I was trying to figure out how to unblock in Zone Alarm a program trying to access the internet. I was told that Zone Alarm doesn't work as a firewall and just slows down one's computer. So, what's your take on the free version of Zone Alarm? Is it worth it, or is Windows XP's built-in firewall just as effective? Are there any freeware programs that outperform Windows XP's firewall? Thank you for your suggestions.

The Windows XP firewall protects against port scanning but has limitations and it is no replacement for a robust 3rd-party two-way personal firewall.

• The XP firewall is not a full featured firewall. Normal firewalls allow you to specifically control each TCP and UDP port but XP’s firewall does not provide you with this capability. Instead, it takes a point and click approach to enabling or disabling a few common ports.
• The XP firewall does a good job of monitoring, examining and blocking inbound traffic but makes no attempt to filter or block outbound traffic like most 3rd-party personal firewalls.
• Thus, the XP firewall does not identify which programs attempt to initiate outbound network or Internet communications nor does it block the traffic when suspicious activity occurs.
  • This feature can be helpful in preventing many types of malware attacks that may attempt to open ports or communicate with outside servers without the user's knowledge or consent. It also means that if your system has been compromised, a hacker could use your machine as part of a distributed denial of service attack.
• By default, Windows Firewall rejects all incoming traffic unless that traffic is in response to a previous outgoing request. If you're running Windows XP Service Pack 2 (SP2), Windows Firewall is turned on by default. If you Firewall is not turned on by default, then your using an unpatched OS and need to update your system to SP2.

Using Windows Firewall
How to turn on or turn off the firewall in Windows XP

If you choose to use a 3rd-party firewall, you need to disable the Windows firewall. Using two software firewalls on a single computer could cause issues with connectivity to the Internet or other unexpected behavior. Further, running multiple software firewalls can cause conflicts that are hard to identify and troubleshoot. Only one of the firewalls can receive the packets over the network and process them. Sometimes you may even have a conflict that causes neither firewall to protect your connection. However, you can use a hardware firewall (your router) and a software firewall (Kerio or ZoneAlarm) in conjunction. For more information see "The Differences and Features of Hardware & Software Firewalls".

• Understanding and Using Firewalls
• What is a Firewall
• How Firewalls Work

Free firewalls:
• Comodo Free Firewall
• Online Armor Free
• Zone Alarm Free Basic Firewall
• Ashampoo FireWall Free
• Outpost Firewall Free
• Kerio Personal Firewall (available in a full and limited free edition)

Choosing a firewall is a matter of personal preference, your technical experience and what will work best for your system. A particular firewall that works well for one person may not work as well for another. All those mentioned in the list I provided are good choices but you may need to experiment and find the one most suitable for your use.

In my effort to learn about and investigate firewall options, I have experienced considerable differences in opinion. (A) Some say if one is careful where he surfs, infrequently downloads programs, and is behind a firewalled router, then Windows XP Firewall is sufficient and anything else is overkill (assuming a good AV program is used along with antispyware). ( B ) Others say a two-way software firewall is essential no matter one's surfing habits or usage frequency. ( C) And there are also some who advocate not only a two-way software firewall, but also HIPS.

Personally, I'm in the (A) camp for now. I used to have Norton Internet Security (which included a firewall), but dumped it 5 months ago because it was too bloated. Currently I subscribe to Eset Nod32. A little while ago I tried Comodo Firewall Pro with HIPS + and it drove me crazy. There's too much about it I didn't understand and couldn't figure out inspite of reading all the tutorials and help indexes. My life is busy enough. So I uninstalled it and now am back to Windows Firewall, along with Nod32 and two free antispyware programs that I update and run a couple of times a week.

I see value in having a two-way firewall, but would only consider one that (1) is light on resources, (2) is relatively simple to use, and (3) does not come with HIPS (I know HIPS can be disabled, but the HIPS part is still installed nonetheless and I don't like that it digs deep into one's system). Bonuses points if the firewall is well-coded so it cleanly uninstalls and has very minimal interference with any other program. If you know of any that meet this criteria, let me know.

I think ZoneAlarm is a fantastic firewall and certaintly out does windows firewall.

Windows Firewall only offers inbound protection and can't protect you from outbound threats. Also I have noticed in the past when using windows firewall, it doesn't ask you about many things to require internet access.
However if you have another firewall (like ZA, or Comodo which asks you about absolutley every action that requires internet access on your system) it will alert you if any program has changed, wants inbound acces, wants access to ports etc.

Also Cb2
I think you'll find ZoneAlarm very sufficient. It doesn't take up many resources and is very simple to use. When uninstalling it is very simple, it doesn't leave any remains behind. You will be required to reboot though

To unblock a program in Zone Alarm: - just go into program control and remove the program being blocked by Zone Alarm from the Program listing. Then go to the program being "blocked and open it and zone alarm will yield some popups asking for permission and just grant them - say "Yes" - check always remember this setting.

If that does not work post back what program is being blocked by Zone Alarm and what version of Zone Alarm free firewall are you running?

Thanks for welcoming me to the forum. I like what I see on ZA's website about their free firewall. All I want is a simple yet effective 2-way firewall and ZA Free may fit that niche. But, doesn't the ZA Free Firewall...I'm talking about version 7.0...include the ZA Security Suite and is therefore a much larger download (45 mb) than others such as PC Tools (6.4) or Outpost (2.5 mb)?

ZA is a rather large download, Im on dial up and downloading it was hell >.<
So maybe PC toos would suit you well? I hear it isnt a bad firewall

The current zone alarm free - includes a 15-day trial Zone Alarm Internet Security Suite - hence the 43MB size. The trial period is very short. The Security Suite pieces of the free download become inoperable at the end of the trial period. So the resource usage on the ZA free is much larger than the others you mentioned and you end up with an unusable security suite after the trial period ends. Earlier versions of the free ZA firewall can still be downloaded and do not contain the security suite components - just the free firewall. I think the last version without the suite components is za free 7.0.408.000 It's still an excellent firewall without the baggage of the trial suite components hanging around inoperable/crippled.

I went to ZA's web site, but the only download link I see there is for the larger version. Do you know a trustworthy place where I can download the smaller version from? (I'm still kind of new to this.)

Here's a link to download.com which has an older version of free zone alarm firewall:

http://www.download.com/ZoneAlarm-Firewall....html?tag=lst-1

Did a little more looking on old versions for you - the above link I quoted still includes the phantom security suite as do all the version 7's.

Only the older version of zone alarm firewall 6 is just a basic firewall. The basic version 6 firewall can be downloaded from http://www.oldversion.com/program.php?n=zalarm

Thanks Tork. It's nice of you to help out.

Please remember when downloading an old version of a security program that part of the reason why they made a new version is because hackers found a way around the old one.

So I really recommend the latest version of anything

Cb2,

You are welcome - good luck with the firewall.

tork

Newer versions are not always better, in my opinon - every computer and every user is different. In the case of the zone alarm firewall - the older version is solid and in use by many who shun the newer version because of the resource hogging and bloat. There is no point to a phantom inoperable/crippled security suite sitting on a computer taking up valued resources when the older version is the same firewall without the crippleware.

I beg to differ, the version I had of ZA was the one just before the most recent update and it worked fine. Didn't take up many resources and in my opinion is better than the old version 6.

I agree with you - if it worked for you and you were satisfied with your zone alarm version, then that's all that matters.
The link here http://www.oldapps.com/old_version_download_ZoneAlarm.php
shows the size of some of the version 7's (40+MB) and they are a larger footprint than version 6. (10+ MB). The decision is an individual one.

I was looking to reinstall Zone Alarm on my mom's computer because the system crashed and I had to reinstall XP. (Something happened to the hard drive. chkdsk hung up at 26% for forty minutes and another little while at 50% before finishing, saying it had to repair the drive, and allowing setup to continue.) I looked at the system requirements for the current version on the zonealarm page and see that they want at least 500 Mb, while this computer still has only the original 256. I found the download for ZA 7.0.483.0 which I think is what I used to install ZA most recently on this computer, but I don't remember whether I verified the system requirements.

As far as I know, ZA was not a problem on this computer, except for having to download the patch to restore internet connectivity when Microsoft did that update.

The oldversion and oldapps pages given above do not seem to have obvious links to find system requirements. I have reinstalled avast! and just want to run the basic firewall. Maybe the RAM requirement is because they want you to buy the security suite. Should I run zlsSetup_70_483_000_en.exe, download the latest version, or look for another older program? (The zonealarm download page doesn't have a version number on it. They seem to have a two-step download, where the first file you download just starts the download of the latest version.)

The cpu is Intel Pentium 4 CPU 1.4 GHz.

The versions of Zone Alarm after the last version 6 are large and cause conflicts because the download and installation includes modules of the ZA suite (Kaspersky Antivirus is one of them), with all the selling nags. KAV hates any sign of any other security programs, hence the conflicts. If you want a nice and light free ZA use version 5.5.094 or 6.1. Version 6.5 is also fine. Read this release history page which includes legitimate download links
http://download.zonelabs.com/bin/free/info...aseHistory.html
If you get the older versions you will not need the patch for the DNS port-handling changes which v7 required.