Best Zone Alarm version

For those who have used a number of Zone Alarm versions, especially the early versions:
Which is the Best Zone Alarm version?
Best as in, it is NOT BLOATED and STABLE.
Best as in, it provides great inbound and outbound FIREWALL PROTECTION, and not as a security suite....

 

Personally I would say version 4.5 was very stable and worked well.

 

The one I'm using @ the moment is one of their leanest packet filters....2.6.362 but 2.6.88.2 was very capable also.

 

Zonealarm Plus 4.5.594

 

So, it seems it's either 2.6 or 4.5... Can someone please tell me the major differences between the two versions? Is the 4.5 already a suite while the 2.6 is just a basic firewall?

 

I wonder is it still safe to use ver 2.6 or 4.5 while there so many bugs/vuln. discovered in these old ZA.

 

I gave up on ZoneAlarm after using ZoneAlarm Free for a very long time.
I was planning to buy ZoneAlarm Pro because I wanted a better firewall for my new computer,
but ZoneAlarm Pro = 2/3 security suite. ZoneAlarm Pro = Firewall + AS scanner, just the AV scanner is missing.
I want a pure firewall, not some kind of suite. What has Spyware to do with a firewall anyway.
I bought Look 'n' Stop instead, which has also Application Filtering like ZoneAlarm Free and Internet Filtering, something new I have to learn.

 

ZAF VER.# 5.5.094.000 works very well for Me for the last yr+.

 

ZA free 6.1.744.001 is stable, very good version.

 

Yes! I agree. I have no conflicts with 6.1.744.001 at all. I'm not going to budge. The 6.5 has to many issues.

 

I must agree here as well. I want a firewall, not a suite.

 

I agree.

 

ZA Pro, version 4.5.594.000.

 

What about the current ZoneAlarm free version . It is easy to use , controls packs easily and have "Lock hosts files" option .

 

The current (6.5.x.x) line of ZoneAlarm products are a buggy mess. With free products such as Jetico and Comodo available as well as a plethora of other reasonably high quality security software, Zone Labs had better start releasing a superior product.

 

I thought that I was the only one using 2.6.362, glad to see you're also using it Bubba. It does everything that I need, since Dec, 2001.

 

Do the very old versions of Zone Alarm (say 2.6 or 3.7) work with XP SP2 ?

 

Ah - that is a good question... especially in the light that 6.5 no longer installs on Win 98/ME.

 

Note , I am using Windows Firewall but have never had problems with the current ZoneAlarm free . With my old old computer (Win 9x) i didn't used firewall at all . When later I upgraded to XP , I used ICF , now WF .Never non-Microsoft firewall on my personal computer

 

For the sake of testing, I installed Zone Alarm Free 2.6 on my Windows XP SP2 and it worked ok...

Now, please stick to the topic. This thread is not about Windows Firewall. Thanks everyone for all the feedbacks. It's always good to hear from more experienced users.

 

Another old ZA question. I have XP Home sp2, and am on a router currently running Windows Firewall as a backup, meaning only incoming is checked. No problems with my current setup except lack of outgoing protection which I'd rather have, just in case.

I have ZA 2.6.362 free saved on CD and use it with Win98 on an old laptop I have, and like it. Since 2.6 seems to work with XP sp2, does anyone know if there are any problems running it with a router?

 

ZA v2.6.362 Pro

My favorite version, no frills, no bloat, just a small, quick, stateful packet inspector. You don't even know it's there and it takes very little resources compared to v6.5.744.000. It's light, smooth, and non-filling.

My only concern is security holes. A lot has changed in the malware world since this version was around.

 

Well, installed ZA 2.6.232 and couldn't get online at all, so had to uninstall.

I don't know if it's because it's an older version or if there was something else conflicting. I've read that ZA has problems with P2P and my router has that. Anyway, nothing ventured, nothing gained, and I tried.

 

I can't speak for the 6.x series (as I haven't tried any of them yet) but the oldest ZAF I recommend is 4.5.594.000. The older ones don't offer quite enough flexibility to suit me (I want to be able to manually add my own apps, etc.) Plus as already mentioned, newer versions have plugged the odd ZA security bugs that have been discovered here and there. So, bottom line, versions 2.x and 3.x are just a bit to old to satisfy me as much.

 

I was always a fan of 3.7, it seemed to run very well on my old computer. 4.5 was also very good imo. After that it seemed to get a little bloated and fell from my favour.