ZA Free vs ZA Pro inbound?

How does ZA Free inbound protection stack up against the Pro version? I know it's not as customisable but are they basically the same in their inbound monitoring? The reason I ask is that I like ZA but have no interest in leaktests or using my hard earned on a firewall.
I'm reluctant to start a firewall vs firewall thread, however I would also like to know peoples opinions of ZA Free's inbound protection compared to the other well known firewalls but in particular ZA Pro.

 

Just go here. Pro is better. I was using ZAAS which I got for free on patch Tuesday. Zone Alarm takes alot of resources. When I was using it it took up on the average 36K. Use Online Armor.

http://www.matousec.com/projects/windows-personal-firewall-analysis/leak-tests-results.php

 

No offence my friend but I have no concern for leaktests or matousec's testing. I just want to know if ZA Free's inbound is as good as it's Pro or any other firewall.

 

No its not-check this comparison table with clickable descriptions on left;

http://www.zonealarm.com/store/content/catalog/products/znalm/comparison.jsp?dc=12bms&ctry=&lang=en&lid=zasupp_l

Probably your better choice for an up to date freebie would be either ;

Webroot-Online Armor-Comodo(more complex)or Filesclab,older but simple and efficient.

Dont worry about resource usage,whether its 15mb or 30mb,who cares when most people run memory size of 1000mb-2000mb.

 

If all you're concerned about is *inbound* then just go with ZA Free. They are both the same on inbound. Pro offers much more protection of your system and outbound, but I doubt there's any difference at all on pure inbound.

 

Another question if I may. Is it wise to use an old version of ZA. I'm considering 5.5.094. Will this leave me vulnerable? or are these old versions still acceptable to use.

 

I'd guess that under normal conditions you could probably get away with it, but my preference is to try to keep fairly current as you never know if or when they may fix a vulnerability or issue that makes a difference. If you want to see what each version fixes and changes, that info is available on their site...

 

Thanks for the replies.

 

Kerodo-How would you define the difference between the Advanced and Basic Network and Program Firewall -and the lack of Smart Defense Adviser?

 

If you are running Vista, consider ZA AV rather than ZA SS. The differences are mostly missing from the Vista version of ZA SS.

 

I think most of that relates more to the outbound portion of things, no? He was asking about inbound only earlier... unless I misunderstand your question....

 

Its very difficult to get exact definitions about whats what with ZA-obviously for marketing reasons-But the Free version is just the Basic and thats it-so the Advanced SHOULD have more inbound protection features the way I see it,but its not defined.

Also the "ZoneAlarm SmartDefense Advisor is a service that enables you to instantly analyze the possible causes of an alert, and helps you decide how to respond. When available, SmartDefense Advisor provides advice as to how to respond to Program alerts"

Some must be Inbound.Not available in the Free.

Actually its all a bit nebulous,so on second thoughts,probably the Free would be a safe ,excellent choice

PS I have a variation on your sig-"Fix it til its Broke!"

 

The way I see it, inbound protection on both are the same. Inbound is inbound after all, right? Packets come at you from the outside, ZA blocks 'em if they're unsolicited. Pretty simple. Where all the extra stuff comes in is in system protection and outbound control. The SmartDefense Advisor stuff is only for outbound as far as I know.

But perhaps I am wrong on some of this. There is the SPI factor which everyone analyses and debates over so much, and that does come into play when allowing packets back in from an outbound connection, so perhaps that's what you're thinking of too?

It gets pretty complicated in some ways I guess..

Anyway, that's what we all gotta keep doing. Fixin' things till they break.

 

Thanks for your explanation,what you say sounds right