Stop Hackers In Their Tracks With Zone Alarm
Written: Jul 13 '00
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Free, easy to configure, effective
Cons: No telephone support
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| Moonvine's Full Review: Zone Alarm |
Worried about your computer’s security? Want more protection, but don’t know much about firewalls? This product might be for you!
I have been using Zone Alarm for about a month and have been very pleased with it. I’m always interested in improving the security of my computer and the price made this a must-have.
I'm running Windows 98 on a machine with 64 megs of RAM and have had no problems or issues with it. Operating systems supported by this product are Windows 95, 98, 98SE, NT 4.0, and 2000.
Once you install Zone Alarm all the features are available through the Zone Alarm panel. You can choose to keep this on top (visible on your desktop) or let it stay as an icon in system tray – the latter is the option I chose.
Zone Alarm is easy to install and requires very little configuring. The first time you run an application that requires access to the Internet, you will get a pop-up window asking you if you want to allow this application to access the Internet. You can choose to have the program remember the answer (recommended for applications like e-mail) or have it ask each time. Also some programs such as ICQ require that they be allowed to act as servers for the purpose of this program. You can set up server permissions through the programs panel.
If a program tries to access your computer you will get a popup window stating which port was blocked and the IP address of the computer attempting to gain access. You can choose to not see the popup window each time and have the program write the attempts to a log file (which is what I do). For each attempt there is a “more info” button on the Zone Alarm panel, which will open a web page describing the attempted attack in more detail.
If you have an emergency situation you can immediately cease all Internet activity by pushing the “stop” button on the Zone Alarm Panel. Also, the program comes with an Internet Lock – you can easily set the Internet lock to engage when your screen saver starts or after any period of inactivity you choose.
Security settings – there are two types of security settings – local and Internet. Three security levels are available within each setting – low, medium and high. The defaults are medium for local and high for Internet. These settings work fine for me. You can add trusted I.P. addresses through this panel if you wish certain I.P. addresses to be able to access your computer for any reason.
Zone Alarm now comes with Mail Safe
Mail Safe is purported to stop malicious VBS (visual basic script) worms such as the Love Bug. I have not tested this; I didn’t get anyone to send me a malicious script and open it and see if the program worked or not. Sorry! At any rate Mail Safe is available with Version 2.1 of Zone Alarm. Version 2.1 was released May 9, 2000 – if you are running an earlier version of this program I’d recommend downloading 2.1.
After installing Zone Alarm on my computer I ran it through a relatively thorough security check available at http://www.hackerwhacker.com and I am happy to report it passed with flying colors, blocking every attempt to gain access to my computer.
Unfortunately, no telephone support is offered with this free product, though there is an extensive FAQ on the website and email support is available. I found the FAQ answered all my questions, but if you feel you will need telephone support this program may not be for you.
Zone Alarm is available for download from Zone Labs at http://www.zonelabs.com. It is free of charge for personal use and $19.95 for business/professional use.
I’d recommend that anyone who is interested in security, particularly those who have an “always on” Internet connection (such as a cable modem or DSL) at least give this product a try.
Please note that I had previously posted this review in an unlinked category. I am now moving it to a linked category. Thanks for understanding.
Recommended:
Yes
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Epinions.com ID:
Moonvine
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Location: Austin, TX
Reviews written: 116
Trusted by: 119 members
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