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Whatever happened to Zonealarm?

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darth_mark

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A few years ago, you can ask tech guru what firewall software they would recommend and you would undoubtedly get Zonealarm. For years it really was the best out there, free or not. At least that's what I remembered.

Recently I decided to stop using Windows Firewall on my new laptop and use Zonalarm again. Oh how the mighty have fallen.. :(

Apparently it was the reason Vista seemed to take forever to shut down. I googled it and came up with hundreds of people complaining about it, and other problems it caused.

So, anyone know what happened to Zonealarm?

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M.F.D.K

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Well, i used to recommend that to everyone a couple of years go, but it started to have a really annoying problem it would crash a lot of times and force itself to shutdown.

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Grand Master

Reacon

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I use COMODO nowadays... Although that's mainly because my 64 bit OS isn't supported by Zonealarm.

COMODO I find is alot harder to figure out settings wise and I loved Zonealarm program control. If it blocks something, shut down the app in question or put it in game mode and later on give it permission via simple little checks and X's... I even got my mom to figure it out...oh how I miss it.

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James Rose

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I was one of those techs. Until ver 5 (I believe) when it screwed my system SO bad I had to reinstall the OS. But hey, that happens. The real problem was when I called them to get a refund: They wanted me to sign an affidavit and fax it to them (fax? In 2001?!) stating that I would not use the product. What a hastle!!!! I called my credit card company and stopped the payment.

The point: Don't make your product or process difficult for your customers. Their firewall was very good... was. (Well, in fairness maybe it's good again. I wouldnt know)

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sc302 Veteran

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zonealarm was the biggest pos firewall software that has turned me off of all software firewalls. i am glad it has gotten crappier. i don't know of another software that would stop you from getting your pop mail even when it is "disabled" or allowing you to download files from good ftp sites while being "disabled", my only solution was to uninstall. once uninstalled everything worked great. ever since then my recommendation is to use a router based solution with a good antimalware package. if you don't want something communicating with your computer stop the process or uninstall it, if you don't know what is running use a good antimalware, if you are still have troubles with your computer learn what netstat does and fix it.

software firewalls do not solve or really prevent issues from occuring. at best they are a bandaid to the bigger problem at hand. they stop the stuff you want to download and load, and miss the bad that is being loaded in the background.

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mollick2

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I've never not had a problem with it. Ever PC I have ever tried to use on it constantly locked up to the point where i had to reformat and reinstall the OS. I've tried it both on XP and Vista.

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HawkMan

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ZA was crap when it was first made and that's where it remained.

There where better alternatives before it, there where far better alternatives after it. And today, third party firewalls are pretty damn useless.

The only decent firewalls where Tiny/Kerio. but considering who ended up owning that firewall engine now and how trustworthy they are, it's a good thing we don't really need them anymore :)

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Olemus

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Me too.

The app got bloated and has messed up most machines I have seen it on since the good old days. A shame.

Me three, now I dont recommend any Firewall software and suggest people invest in even a cheap router with a built in firewall/a free antivirus package.

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HawkMan

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I miss Sygate....

DAMN YOU NORTON!

Correction to my previous statement, Tiny, Kerio and Sygate :p

at least there was one thing Sygate did well...

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Tai

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I tried Comodo again recently, but just couldn't get the settings right and it kept failing leak tests, so went back to ZA Pro for now.

However, I've been watching the firewall tests at http://www.matousec.com/projects/firewall-...nge/results.php which I know don't tell the whole story, but Online Armour seems to be getting good results ... might give it a try because ZA Pro does slow down my laptop quite a bit compared with Comodo

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Grand Master

fix-this!

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I tried Comodo again recently, but just couldn't get the settings right and it kept failing leak tests,

:blink: mine works & passes all tests out of the box!

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TEX4S

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Like all other software-based firewalls - its pretty much garbage and pointless.

It was just popular garbage -

If you want a firewall- buy a hardware-based one

I dont think its as bad as buying a cheap radar detector for your car... but its still pointless.

A cheap radar detector is worse than NO radar detector - it gives you a false sense of security.

I guess the same can be said about software-based firewalls...

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devHead

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I used ZoneAlarm (the free version) for years and even sprung for the Pro version and it seemed to work really well for me. But after getting Vista with its better built-in firewall and using my Linksys router as a hardware firewall, i've never seen the need for another software firewall product.

My father-in-law still uses it and every e-mail we send him with pictures, the pictures and other attachments don't get sent through. Even though he's made adjustments and later they've come through, the program still seems to continue blocking all attachments. We finally stopped sending emails with pictures and just use Picasa now. So, while I personally didn't have any real problems with ZA, I can't really recommend it. If you're running Vista, I think the software firewall it provides is really all you need, along with an Antivirus solution like Avira.

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Grand Master

fix-this!

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Like all other software-based firewalls - its pretty much garbage and pointless.

If you want a firewall- buy a hardware-based one

IN YOUR OPINION YOU MEAN! comodo is a very good firewall. you also do know that most people with hardware firewalls use a software backup to right?

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