Zone Alarm- any forewarnings?

I had the same speed isue with 5.+, went back to 4.5 and all was ok. About a month ago I tried 5.+ again and it's working fine now. Go "figger"

There has been a issue with version 5+ cutting broadband speeds in half on some installs. I had to go back to version 4.5. To the best of my knowledge, the folks at Zonelabs know about it, but have not fixed it yet.

You might go to the Zonelabs forums and see what folks are bitching about.

That is probably true, but you'll have a hard time convincing most people of it. I recently closed all ports here and disabled unnecessary services and tightened things up and ran with no firewall at all (not even a router) for over a month. It was great, and nothing evil happened either. :)

Like all personal firewalls it is useless crap, you don't need one of them.

Wolfgang

Well, the potential problem, like many others is statistical. I work in the woods, and it's possible I could meet up with a hungry bear, but it's unlikely. More likely, I might run into a bees nest and I'm somewhat allergic, so I'm careful. And of course, if one is promiscuous, one might get a sexually transmitted disease.

So, the issue is - what is the worst that can happen? And what is the chance if you have no protection? Other than the worse, what lesser things might happen? and what is the likelihood of that?

If any of those things did happen, would a program like ZoneAlarm offer protection? If it will, then Wolfgang is wrong, right?

The thing is- if using no computer protection means you have a 1 in a 100 chance of getting nailed by a virus- or your personal information is stolen- then how bad is that? If you just have a home computer for fun and email and don't put significant personal info on it- then no great loss- you can always reformat if necessary. But, if you have your business on the computer, anything greater than a 1 in a 1,000 chance of such a problem is too much. Most people now know to back up their important files because almost everyone who has been using computers for several years has seen their hard drives die a sudden death. And by now, many people have gotten computer virus so most use an AV program. But, I think most people still don't understand the need for a firewall- in terms of potential loss- and if there is a loss, will we even know about it?

I started thinking about firewalls after reading the Feb., 2004 issue of Maximum PC- which strongly recommended a good firewall, and it recommended ZoneAlarm- but it didn't enlighten me much about the issue. If anyone knows of any computer magazine or some essay online that gives such info, I'd like to know about. Going through the trouble of buying or downloading any such utility programs and dealing with bugs and other such complications doesn't make installing such programs pain free, which is why I like to be fully informed.

Oh, in an earlier version of McAfee AV, it came with a firewall- it was a pain- I was constantly getting warnings from it so I turned it off. Meanwhile, I do have the MS XP firewall turned on, but I haven't upgraded to SP2 since I've heard horror stories about that installation. I hate to take chances. Must be a sign I'm getting old, as I used to like living on the edge. :))

Joe

What's this have to do with a FW?

The worst that can happen is that one looses their Idenity to Identey teift, the machine could be use as a jumping off point to attack other machines leaving one holding the bag, files etc can be damanged/lost or that one needs to reinstall the O/S.

If the machine was compromised, ZA like the rest of them that run with the O/S can be attacked just like the O/S can be attacked with ZA attacked, circumvented or taken down.

No it's never happened to me over the years that I have lost a computer system due to malware.

I think that most do understand the need for a FW. It's just that most can barely turn on a computer let alone know how to configure a personal firewall/packet filter solution properly or know what to do when it starts asking the user to respond to questions as to what and what not to allow all in an attempt to save the user from himself or herself.

You should learn about FW(s) and why someone like Wolfgang a Top Gun in the NG considers a personal FW solution like ZA to be crap.

I suggest that you upgrade to SP2 and keep the O/S updated with security patches.

The buck stops with the O/S. The buck doesn't stop with the PFW or AV or anything else.

If the machine has a direct connection to the Internet, then one learns how to shutdown services like MS File and Print Sharing which closes ports along with other services and learns the other things to secure the O/S from being attacked.

"Joe Zorzin" wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@corp.supernews.com:

#1 misconception about firewalls - that they can protect you from a virus, or theft of information. Since firewalls must pass trusted apps like a browser, email program, etc. there is no protection. Most malware is gotten by automatic installation when visiting malicious sites, file sharing programs like Kazaa, or delivered by email. A firewall, soft or hard, can do nothing to stop that.

Duane,

Thanks for the links- that's what I need to get up to speed on this subject.

--

ZA6 gobbles up RAM and swapfile like there's no tomorrow. This is the free edition.

X-No-Archive: Yes

In news: snipped-for-privacy@individual.net, elaich typed || "Joe Zorzin" wrote in || news: snipped-for-privacy@corp.supernews.com: || ||| The thing is- if using no computer protection means you have a 1 in ||| a 100 chance of getting nailed by a virus- or your personal ||| information ||| is stolen- then how bad is that? || || #1 misconception about firewalls - that they can protect you from a || virus, or theft of information. Since firewalls must pass trusted || apps like a browser, email program, etc. there is no protection. || Most malware is gotten by automatic installation when visiting || malicious sites, file sharing programs like Kazaa, or delivered by || email. A firewall, soft or hard, can do nothing to stop that.

Huh???

The only thing I use a s/w firewall on a local machine for is to rename potentially dangerous attachments. This is precisely how it can protect a system from malicious infection. If a malicious program cannot be executed it can't infect the system.

As for allowing trusted apps to freely go about their business, this is necessary, obviously, and the user should know this. What the user should also know is when a popup asks if a program should be allowed to access the internet, they should be able to determine whether or not to allow it. What program is it? Why does it need internet access? Deny it if in doubt.

Regarding Kazaa and similar programs, well... let the user beware. I don't use them myself. If people wish to share their hard drives with millions of strangers to steal music and programs then they can deal with the problems it causes.