Kerio 4.2.2 Free vs Zone Alarm 6.1.744 Free

With the problems that have been reported about the newer versions of both these popular Firewalls, I was just wondering which of these two offered better protection? Kerio 4.2.2 Free which I personally use and have no problems with, (Unlike 4.3.268 on my Two User Account) has with some setting changes, passed at least 5 of the leak tests on firewallleaktest web site. I have also read where ZA Free 6.1.744 passed several as well, with users of that version having none of the problems reported in the last two versions of that Firewall. What ever is going on with both of these Firewalls, at the very least needs to be addressed and fixed much faster than like in the past. It is almost, in my opinion, shameful that anyone should even want to compare these two older versions because they are fearful of using the newest ones. I realize there are many people who do use the newest versions of both without any problems, but my point is that apparently the older versions still seem to have less problems than the newer ones. At least this is how I see it from what I have read on various web sites. I will add that I do have a life beyond Firewalls. This all started by doing some research on Firewalls to replace my Windows XP one, and as I did, it slowly amazed me how it seemed there were more problems caused by using a Firewall that offers outbound protection, than using one that doesn't. I'm not talking about any caused by the user either.

 

I would tend to think that Kerio 4.2 might give you a little more protection and features than ZA Free in terms of outbound control. ZA just gives you some basic on/off control for apps. With Kerio, you get that, as well as the possiblility of creating more advanced rules if/when necessary, and also you get the ability to control which apps can execute, and which ones are allowed to start other apps. So Kerio would appear to be a little more advanced. As far as inbound goes, I'd say they were about the same.

 

Thanks Kerodo. I really appreciate this. All I want is to feel a little more secure while being on the web (I do consider myself a safe surfer) with something more than just my Windows XP Firewall to protect my system. While I'm sure ZA Free would give me that, and would like to try the older version for it's simplicity. I on the other hand like the Applications Behavior Blocking feature present in Kerio Free. This feature I believe enables it to pass more leak tests on firewallleaktest than ZA Free if I'm not mistaken. What do you think of Kerio 4.2.2 for a Firewall? I recently read on the matousec web site that this and other older versions don't have the vulnerbility that Sunbelt Kerio Firewall 4.3.246 is claimed to have, and corrected in the 4.3.268 version. Also am I correct that setting Any other application in Kerio Free to 4 asks makes it more effective? Thanks again.

 

Well, I would tend to use the latest version of something unless there were problems preventing me from doing so. I'm sure 4.2.2 is fine though. I personally am not that fussy about all the details and supposed vulnerabilities. I'm sure there are "vulnerabilities" in any software firewall if one were to poke and prod enough. The question is, are any of them likely to be taken advantage of under ordinary home user circumstances. To my mind, not likely. But anyway, that's a personal decision everyone has to make I guess, whether to worry about these things or not.

As far as setting Any Other App to 4 Asks, that's what I did when I ran it. That way you will get more prompts as it will ask you for approval for both localhost/loopback traffic as well as regular internet traffic, both inbound and outbound. Again, you can set things to suit your own desires, which is nice.

Kerio 4's main problem thru 4.0-4.2 development was always the bugs and issues people had with it, but I think when they hit 4.2 and above, it was about as good as it gets for Kerio 4. Seems to me also that since Sunbelt has taken over, it has perhaps gotten a little buggier in minor ways and I don't see much Sunbelt presence in any of the forums either. So I am not impressed with Sunbelt much, even though I was one who purchased Kerio 4.2.3 when Sunbelt repackaged it and sold it for $14.95 or whatever the price was. They acquired it, and then proceeded to do pretty much nothing with it for what, 10 months or more now? Oh well..

But use the one that works best for you. If that's 4.2.2 then I don't see why you can't go with it.

 

Thanks once again Kerodo. I did have trouble with the last version of Kerio, and it actually used more memory than 4.2.2 as well. Not a big deal, but I like that 4.2.2 runs Between 8 to 15 MB on my CPU. Still have the itch to try ZA Free for some reason though, who knows maybe someone it will convince me to at least give it a try. Did you ever use ZA Free 6.1.744? How about Comodo? I liked that one alot, but it was too high on memory usage. However, new version coming out soon may take care of that. As you alluded to earlier though, Kerio 4.2.2 may be enough for an average user like myself. Take care, and by the way what Firewall do you use?

 

Yep, by all means, no harm in trying ZA Free. I have used it before, although not lately. At the moment I am using Kaspersky Internet Security 6. I have a router, so I am not all that concerned about the software firewall and KIS gives me quite good protection in general.

 

Hey Kerodo, I heard good things about Kaspersky. As far as Zone Alarm Free, I just wonder if it the uninstalls okay in the 6.1.744 version? I read of the troubles some people had with uninstalling the newer versions. Thanks

 

If you are worried about the uninstaller not removing anything, all you need to do is to act the /clean switch to uninstaller's path. That will remove everything.

 

Hey saw your other post in another forum, and asked same question there about uninstall. Could you elaborate a little more for me here too? I promise I won't ask again. LOLOLO

 

Normally running the uninstaller without any switches should remove everything. However in the past, some people had trouble uninstalling everything because ZL's IMSecure products also uses the True Vector Engine. The /clean switch was built into it to force the removal of everything even if you had another product that used the True Vector Engine. Here are the instructions:

 

Thank you very much. Do you think with your experiences that this will be necessary with uninstalling ZA Free 6.1.744, before installing a newer version without the bugs the current release has? Or can I just rely on the ZA uninstaller as is? Not that I don't think I'm capable of doing this, or doubt what your saying. I was just curious if you or anyone had trouble uninstalling 6.1.744 the regular way without any trouble. Also what is your opinion of 6.1.744 verses 6.5.731.000? (resource usage, leak tests, stability) I am feeling more confident with installing ZA Free now because of your help. Thanks

 

So far the only time I used the clean uninstall is when ZA 5.0 was released which was incredibly buggy. Other than that, I always just used the uninstaller as it is. But if you really want to be cautious, then you may just want to use the clean switch. It isn't that difficult to add "/clean" to the shortcut. Plus by doing this way, you always reduce the chances of "something" happening. Some of the senior contributors and gurus on the official ZL forum always keep to this way and they haven't gotten into trouble.

As for version 6.1.744.000 and 6.5.731.000, the free version won't have much difference between them. The True Vector Engine has only undergone a minor revision. I don't think you find find any significant differences in terms of their resource usage etc. The main thing that has changed is that ZA 6.5.731.000 is no longer compatible with Win 98/ME, so if you are using Win 98/ME, you have to stay with ZA 6.1.744.000.

 

Okay fine, and thanks again. Do I type /clean without the quote marks? Or type it with them? "/clean" Also do you remember what the memory usage was for ZA free 6.1.744 in Task Manager? Kerio 4.2.2 is around 10MB right now, which isn't too bad, and System Idle Process is at 98 CPU.

 

When you add the clean switch to the shortcut, it should look like this (note space in before /clean is added):

"C:\Program Files\Zone Labs\ZoneAlarm\zauninst.exe" /clean

I use ZA Pro which has more features and my average mem usage when using bittorrent is about 15000kb while CPU usage at the very most takes 2%. Bittorrent requires lots of simultaneous connections and therefore more resoucres are used to anlyse packets. So its been prety good for me. Some have experince higher and lower usages. It depends on how your computer is set up. For me ZA takes the most resources just after boot-up (approx 20000kb) but it gradually tones down as you use your computer.

 

Good. Did you ever go on matousec.com? I'm not sure how reliable this guy is, but if you look at the comparisons of Kerio 4.3.246 and ZA Free 6.1.744, it looks like ZA protects more areas of CPU than Kerio. This may be better than the need to pass additional leak tests ( I believe ZA 6.1.744 passes 3 or 4)which for an average user like myself might actually be better. If you you want to take a look at this comparison, and tell me your opinion I would appreciate it. Thanks.