bird gazed down upon the unbelievers and cast fire and thunder upon them. For the beast had been reborn with its strength renewed, and the followers of Mammon cowered in horror.'

About firewalls, I never used ZA Pro, but there always was and is much better firewalls than ZAF.

[778899]

yes,i love it too....

[Albinoni]

{QUOTE-> Zone Alarm has a large number of users. As for being king of the FW arena, if it is, its position will be tenuous at best. Remember, Netscape was king of the browser arena in the mid-1990's and we all know what happened to that program. ;D <-QUOTE}

A bit out of topic here, but personally I reckon Firefox 2.0 craps over IE 7.0.

[YeOldeStonecat]

I never considered it the "king of firewalls" in the first place...I put it way down at the bottom of the list along with McGufee and Symantec....I'd format my PC if those were ever installed on it.

If for some reason I need a 3rd party software firewall...I'll put Comodo on.