Zone Alarm Pro-- smart or stupid?

Have you ever used Zone Aram Pro or its security suite. It has a smart defence advisor. Is it realy smart? You install or uninstall a programme and it tells you there is suspisious or dangerous behaviour. Smart defence advisor does not recognize the common 3rd party applications and --- yes, it does not recognize even the OS itself.? What a pity? You try to open windows help and it say there is some suspicious behaviour and --- no more advice vailable! What a novice can do? I think it is sometimes "STUPID" rather than smart.
I think these big names just like to make money rather than care for their customers.
What you think?
Just tell you in spite of this it is my favourite security suite. But a biginner can,t use it. It needs a lot of improvement still. :base:

 

I use to use norton, but when that expired i went over to zone alarm. Way better then norton and alot smarter then norton as well.

 

Never had a problem with the SmartAdvisor. Most of the time it warns me about legitimate actions, so I just tell it "Allow and remember".

I like ZoneAlarm, because it automatically detects the network I'm connected to, and remembers them. That allows me to automatically move between trusted and internet zones without manually fiddling with any settings.

 

I use free security appliances? don't know wahat that means, but I use a hardware Firewall or two on my network.

 

Free appliances like AVG home, Avast home, ZA free firewall, Spybot, etc

 

I've heard that ZoneAlarm Pro is pretty good. After my norton subscription expired, I moved onto Sygate Personal Firewall Pro. This is the version you pay for, and it has a ton of security features. It works for me. I've had it for about a year now, and so far, nothing's gone wrong.

All of the options in this poll are pretty good, but I'm just not in favour of Norton, mostly because it is a huge resource hog. When I switched to Nod32 and Sygate, there was a huge boost in system performance.

 

I use the free version of Zone Alarm Firewall and I haven't had any problems whatsoever. I won't ever pay for any other program...

 

somtimes it can be stupid but there is nothing like zoneAlarm and free. you can't bit it.

 

I have the version you pay for, with antivirus and all that jazz and its pretty hot. No problems with it what so ever. At school on the student wireless, their are some sharks in the group who are always trying to break into computers. I know it works because it warns me that someone is trying to gain access to my compy threw whatever port

 

I use Symantec AntiVirus Corporate Edition and it is ROCK-SOLID and it will let through what you tell it and finally a security program that doesn't treat you like a baby and that you don't know what you are doing
So add Symantec Anti-Virus to the poll
-TBird

 

I dont use a Firewall, you just stay on the good side of people I have never had any attacks or anything that has affected by computer

 

Yeah zone alarm just needs to be configured and after that all is well. A bit annoying so I opted for Avast Pro, it's great.

I used to use norton, but holy crap what a resource hog, plus there are so many hackers out there targeting norton so I avoided it. Too many problems with Norton, they used to be good back in the win98se days, but not anymore.

I find their Utilities suite useless now too, since there are so many other third party programs out there that do the same thing, and some of those programs are free.

Cheers,
Mike

 

Used the older version of ZL, but the new one causes conflicts with the net. I switched over to netveda safety net from downloads, seems to work fine.

 

I use freebies generally that or norton products. At the moment I have AVG antivirus and a sygate firewall along with several free antispyware programs and a hardware firewall.

 

Zone Alarm been using it for quiet a long time now. No problems so far works perfectly. The built in spyware and virus stuff is good too.

 

I have ipcop installed on an old comp, acting as hardware firewall, and coupled it with f-secure. No packets go in or out without getting filtered...
Been safe since then

 

Is Zone Alarm suite a system hog? or will be be efficient on resources,
Just wondering weather its best to get the free zone alarm and a free virus like AVG or get the all in one suite.

 

I don,t think that it ia a system hog? It,s pretty smart.
I have used ZA Pro and as i wrote i like it but I think it is not for a beginner.

 

All my security software is FREEEEEE!



AntiVir, MSAS, Spybot, Adaware, and Kerio Personal Firewall

 

Me too...have had absolutely no problems with it at all. Not too much of a resource hog either (relatively speaking).

 

I use AVG Free and Ad-Aware Personal, with the Windows XP Firewall that comes with XP Service Pack 2. Both programs make a great combination to get rid of viruses and spyware. The thing I love about AVG is that it is recognised by Windows Security Center and it constantly scans the drives for virues and corrupted files in the background. A windows suddenly appear showing virus alerts and getting rid of them. It is also very, very easy to use and offers effective anti-virus protection for free. Ad-Aware is particularly useful for getting rid of spyware, as it recognises all kinds of spyware that anti-virus programs don't recognise. However, if you are prepared to pay for anti-virus protection I would recommend getting the professional version of AVG. As with firewalls, I'm not convinced, I think they can be a pain in the neck and really annoying. As long as you've got good virus and spyware protection and you are careful of what you download, you should be absolutely fine...

http://free.grisoft.com/doc/1

 

zone alarm pro.......all the way.....only alternative id even suggest is sygate also has a free version just close a load up screen each time and happy surfing. my lappy uses zone pro and desktop currently being used by boyfriend uses sygate.


if you are really concerned with how visible you are on the internet this is a good place to start.

http://www.grc.com/default.htm

browse down til you see shields up!hit proceed and then then surf down til you see a place where it says all service ports. then it probes your ports and you usually get all green and one blue.

 

Anybody using free security appliances, here are some sugestions,

AV-- Avast free( superior to both antivir and AVG- just my opinion)

Firewall-- Jetico ( only for experts)

HIPS( IDS, IPS)-- AntiHook( not for brginners)
Process Guarg Free
PrevxR1 free
CyberHawk(beta)
Arovax Shield
MJ RejWatcher( for expert users only)

Antispyware-- MS antispywrae

Others---Winpatrol free

Virtualization software(a must use and most interesting software in security)

ShadowSurfer( u can get free offer!)
Sandboxie
Buffer Zone free versions


And from paid ones

Firewall ----Outpost Pro( not used personally but heard good comments)
LooknStop( same as above)

AV-- NOD 32( same as above)

HIPS-- Process Guard Full
RegDefend( for expert users only)
Online Armor

Virtualization software,-- REALLY INTERESTING

Defence Wall
Buffer Zone
Shadow User
First Defence

Note; use carefuly, i used many of free ones, but some are double edged sword, if you are not aware, u can damage ur system.

Need more help, go to wilderssecurity forum.

Thanks