Zone Alarm Security Suite (RE-POSTED)

[ChrisM]

Hi Group,

Regular readers of this newsgroup might have read this before (about a month
ago). It seemed that then was a bit too early to ask, so I thought I'd post
my questions aagin and see if anyone has any thoughts now...

VVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVV

I have been running the free version of Zone Alarm (Firewall) for some time
now, and have always been very happy with it.
I see that fairly recently they have brought out a 'Security Suite' that
includes Zone Alarm Pro + an Anti Virus product.

Has anyone installed this? How reliable is it, companies like Trend,
Symantec, Mcaffe etc. have got lots of experience in AV software. Does this
mean their products should be trusted more than Zone Labs who (to my
knowledge) have more limited experience.
Is there a reliable source I can checkout that might have done some
benchmark tests on this software?.

Regards,

ChrisM

 

[Morgan Pugh]

Hi Group,

Regular readers of this newsgroup might have read this before (about a month
ago). It seemed that then was a bit too early to ask, so I thought I'd post
my questions aagin and see if anyone has any thoughts now...

VVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVV

I have been running the free version of Zone Alarm (Firewall) for some time
now, and have always been very happy with it.
I see that fairly recently they have brought out a 'Security Suite' that
includes Zone Alarm Pro + an Anti Virus product.

Has anyone installed this? How reliable is it, companies like Trend,
Symantec, Mcaffe etc. have got lots of experience in AV software. Does this
mean their products should be trusted more than Zone Labs who (to my
knowledge) have more limited experience.
Is there a reliable source I can checkout that might have done some
benchmark tests on this software?.

Regards,

ChrisM

IIRC ZoneLabs just bought the rights to use some other companies
engine so it is just as secure as that other company. I am sure Google
will give you the name of said company

 

[ChrisM]

IIRC ZoneLabs just bought the rights to use some other companies
engine so it is just as secure as that other company. I am sure Google
will give you the name of said company

You're quite right, it would seem that it uses the CA eTrust engine, which I
would imagine is fairly reliable...

Thanks,

ChrisM.

 

[Sam]

ChrisM wrote ...

I have been running the free version of Zone Alarm (Firewall) for some time
now, and have always been very happy with it.
I see that fairly recently they have brought out a 'Security Suite' that
includes Zone Alarm Pro + an Anti Virus product.

Has anyone installed this? How reliable is it

I've purchased ZA + antivirus and am having problems with it (win98SE).
I wanted to test its efficacy so I downloaded the eicar.com test virus.
ZA+AV detects this virus on finding it in an email and when I
specifically (on demand) scan the file or the directory it's in.
However, the on-access (i.e. resident) scanner fails to pick it up when I
double-click or otherwse open eicar.com. My conclusion can only be that
the on-access scanner is not working - I'm not going to await a real
virus and test this view out!!!!. I've tried all manner of means to get
it to work - uninstalled/reinstalled; redownloaded the virus signatures;
stopped virtually everything else on my machine from loading to try to
find an incompatibility somewhere, but to no avail. So, I've now re-
installed AVG (free version) and am using that as my on-access scanner.
Not what I'd expected to have to do.

Any ideas, anyone?

 

[Jeff Cook]

You're quite right, it would seem that it uses the CA eTrust engine, which I
would imagine is fairly reliable...

Thanks,

ChrisM.

Would it be fair to suggest that this is the same as the CA eTrust package
that includes a firewall (rebadged ZA free version) that is free for 12
months for Microsoft victims er um users? Same package but branded with the
other company this time.

Jeff

 

[ChrisM]

which

Would it be fair to suggest that this is the same as the CA eTrust package
that includes a firewall (rebadged ZA free version) that is free for 12
months for Microsoft victims er um users? Same package but branded with the
other company this time.

Jeff

Sounds pretty similar. I think I will download the free CA software and
check it out before I shell out $50 on the Zone Alarm product...

Thanks!

ChrisM.

 

[Morgan Pugh]

Sounds pretty similar. I think I will download the free CA software and
check it out before I shell out $50 on the Zone Alarm product...

Thanks!

ChrisM.

Very good idea. By the looks of things they are pretty much identical
products just one is free for a year! The security suite probably has
a 'better' version of the ZA firewall though.

 

[ChrisM]

Interesting(?) update.

For various reasons, my home PC is running Win2000Server. (If you must know,
as a developer, I find it easier as I can have things like SQL Server etc.
which won't work properly under Professional, also if I were honest, because
I can't face the prospect of re-installing everything under XP).

Anyway, the fact is that I have 2000Server.

I have had problems in the past installing anti-virus software, in that
during the installation, they will often say somthing like 'This product
does not support Server operating systems' and terminate the installation.
Zone Alarm is one of the few exceptions to this, (it does give a warning
that 'this may cause problems with supporting your instalation' but it lets
you install, and works fine.)

The interesting thing is, when I tried to install the CA free product (which
uses ZA as it's firewall) I was told by the installer that the firewall
would not work on a Server OS, and so would not be installed. I guess CA
want me to buy one of their corporate Server AV/Firewall products...

ChrisM