ZoneAlarm substitute

I have been using ZA firewall pro for sometimes now (as a matter of fact within these couple of years i had it on and off) but my license expires in a few days( 15 ). I am afraid i can not pay for ZA this year but as my habit has been that of having a firewall in my computer ( although i really do not know what it protects me from. )i will be without a firewall apparently . Sometimes it has flashed a pop -up or two warning me of bad activity about to happen i really am not an expert in this area.
My two question are
1- Do i need to install a firewall ( free one i mean)
2-If yes then which one? If no am i vulnerable?
XP pro 2g ram 512 g HDD and the computer has important documents and media files .
I had AIS but it was slowing down a bit my computer and browsing so i replaced it with AVG Antivirus pro.
Thanx in advance Gery

 

We were recently discussing the same thing on the Panda Cloud free forum. http://www.cloudantivirus.com/forum/thread.jspa?threadID=58107&tstart=0&start=0

 

thanx

 

You're welcome!

 

I have been told that ZoneAlarm Pro will continue to work (fully functional) after experation date, just you wont be able to update to new version unless you renew your subscription.

My ZA Pro expires when yours does, I may switch to ZoneAlarm FREE.

My nephew only wanted to use the built-in Windows fw until he was sent a malicous file that infected his system, afterwards I was able to talk him into using ZA Free. Someone else sent him a file to which he commanded ZA Free to block.

Happy Ending.

 

BTW, I'm very happy with MSE on both of my computers.

My copy of XP has only 2 gigs of RAM.

 

Try Online Armor. It is a HIPS + firewall .
http://www.online-armor.com/products-online-armor-free.php

 

Guys:

If you do not wish to renew ZAP [version 10 under Beta now] then certainly consider using Private Firewall which : -

• Has a GUI and HIPS popups that remind me of an early version of Zone Alarm [just to my way of looking]......so a ZAP user will feel right at home;
• Is free;
• Is respected [used sometimes by Bellgamin [a senior forum member here.];
• Is solid and reliable;
• I have personally used it on an XP machine and very happy with it …except it does not necessarily load up as the first program on startup like ZAP does..but if you are behind a hardware firewall that does not matter.

• Web link……..

http://www.privacyware.com/personal_firewall.html


Refer also this thread in Wilders for further discussion……..

https://www.wilderssecurity.com/showthread.php?t=288509

cheers,
feandur

 

does this conflict with Panda Cloud Antivirus or AVG? I had ZA and removed it as something was ruining my computer . It could have been as SAS was not loading properly AVG was crashing with something. I removed Winpatrol also so now just using AIS again but my computer does not feel the same . It is heavy and not responding fast. I am in trouble

 

Should have used uninstaller tools for all the stuff you have removed (preferably from safe mode if possible). Normal uninstall process tends to leave tons of crap behind, and more importantly leaves some drivers even.

http://uninstallers.blogspot.com/

 

OA is as buggy as PC Tools fw. No, thanks.

 

Try Comodo. Free firewall,free AV. Works great.

 

If you like ZoneAlarm, go with the free version.

Otherwise, as Dan323 said, Comodo is light and very good. Or, PrivateFirewall which I have on my old 5 yr old desktop with 512RAM and XP Pro. No slowdown noticed at all.

Between the two, flip a coin. Both are excellent.

 

There's one in every crowd. Chuck57 makes it two.

 

Zone Alarm, Online Armour never liked my system. I rather prefer Private Firewall or PC Tools or Comodo Firewall. Btw, PC Tools always worked for me but may be crappy based on system config.

 

Try Rising Firewall. Its freeware now, light & good for average users.

Thanxx
Naren

 

Yeh!! Just lacks HIPS, if that matters to gery...

 

I am using Outpost Firewall Pro and think it's great. I'm sure their free addition would also serve you well too. Everybody needs a FW. Even though you may not see much action, it's doing its job. I have 1GB of RAM and Outpost doesn't slow my pc down.

 

If you like ZA Pro then just carry on using it. Even if you don't renew your subscription it will still work just like it does now so why change ?
If you do not renew your subscription you will not be able to update to a newer version but they haven't changed ZA in months anyway.
ZA Pro does not have anti-spyware or antivurs so that isn't an issue that would `require' you to update.

 

You made me remember a fact about ZA. When you uninstall it follow the uninstall instructions to the letter, or it will haunt you forever. It will not let you install a different FW if there is a ZA file left in your system. There is one file in particular which I unfortunately can't recall that holds you hostage if it isn't removed. The instructions can be found on the ZA site. I removed it so long ago I can't remember details. Sorry.

 

Outpost free no longer is a standalone firewall but comes with an antivirus...

 

OR he should go with Rising Internet Security 2011. Its too free now & light. No HIPS but quite effective Behaviour Blocker i.e Rising Trojan Defense.

Thanxx
Naren

 

RIS also has a strong HIPS that is turned off by default...

Anyway he was just asking for firewall software... There is no way to opt-in for the firewall, BB and HIPS only in RIS.

 

I see that. Now it's a free Security Suite. I guess that's good if you need an AV too.

 

Yeh! True, that AV is good too..