Question, firewall and broadband

I'm still using the newest ZA free on dialup. As of next week, we will FINALLY have broadband here and we're signing up immediately.

My question: When I downloaded the ZA free, one of the questions it asked was what my Internet connection was and I clicked on dialup. Does ZA need to be set up differently for broadband? I mean, will I have to make any changes, or uninstall and reinstall ZA for the broadband?

We will be operating from, I think, a D-Link router with hardware firewall in place, since that's the equipment that is provided. Don't know what model or anything like that yet. On our home will be a small antenna that connects via line of sight to a nearby tower a couple of miles away, for whatever that info is worth in regards ZoneAlarm. A technician will do the install on our computers, a service provided as part of the package.

Thanks in advance for any assistance.

 

If I was you, I would certainly uninstall and reinstall ZoneAlarm, because ZA asks some important questions to configure itself during the installation and one these questions was about the internet connection : I choosed cable, because I have cable connection.

 

It should still work without install. But try it first.

 

Hi there, I am actually using ZA Pro 6 on ADSL broadband myself and it's been excellent and never had any issues what so ever. I did update mine to the latest version that other day to 6.1.737.000. Now also during the setup of mine in did ask me what type of connection I was using like Dial Up, ADSL, etc and the type of PC, Network etc.

I'm not if its really necessary, but personally if I were you I would uninstall and re-install ZA again and from here re-choose the broadband/ADSL connection or DSL. The main reason for this is to allow ZA to keep familiarise itself with your new settings. Now also during the final stage or near the end of the setup you will be asked to choose a zone which will be either Trusted or Internet followed by the name of your network. Make sure you choose Trusted Zone and than give your network a name which will be on the bottom of the Trusted Zone option.

So your basically getting satellite broadband it looks like it.

Now a work of warning, the free edition of ZA does not support wireless networks, so if your running or using wireless than I would seriously think of upgrading to ZA Pro 6, as this does support wireless networks.

Your Dlink router should also provide very good protection from its built in hardware firewall, normally this will be set to default when you install it. I'm using a Netgear DG834 and has been very good so far. Infact I've read where you can disable the ZA firewall and just use the hardware one, but for me I prefer to be safe than sorry.

BTW are you in the US, as I'm here in Australia.

Best of luck.

 

I have wireless here and ZA Free works fine. I'd try it out first and see before upgrading to ZAP. Might not be necessary...

 

How the connection will be made is beyond me. The computer has a network card and it will have a cable to the router. Whether the router will be wireless to the antenna, I don't know.

From router to the tower, 3 miles away, will be wireless. That I know for sure.

If it doesn't work, I'll remove ZA and just run via the hardware firewall for the time being,l and make sure my computer stays clean. I don't download emails or hang out in gaming, porn, warez, or any similar sites. Any downloading I do is from reliable sites to check out new antivirus and security type programs.

The wife's computer is more of a concern, since she does graphic work and does a lot more downloading than me, from graphics sites. She's picked up viruses from some of those places. We do not have a home network installed nor is there a need to since our computers are only a few feet apart.

 

I'm just going by what the Zone Alarm website says and what products support wireless and what doesn't. And as far as I know the free version doesn't, but like you said if your works well than that's a different story. But might be worth to check it out anyway.

Also I also recalled a while back they had ZA wireless edition listed on their website back can't seem to find it anymore. ZA Pro 6 has got wireless internet security intergrated within it.

 

Hi Chuck,

There is no need for you to uninstall ZA and then reinstall ZA again now that you are moving to broadband. Those questions during the installation are more of survey questions to allow Zone Labs to determine what sort of users it has.

 

@Chuck
In that case I was wrong. I'm lucky it wasn't a dangerous mistake. Sorry Chuck.

@unhappy_viewer
Thanks for the info unhappy_viewer. I didn't know that.