ZoneAlarm Pro versus ZoneAlarm Free regarding stability

Hi
I'm running Windows 7 x64 ultimate edition and up till now, I don't have stability with sleep or hibernation at times because of the ZoneAlarm Pro v91.603.000 which I was trying so I ditched it and put instead of it Comodo Firewall v4.1.150349.920 which is the latest firewall avaialble from Comodo and My windows behaved well when sleeping/hibernating or resuming from sleeping/hibernating but this firewall is too complicated for me and I discovered that it does not perfectly block access to applications I instructed NOT to allow access such as Babylon Pro which dies on me whenever it accesses the internet because I'm running an older version which I like so I don't wanna upgrade but the developers are forcing me to upgrade by messing my babylon from the internet.

All in all, I don't know how this thing is working and it's too complicated for me. ZoneAlarm was much easier and I wanna return to it so let me ask:
If I used the free version of ZA (which has a different version number of 9.2.057.000 than the Pro version), Does that mean I have a better chance of stability since I'll be using, hopefully, another version of the Vsmon driver?

 

Looking at the change log for both I think it is a fair assumption and as you like ZA you got nothing to lose by trying. And if still no luck, there are other firewalls as you know

 

I don't think there are lots of other firewalls. I'm restricted by that x64 thing!!! For example, I downloaded outpost free and when I tried to install it, I got a message saying that the free version is not supported on windows 7 x64 even though they mentioned on their site that the free version supports the 64 edition!!

 

magoood,

I'm using the same version of ZA Pro as you, but I'm not having a problem with sleep mode. Give ZA Free a try.

Maybe Windows 7 Firewall Control will better suit you.

http://majorgeeks.com/Windows_7_Firewall_Control_d5578.html

ZA Free is my favorite firewall. ZA Pro is good, also.

 

Magood, I'm using ZA Extreme with Win7 64 Home Premium. I'm assuming the firewall section is the same as ZA Pro, but currently, I'm experiencing no sleep/hibernation issues on my Acer laptop. If you have a registered copy of ZAP, it would be worth doing a live chat with support to see if they can help resolve your issues. Actually, I just re-read your post and I see that you most likely have a 30 day trial version of ZAP. If you're still within your evaluation period, give their support a shot.

 

I can echo the other posters. ZA Extreme on Win7 and no issue with sleeping mode. What kind of issues are you experiencing?

Sometimes if your DHCP IP is not set as trusted or your trusted zone is not set to MEDIUM (default) you may have connections issues on waking up. At least this is the most common problem with sleeping. This is why, at install, ZA add your DHCP IP as trusted.

Cheers,
Fax

 

I really like ZoneAlarm firewall, but ZoneAlarm users forum provides extremely poor support.

The users forum should be scrapped and replaced with a forum run by ZoneAlarm engineers.

A great firewall like ZA should have a forum like avast! has.

IMHO, avast! has the best support forum.

Unlike ZoneAlarm users forum, avast! support forum doesn't delete posts of anyone wanting help.

 

PC Tool Firewall. No Hips 0n7-64. Good Protection. Easy to install & uninstall. Light. Works Good for me.

 

PC Tools Firewall is too buggy for me!

From my experience all PC Tools software is bugware.

I'll take ZA fw with poor support over PC Tools Firewall any day.

PC Tools does have good support in their forum. They try anyway.

 

I thought that too until I tried both ZAP & PCTFW. PCTFW is bug free for me at least. ZAP cost money & works no better than PCTFW. I suspect that once the HIPS is gone most of the bugs disappear. PCT also has good firewall protection & in the 7-64 state seems to be a lot like Look n Stop. I'm going to keep it for a while at least until Online Armor brings out a non beta 7-64 Firewall. Doesn't seem to be happening though.

 

The couple of times I've used it, I've found the ZA live chat support to be excellent. However, it would be nice if they provided support via their user forum as well.

 

Interesting... to observe how this thread has developed during days.

From a legitimate question on ZAPRO/ZAFREE issues (the OP questions) to a fight on which is the more buggy software: PCTOOLS or ZA. And how good Avast forum is ... LOL

Well, yes... for sure this would have not survived in the ZA forum

May be its time that this thread goes back to OP question? I would personally no suggest the downgrade the ZAPRO with ZAFree due to the limited features of ZAfree as compared to ZAPro. Probably better to move to another free solution unless you find the source of the 'sleeping' problem in the ZAPRO.

 

I have no idea how Avast got into this, but the roaming off topic with the "such and such is way better than *insert any other brand here* is normal for here, lol. I would NOT suggest going to ZA Free after using Pro. You will regret having so many options/settings taken away. Does ZA Free do a decent job? Yes, it does, but if application control is what you are needing,stick with Pro or move on. If Online Armor would get moving on their 64bit version, I'd point you to them. It's one firewall with HIPS that is surprisingly easy to understand. Whether it or any other is "better", is going to depend on you and your needs alone, not our opinions or a bunch of articles.

Comodo has always been complicated and it's full of screwy things like not remembering answers, putting files back in its pending list no matter how many times you remove them, and so on. Don't get me wrong, you can lock your system down like Fort Knox with it..when the thing works right. Back to ZA, there may or may not be a real difference in the driver, so whether that works or not I don't know.