Is there really something wrong with Zone Alarm?

Discussion in 'other firewalls' started by Diver, Mar 5, 2005.

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  1. Dazed_and_Confused

    Dazed_and_Confused Registered Member

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    I've used ZA for quite a while. I am considering switching back to the free version, though. The Pro version has become too bloated and resource hungry by trying to be more than just a firewall. :rolleyes:
     
  2. Diver

    Diver Registered Member

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    Daisey-

    I think the free version uses just aout as much memory. That is a nice avatar picture.

    K-

    I saw your post on 602, just like a moth before a flame.. One must look carefully at the log to do the expert rules. The block rule does not strike me as illogical, as I use similar rules with some of the P2P apps. With ZA each application sits in its own compartment. Thre are no "any" application rules as you would have with Kerio 2.15. I tried a global DNS rule, but it did not work. Some applications may need a loopback rule to work.
     
  3. Kerodo

    Kerodo Registered Member

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    I'm going to run the new 5.5 ZA Pro for a while now. I think it's a good firewall basically, even though I don't need all the "extras". I'll just turn them off. I'll probably work with the rules for a while and see if I can make sense of them.

    I also just installed the latest Avast 4.6 and they seem to have fixed the problems I had with it before. What a nice AV it is too. I used it for a long time before and liked it best.
     
  4. Kerodo

    Kerodo Registered Member

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    It was fatal... :D
     
  5. Sputnik

    Sputnik Registered Member

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    Can anybody provide me the latest "Plus" version, it was around v4.5 right? Think that's still the best one around... Lost my installer anyway :(
     
  6. Diver

    Diver Registered Member

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    K-

    Quite a few folks consider Avast to be the best of the free AV's.
     
  7. Smokey

    Smokey Registered Member

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    Here *puppy*
     
  8. mercurie

    mercurie A Friendly Creature

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    I Agree. ZA seems to be newbie recommended choice here and in many places. Should not be something that has to be configured to stop 'phone home'. Of course phone home should not be an issue with free. ;)
     
  9. mercurie

    mercurie A Friendly Creature

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    I hear you man...I hear you...and could not agree more. ;)
     
  10. On NAV, it's just horrible. It runs all over the place and makes about 8 million needless changes to the registry. It uses ridiculous amounts of memory with something like a half dozen different processes. Then it becomes 'corrupted' and will neither uninstall nor reinstall. Half the Symantec support site is devoted to instructions for how to *manually* uinstall corrupted NAV installations -- all a waste of time, I wasted 2 days trying to do it, manual installation is simply not possible. At that point you have derelict software on your system. The only option is to re-build or leave the wreckage on your system and go use someone else's AV.

    I will never allow another Symantec product on my computer.
     
  11. Kerodo

    Kerodo Registered Member

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    That is my experience also...
     
  12. Kerodo

    Kerodo Registered Member

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    I guess I'm one of them. I used it for over a year until around 4.5 and then I started seeing some error messages in my event viewer relating to Avast. So I stopped using it for a while. 4.6 seems to be excellent so far, so I'm back to Avast. I've tried AntiVir and AVG and prefer Avast to both. I won't touch Norton anymore. Way too big and invasive...

    I suppose I better mention firewalls here so I don't stray too far from the topics at hand... :)
     
  13. Arup

    Arup Guest

    Totally agree with you on Avast, cant believe they offer so much in their free version. Just incredible.
     
  14. Kerodo

    Kerodo Registered Member

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    What is Avast 4.6 doing with their Web Scanner? I noticed tonight that I had to change all my Kerio rules to accomodate it. I had to remove my loopback rules, which messed things up altogether. It must be some kind of proxy (which I hardly understand) and everything accessing remote 80 goes thru it or something. Same for my newsreader. Also had problems using it with Jetico. And I also noticed that it seemed to be causing my system to do a lot of NetBios Name lookups outbound, which I blocked...

    Can you explain how it's working? I'm a little confused.
     
  15. Sputnik

    Sputnik Registered Member

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    Thanks you very much, I installed it again... And it's wonderfull... I enabled the "Advanced Program Control" and it blocks the leaktests (well not all, but most of them 19/24 or something...) :p
    I think this version of ZoneAlarm delivers good enough protection (I'm behind a NAT-Router too) don't you think so?
     
    Last edited: Mar 6, 2005
  16. Diver

    Diver Registered Member

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    Just enabled advanced program control myself, way cool, and not an excessive number of alerts. The ones I saw were mostly expected, one program starting another, and so forth.
     
  17. Randy_Bell

    Randy_Bell Registered Member

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    I have no doubt Big Yellow is very upset to hear this news of loss of you as customer. :D :D
     
  18. Randy_Bell

    Randy_Bell Registered Member

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    Not mine, never had hardly any problems with Symantec software. Sorry to get OT but sometimes I feel the need to post a "counter-opinion" to the bashing of Norton that goes on. ;)

    It has become a popular thing to bash Norton, just as it is popular to bash MS; I wish the bashing would ease up but at least I can say something in their defense occasionally. ;)

    Btw, all your bashing has not caused Symantec to lose one percentage point in market share .. ;)

    Now, back on topic. ;)
     
  19. Sputnik

    Sputnik Registered Member

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    I noticed, ZA 5.5 gives much more "fake" alerts in the advanced program control then 4.5 does... But they both preform the same at the leaktests...
     
  20. Diver

    Diver Registered Member

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    Symantec's big problem is not NAV bashers, it is the looming possibility that Microsoft will launch a consumer antivirus product. Wall Street financial zombies estimate that MS would grab 35% of the market within 2 years.

    ZA plus 4.5 users, what kind of memory footprint are you seeing. 5.5 pro seems to stay around 14mb, sometimes a bit less. Going into the interface and playing with a lot of stuff can cause it to grow to 20 mb, but this is not normal usage.
     
  21. Is there something really wrong with zonealarm?

    Will for me it is great! it causes more problems, on peoples computer than any firewall I have came across on the market! I do about 15-20 house call per week,and if it was not for Zonealarm free,pro suite,user's having many problems, I would out of business!,so thank you Zonelabs for making such a crap firewall!,which seems to corrupt so many computer registry's and in doing so I have alot of work to do,Thank you ZoneLabs! Blotware!!!!!!!! Carpware,just plain sucks!But I do make money from people misfortunes with za software,I feel bad and don't charge them much,remove za fix there registry and install a good firewall(anything but zonealarm)stay clear!!!!!
     
  22. snowbound

    snowbound Retired Moderator

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    Mine stands at about 8MB. ;) :D



    snowbound
     
  23. Hi Freddythefixer.

    Thanks for the information, I was going to buy zonealarm pro.but I have now changed my mind,due to the fact it is bloatware,heavy on system resources,and not the best firewall to purchase and they have no customer support from what I have read about them,i for one will keep away from this company,Thank you Freddy
     
  24. FransK

    FransK Registered Member

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    I have Zonealarm running on 5 of my PCs and it works great. Not sure what these "other people" are supposedly complaining about.

    I run Webroot Spysweeper on one of those PCs and the new beta Microsoft Anti Spyware on the other 4. As a virus scanner I use eTrust Antivirus. My current router is a Linksys WRT54GS and I have never had problems with Zonealarm except for a while ago when I purchased a license that supposedly worked in conjunction with my previous Linksys router (it would allow me to input the 5 client license directly into the router's web control panel). That never worked, so Zonealarm support gave me a non-router specific key and that worked fine.

    I know that ZA has a new suite out that would replace some of what I have, but the version of eTrust Antivirus 7.0 and the one in the suite are not quite the same, and since I already paid for my copies of eTrust I am staying with my current config.

    Bottom line - Zone Alarm Pro has worked 100% as advertised and has been a valued tool in my arsenal. I have also tried the Norton Suite and Black Ice Defender, in case that matters

    Regards,
    Frans
     
  25. Hello Frans,

    Some people have no problems,but most do! Sory if you can't except that,but as I have said if it was not for zonelabs,I would not have not too many computers to fix every week,that's all I am saying stay clear of any zonelabs product free or otherwise!,there is much better out there and there out for profit only! They could care less about if you have a problem with there product,trust me I have spoken with all the people I have removed zonealarm from,they told customer support what this product did to there computer and so far just one had gotton any feed back,on how to get a refund,good luck to anybody who has zonealarm on there system,and thank you zonelabs,your poor firewall keeps me in bussiness!
     
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