Free Zone Alarm

[Allan]

I know that Zone Alarm has a two way firewall. The
question I have is is the free one better than the
firewall I have now? I have windows xpSP2 home installed
along with 2 different spyware programs.
Any imput
Allan

 

[Allan]

-----Original Message-----
I know that Zone Alarm has a two way firewall. The
question I have is is the free one better than the
firewall I have now? I have windows xpSP2 home installed
along with 2 different spyware programs.
Any imput
Allan
.
Or is it wise to use both firewalls at the same time?

Allan

 

[Ken Blake]

In

I know that Zone Alarm has a two way firewall. The
question I have is is the free one better than the
firewall I have now?

What firewall do you have now? The built-in Windows one? Yes, the
free version of ZA is better, for the reason you cite.

I have windows xpSP2 home installed
along with 2 different spyware programs.

I hope you mean *anti*-spyware programs. ;-)

What anti-spyware programs you have installed is really
irrelevant to the question of what firewall you should use. They
are separate issues.

 

[Ken Blake]

In

You'll find those with different points on view on this. Here's
mine: don't run two firewalls. You achieve no extra protection,
you incur the extra overhead of running two firewalls, and you
run the risk (probably small, but not zero) of conflicts between
them.

See
http://www.microsoft.com/athome/security/protect/firewall.mspx

which includes the following:

"Q. Should I use both the built-in firewall and a software
firewall from a different company on my Windows XP computer?

"A. No. Running multiple software firewalls is unnecessary for
typical home computers, home networking, and small-business
networking scenarios. Using two firewalls on the same connection
could cause issues with connectivity to the Internet or other
unexpected behavior. One firewall, whether it is the Windows XP
Internet Connection Firewall or a different software firewall,
can provide substantial protection for your computer."

Also note that if you update your third-party firewall to a new
version, the update routine will probably turn it off first. If
the Windows firewall isn't running, you will temporarily be left
with no running firewall, which is very dangerous. So turn on the
Windows firewall temporarily before doing maintenance on your
third-party firewall.

 

[Martin]

Allan

It's probably not so good to run 2 firewalls together, thay can tend to
argue with each other. But as to whether ZA is better. It's better in as
much as you can see exactly whats going out, and whats coming in, it's more
configurable with more whistles and bells. I've used it for a good while
now and i've never had anything but praise for it.

 

[CZ]

Allan:

IMO, yes, if the two f/ws provide complementary features, and do not
conflict.
Note that the SP2 Windows Firewall is stateful and can block source address
spoofing, whereas the ZA free f/w is stateless and cannot.
Also, if a trojan disables one f/w, you still have the protection of the
other f/w.
I have run as many as three f/ws at the same time without problems, and this
computer is running the XP SP2 Windows Firewall and the ZA free f/w together
without problems.

As Ken notes in his post, MS recommends not using two f/ws together. IMO,
MS is being self severing to reduce possible support issues, and to make it
easy for those who will not take the time to learn about firewalls. I have
been running two f/ws together for several years without problems. What you
do want to avoid is running two f/ws that have ID features (Windows firewall
and ZA free do not have them).

 

[Alex Nichol]

I know that Zone Alarm has a two way firewall. The
question I have is is the free one better than the
firewall I have now? I have windows xpSP2 home installed
along with 2 different spyware programs.

In that it obstructs spyware and trojans that do creep in from phoning
out, ZA does more for you than the inbuilt one. I would say get ZA Free
- while I have Pro, I don't think the 'extras' much use, and indeed have
them mostly turned off

 

[Trent©]

See

http://www.microsoft.com/athome/security/protect/firewall.mspx

which includes the following:

"Q. Should I use both the built-in firewall and a software
firewall from a different company on my Windows XP computer?

"A. No. Running multiple software firewalls is unnecessary for
typical home computers, home networking, and small-business
networking scenarios. Using two firewalls on the same connection
could cause issues with connectivity to the Internet or other
unexpected behavior. One firewall, whether it is the Windows XP
Internet Connection Firewall or a different software firewall,
can provide substantial protection for your computer."

Notice the words 'typical' and 'substantial'.

Also note that if you update your third-party firewall to a new
version, the update routine will probably turn it off first.

I think it'll probably make the change on the reboot...before
connecting to the network.

If the Windows firewall isn't running, you will temporarily be left
with no running firewall, which is very dangerous.

Which seems to be a very GOOD reason to have 2 firewalls.


Have a nice one...

Trent

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