Firewall Security

I am using the Zone Alarm firewall software because I have heard that the
Microsoft firewall with sp2 is weak. Am I misinformed or has it been
improved? I am not happy with problems I am having with ZA and their
support leaves a lot to be desired.

--
Jim Salyer
Area Supervisor
Home: 505-474-4863
Cell: 505-670-4138
Fax: 505-474-4540
Email: jims01@comcast.net

Galen
Sun Sep 25 01:20:04 CDT 2005

In news:uIDdQ$YwFHA.3548@tk2msftngp13.phx.gbl,
big jim <jims@nospamisp.com> had this to say:

My reply is at the bottom of your sent message:

> I am using the Zone Alarm firewall software because I have heard that
> the Microsoft firewall with sp2 is weak. Am I misinformed or has it
> been improved? I am not happy with problems I am having with ZA and
> their support leaves a lot to be desired.

There's limited outbound filtering options on SP2s firewall. Once in a blue
moon it will happily popup and ask you to block something or to let it go.
You can do some manual configuring with it as well. As an inbound firewall
it does what it's supposed to do. On a clean system it's fairly decent. I
personally use Outpost Personal Firewall from www.agnitum.com and have had
very good luck with it. There's a free version or a trial version for an
updated product that contains more options and additional rule sets. I've
also found that Kaspersky Anti-Hacker, www.kaspersky.com for the English
site, has been fairly decent in testing here. I highly recommend staying
away from ZA for a variety of reasons including marketing tactics, support,
and treatment of their free users but that's just my opinion. With Outpost
you'll also find a warm and effective forum/community available. (They're
located at www.outpostfirewall.com)

Galen
--

"You know that a conjurer gets no credit when once he has explained his
trick; and if I show you too much of my method of working, you will
come to the conclusion that I am a very ordinary individual after all."

Sherlock Holmes

Steven
Sun Sep 25 12:12:15 CDT 2005

The XP Windows Firewall is not weak at all. It does an excellent job of
blocking access to your computer for unsolicited traffic. It is stateful in
that it tracks and knows when traffic coming in is in response to traffic
that your computer initiated [known/authorized by you or not] and allows
that return traffic. For the majority of users who follow other best
practices like using strong passwords, keeping current with virus
definitions, having their anti virus program scan all downloads/email
attachments, monitor the computer in real time and has scheduled scans at
least weekly, and keep current with critical security updates from Windows
Updates the Windows Firewall is all that they need assuming all users of the
computer are trusted.

There are situations where a more advanced firewall are a plus. These type
firewalls like ZA and Sygate offer management of outbound access and
firewall rules that also use applications to manage traffic. This is great
for situations where you want to control what applications can access the
internet and can stop programs like unauthorized chat programs or file swap
programs like kazaa from being used. When users are untrusted or multiple
users use the computer a more advanced firewall is a good idea.

In my opinion the problem with software firewalls like ZA, Sygate, etc is
they can drive the user insane with a barrage of pop ups every time the user
starts the computer or tries to do anything. Even fairly experienced
computer users can be perplexed by these popups and hesitate to disable them
for fear of something happening and they not knowing about it. Also the user
has to make a choice as to yes or no to the pop up. Answer wrong and either
bad traffic will be allowed or you will be locked out of something you want
to access. Most users are then unable to figure out how to correct their
mistake.

I have several computers at home all protected by a firewall device at the
cable modem and we follow other best practices as I outlined in the first
paragraph - all which can be automated. None of my computers uses any
firewall other than the one at the cable modem and everyone is able to use
the internet without any annoying pop ups and we have not had any
roblems. --- Steve



"big jim" <jims@nospamisp.com> wrote in message
news:uIDdQ$YwFHA.3548@tk2msftngp13.phx.gbl...
>I am using the Zone Alarm firewall software because I have heard that the
>Microsoft firewall with sp2 is weak. Am I misinformed or has it been
>improved? I am not happy with problems I am having with ZA and their
>support leaves a lot to be desired.
>
> --
> Jim Salyer
> Area Supervisor
> Home: 505-474-4863
> Cell: 505-670-4138
> Fax: 505-474-4540
> Email: jims01@comcast.net
>