Re: XP firewall or Zone Alarm?

Tech-Archive recommends: Repair Windows Errors & Optimize Windows Performance

From: Alisha's Addict (alishas.dontspam.addict_at_blueyonder.co.getrid.uk)
Date: 02/11/05 

Date: Fri, 11 Feb 2005 22:54:45 GMT

On Mon, 31 Jan 2005 18:53:19 -0000, "RT" <noreply.co.uk> wrote:

>What the opinion on XP's Firewall?
>
>Is it any good? or should I stick with Zone Alarm, which is causing me
>problems with AVG Antivirus when receiving emails.
>
>t'ra
>

I've actually gone back to the XP firewall. I used to have Zonealarm
(free) on all machines I look after, plus Zonealarm Pro on my main
desktop. The desktop acts as the internet gateway to a pair of other
pooters. I need file & print sharing over the network.

Zonealarm got ditched from the desktop because of the fatal resource
leak problems it had with v4.5. Those problems didn't get fixed in v5,
they probably got worse ! So it got pulled from the machine. I tried
replacing it with Sygate but that was a miserable failure because
Sygate disabled the file & print sharing. Possibly me missing
something but it failed the 'advanced user can't fix it in 30 minutes'
test. Could have been because I was using the demo, refusing to buy it
until I knew it could do the business. I might be a victim of
crippleware there ...

Zonealarm free has also been put on 3 other machines on my advising.
It quite quickly got ripped out of those machines though because
having to select the various yes/no's do you want to connect was too
much of a pain for the users of those machines (novice level non
techies). A good utility should _not_ get in the way but Zonealarm was
breaking that in a big way.

Ah well ! It's a fairly competent piece of software, but it breaks
that 'protection utility should not be obtrusive' Pete Rule.

All that said though, the firewall I'm using now (XP SP2 Firewall) is
riddled with holes. It doesn't protect the machine against nasties
calling out to the internet. However ! I have an antivirus program
(AVG) and Spybot to guard against those ... Seems like ZA and the
other protection things are going a bit too far and are going outside
their intended core function.

Pete Lilleyman
alishas.dontspam.addict@blueyonder.co.getrid.uk
(please get rid of ".getrid" to reply direct)
(don't get rid of the dontspam though ;-)

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