ZoneAlarm older versions

Hello;

Sorry to ask what might look like a silly question, but I recently installed on mycomputer an old version of ZA Free (2.6 if I recall) 'cause it is much lighter on CPU usage and resources than newer versions.

My question is: is it better to update ZA constantly, even if more recent versions tend to slow my pc? Or can I trust plder versions which, basically, seem to do the job very well (as I verified at pcflank) ?

Curious to get the forum's users's opinions in this regard;..
Thanks....

 

Firstly, this post might be better in the firewall section and secondly. Updates are made available for a reason. To keep up to date with the attacks you recieve. I would always suggest updating as soon as possible.

Jimbob

 

Hi; thanks for the answer...

Well, not sure the Kerio Firewall Users were glad when upgrading from 2.5 to the 4. generation, so it may be one example when upgrading is not necessarily a good reflex.

Updating to XP SP2, while a good thing on many machines, creates dysfunctionnalities on other.

One of the most recent versions of ZA (don't know which one, cause not at home and can't spend much time where I'm currently to research the web as I would like to) has been found to send some mysterious packets to ZoneLabs without the user's being aware of it. I don't know if this issue has been resolved, but again, one might hesitate to upgrade.

Some other upgrading products may sometimes add new features one might not find necessarily useful, or some new versions may come along which add new compatibility to some system or particular configuration - but not especially necessary improvements to the product as far as security is concerned.

So, I don't know...

 

I have ZA+ version 4.5.538.1. It is obviously outdated and obsolete now. I have no intention of updating as it serves me well as it is. A friend of mine runs an even older version(3+), which he is quite happy with.



snowbound

 

That may be a mistake, there are preferences you can set to either send anonymous data to ZoneLabs or not. Also when entering registration details, you are asked some marketing questions which I don't think you have the option to stop the sending of unless you unplug the internet connection or if you have Windows XP SP2 enabled selecting block when prompted.

Jimbob

 

Thanks Jimbob and Snowbound...

Rgds

 

Your Welcome.



snowbound

 

Thats right.

Jimbob

 

Ah but just because you can't see the problem with what you have, does not mean its not there. Could be that the latest threats are getting past unnoticed by the earlier version.

Jimbob

 

I have seen quite a few posts in various forums (DSLR for one) from folks that prefer ZA 4.5x to the present version. Many feel that ZA 5.5 suffers from code bloat, the addition of too many extraneous features and an interface that is more difficult to use when advanced rules are desired. The job that a firewall does has not changed in the last 8 months, so I don't see any real benefit to having the latest and greatest version unless some serious vunerability has been uncovered with an earlier version.

It is possible that the latest version of ZA will pass a a few more leak tests than 4.5. However, it is a debate as to whether this is of any advantage, as these ploys are not in wide use and both fail some leak tests, in the event that someone really wants to go after ZA.

 

I used to update things all the time to the latest and greatest versions, but I've since ceased that habit. Most of the time, the latest version of something is generally more bloated with useless features and has more problems and bugs. This is particularly true of ZoneAlarm. My favorite of ZA is ZA Plus 4.0.146.029. I have even used 2.6 for a while. The older versions of ZA are considerably less bloated and also more problem free. The older versions still consist of the basic stateful inspection firewall, which is actually quite good.

So, to answer the original question, I think 2.6 is probably fine for most home users. I see no reason to worry about upgrading to the latest garbage.. The crap they've added to the 5.x series (AV monitoring) is criminal IMO.

About the only "threat" I can see with 2.6 might be it's ability to protect against outbound nonsense. But if you're careful and don't run malware on your system, then it's not a concern. The inbound protection in 2.6 is just as good as the inbound protection in 5.5.

That's my 2 cents. Others will most likely differ...

 

...And some of us feel exactly the same way!! Use all ZA 5 version at your own risk. Older versions do have some discovered "vulnerabilities". Check the Zone Labs site do a search for release history details for further information. My suggestion use an older version of your choice if you can find it OR move on to the many other good firewalls out today. My 2 cents worth.

 

Hi

I also use ZA but I stopped updating it quite some time ago I'm still using 3.7.211 and am quite happy with it seems to do its job

I know I'm supposed to keep updated and normally I do keep my apps updated but in ZAs case I don't really see any befit because for my point of view all they have added since 3.7 is bloat

honesty I prefer the old 2.6 version it was small light on the system didn't have any or at least contained only minimal amounts of bloat & it was easer to work I happened to like the tabbed interface this new interface they have sucks

That said it didn't have the logging function that was introduced with version 3 for which I used to have to use Visual Zone

I can understand this argument and indeed this is a concern but I have 2 counter arguments of my own

1 new is not always better
2 the more complicated you make something the more likely it is to go wrong

so by adding too many extraneous features you are making ZAs code far more complex than previous versions and there for introducing a greater number of mistakes therefore creating a bigger chance that something will go disastrously wrong there for making it less secure then previous simpler versions