ZoneAlarm 7 or Outpost 4?

I am trying to choose between ZoneAlarm Pro and Outpost 4. I just want an easy firewall to use other than the Windows Firewall that I don't have to spend a lot of time configuring and the one which is more safe.

Any suggestions?

 

Outpost is more safe according to http://www.matousec.com/projects/windows-personal-firewall-analysis/leak-tests-results.php As far as ease of use maybe Zonealarm but I use Outpost 4.

EDIT: When I say more safe I mean passes more leaktests.

Thanks,

Chris

 

This question is best answered by Stem as he has worked with many FW's.

I moved away from ZA Pro not because it was easier to use (it was easier) but because it phoned home even though configured not to via it's own user options.

So what I am saying is "easier to use" may equate with "less safety" in the world of FW's and your 2 requirements may conflict. The rankings in the test results list CFW 2.4 high but it's rule settings for safety are heavy work from my point of view. IMO Saftey trumps ease of use every time.

 

I haven't used Outpost, but have used ZA for a few years. My only complaint about ZA is its instability with each new version. Upgrading is a crap shoot. If it's OK fine. But it could also play hell with your computer, and is difficult to uninstall. As I said, I used it beginning with version 5.5, and thought it was great. Then my luck ran out with version 6.5 and I was forced to uninstall it. I'm a happy Comodo user now.

 

I started with ZoneAlarm free, then went to ZAP ended with ZAP 5.5. Went to Outpost Pro.

 

Hi, folks: I have used ZA Pro 6.5, then 7.337 when I encountered a major problem; ZA's TrueVector service was disabled by Prevx's scan, why? I do not know, but this bug prompted me to delete ZA pro immediately. A FW's heart is STOPPed by another app? you must be kidding. I have not tested its new build 362 yet, but once bitten by a snake, one will be afraid of all ropes. I would stay away for now until... . I have not used OP 4 yet, but its configuration process might be very interesting from my hand-on experiences w/ 3.5.. Good luck.

 

I use Zone Alarm Pro version 7.0.302.000 and the only real problem with it, is that it will freeze up right after startup on the internet. This will last about 2 minutes or less and then everything will be normal again. I have never had any type of problems uninstalling Zone Alarm, always made sure all the old registry keys/files were removed and anything else that was Zone Alarm connected was removed and then installed the newer version. By the so called question about calling home, well i have no problem there at all, as all avenues of any possiblility has been blocked, therefore there is NO calling home from my computer to Zone Alarm. IMO only, no matter what type of firewall you have installed on your computer, it will call home, unless you are able to stop it from doing so.

 

Zone Alarm's True Vector service calls home, this is a well known issue. For what purpose, I don't know. Calling is not such a problem in itself, the problem is that the firewall actually conceals that. You will not be warned by ZA, nor will you see that in the logs. You can use any packet sniffer to check that if you have doubts. Makes you wonder what else ZA conceals...
If you try to block True Vector service from connecting, the firewall will malfunction. I tried that (in the past) and got a BSOD from ZA

Other than that, ZA is a nice app.

That's a bold statement. And so untrue also. I know a firewall (or two) that does not call home . But as I said, calling home is not a real issue as long as it's well documented. Some firewalls do have an update feature...

And finally, a reply to topic -

Outpost without a doubt. This is my personal preference, I like this firewall very much. I tried the current build and it really played nice with my system. And please do not use leaktest results to compare firewalls as suggested. Outbound control requires user intervention, so what does leakproof firewall do for you if you don't know how to answer popups. As I often like to rant - you can't just install a software and be "safe", you would have to know how to properly use it.

Cheers,

 

You are using the wrong version! These bugs were smoothed out with 7.0.337.000 and we are now on 7.0.362.000. I would at least try this latest Version.

 

This is incorrect.

 

Hi Talent:

Just to pursue this ZA call home thing a bit slower and without any "heat" in my question/comment.

Let's for the sake of this post assume you are correct when you said :

"IMO only, no matter what type of firewall you have installed on your computer, it will call home, unless you are able to stop it from doing so."


Since you use ZA and wanted to prevent it from calling home as with any FW what/how exactly did you do to your set up to block off that possibilty in ZA? Please post all the blocking rules, application rules and the sites names so others can do it as well?

I'm not kidding, I really want to know

 

Yes, the calling home issue with ZA Pro and Free I believe is well documented, but with what version did it start calling home does someone remember?

 

Hi Merc:

Good question, don't know the answer but the vendor advocates here will never tell us if they know! My speculation is it goes back a long way and includes all ZA product versions not just limited to Pro and free. But I can't verify that.
Stem may know if he has tested other versions. The safe assumption for us is they all do it. It may be that it is related to the CP takeover, but again I say this is strictly speculation. But really when you think about it why deal with a vendor who has such a mind set whatever the reasons are?

Stem indicated there are FW's that don't do it. Which are they? That should be our short list.

One I think must be CFW, so if their version 3 comes out free and is easy to use and well designed as then it's all over.

In the meantime my search continues

I'm waiting for Multi-Talented's solution as per my last post.

 

Whenever I review/post about a firewall, I post info on this (I always have), it is not just a case of IF a firewall calls home, it is also if a firewall can call home without popup/knowledge to the user (Hard_coded rules). As simple example, if we look at ZA, its main process "vsmon", have you ever attempted to create rules for this process, or even attempted to place this in the application list,... you cannot, and vsmon is able to make whatever connections. This was the process that did make the outbound connections (the call home). Now dont get me wrong, I know I have been accused of attacking ZA due to this, but I will report any such findings of ANY firewall/ security application that I find connects out, or is able to connect out without user knowledge/warning/logging.

As for the choice between ZA and OP pro,.. my personal choice between the 2 would be OP pro, not just based on the hard_coded rules, but also by the reported (and my own findings) of problems.

 

i am using outpost for a long time and i even use it without any router or hardware firewall..on one of my computer ...
its give really good protection but still its depends on your own rule setting and the your surfing habbits .........but at defult mode its is also very good
i tested all leaktest my self its pass all but the last one aklt.exe(it passes 3 test out of 5) which is quite good if you use it with any good HIPS program i can say it will give you a very good protection.......

 

Hello.

Just to confirm this outbound for anyone who still may have some doubts, I have used DSA now -





This is on ZA Pro 7.0.337 startup, two different reboots, you can see it uses http AND https. Now, I can block this with no side effects with DSA. I am not quite sure why it gave me a BSOD before, but it was over a year ago (with different version of ZA, not sure which) so the BSOD may not have been related to ZA at all

Cheers guys.

 

Hi Seer:

Well done! Not surprising to many but when you see the jpg's it drives home the points we have being making!

Tell me about DSA, what is it and how would it compliment a security setup like mine a HW FW, a SW FW (in/out) an AV and a ASW tool? Can I feed it a set of sites NOT to access?

If this is a stupid question I apologize in advance? But then if I don't ask how will I learn?

TY

 

You would need to install privatefirewall to get the block zone (privatefirewall is intergrated with DSA,.. a little buggy on my last tests,.. and I am still awaiting update release)

 

Hi Stem and Seer:

Okay for me I'll hold, not having an on line test PC yet I'll stick to my current shorter list.

 

Had ZoneAlarm but had some problems with it. Have been with OutPost since then and don't plan to try anything else.

 

Can anyone tell me about memory usage of ZA vs Outpost Pro?

And what about PC performances?

Thanks.
Mike

 

I am a former ZASS user. I have never checked out Outpost, but after a few years using ZASS, I uninstalled it in favor of Comodo. Immediately after uninstalling ZASS and installing Comodo, I found the response time of my system was cut in half and shutdown time went from 30 seconds to 19 seconds. I never checked to see how much memory ZASS was using but it must have been significant. I have a GB of RAM.

 

Hi!
Outpost Pro between 20 to 100MB. It varies according to system load and other factors. ZA PRO is between 15 to 60MB. Depending on system load and other factors.

Performaces: Both run well on my setup but, as usual, the best is to try them... they may not work well on yours.

Hope this helps.

Cheers,
Fax

 

Agreed, the speed of the system improves when users switch to less "bloated" tools. Mike, ZA 7 has many versions with various levels of resource usage.

The safety issues though far exceed the concern on RAM usage.

If it were down to those 2 choices this has already been answered by Stem one of our resident FW experts (he tests things first, speaks later)

".....As for the choice between ZA and OP pro,.. my personal choice between the 2 would be OP pro, not just based on the hard_coded rules, but also by the reported (and my own findings) of problems......" Stem

 

Zonealarm is soooo slow. It slows system down. It doesn't matter what system you are running. I have been using ZA for many years and since a few weeks I feel I am so liberated. Browsing on inernet is much faster, computer boots much faster (about 15-25 seconds faster).

3 notebooks, 1 PC tested:
1) Dell Inspiron XPS M1330, Win Vista, with 2.4 core duo, 4 GB RAM, 7200 harddrive, brand new
2) Dell Inspiron 1100, Win 2000, with 2.4 Ghz,1 GB ram, 4200 hard drive, 3.5 years old
3) Dell 4400 Dimension, Win XP, 1.9 Ghz, 768 MB Ram, 5400 hard drive, 4 years old
4) Dell Latitude CPi A-Series, Win 2000, 366 Mhz, 256 MB ram, 8 years old (btw, I love this old machine)....

I have been using ZA on machine 2 and 4 for several years. I tried using it on machine 3 with similar results (see below). This week - for testing purposes- I installed ZA on the brand new machine #1 as well...

Results:
In all 3 laptops and the PC with all different configurations (M1330 is brand new with nothing on it)...Zone Alarm considerably slowed down my internet and overall computer experience.

In case of Vista, I have used the Vista version of Zone Alarm that comes in ZA Suite. ZA Pro doesn't run on Vista.

Anyways, all said, once I uninstalled ZA it was like magic. All computers work considerably faster.

Conclusion:
Test your system speed with and without ZA. I bet in most cases ZA will slow down your PC. If so - get rid of it. ZA is a good FW but you pay high price.

Comodo/Outpost:
I can't tell you much because I am still testing both. Comodo seems to be sweet. Hope there is no cath in the "free", especially considering the fact this company that makes Comodo has little bit questionable history.

Outpost - still testing. Looks well rounded and doesn't slow down system.

Another player:

ESS (Eset Smart Security).. from makers of the great NOD32 Antivirus:
This is still in Beta. Free for Beta Testers. Runs on Vista as well. Extremely light on resources. New interface. Well - some people said they don't like the old interface in NOD32. Perhaps this is questions of taste.

I am testing EES on machine #1. The only thing I don't like so far is that the rules and configuration is hidden in the options/setup. So every time I need to edit rules I have to dig like crazy through whole setup menu. But it is still in Beta, so lets see...

Hope this helps....