Zone Alarm Battens Down The Hatches
Written: Feb 03 '01 (Updated Feb 03 '01)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Freebie, easy to configure, hackers will go elsewhere.
Cons: Still looking for one.
The Bottom Line: A personal firewall is a "MUST HAVE" with an always on, wide open fat pipe to the Internet. Zonealarm is an excellent pesonal firewall, and it's free!!
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| JMB623's Full Review: Zone Alarm |
After countless inquiries to cable and xDSL providers, the 21st century finally came to my neighborhood in the form of a cable modem Internet connection. Cable and xDSL are "always on" connections, which means you have an open pipe to the Internet whenever your computer is running. You also have a static (constant) rather than dynamic (changes whenever you connect)IP address.
An open fat pipe with a static IP is an engraved invitation to hackers on the Internet. You absolutely must have a firewall, even one that is not expensive and could be hacked. Very few firewalls are hackproof, but they act like a car alarm. Not many people even notice car alarms or "The Club" anymore, but either will usually encourage the thief to go somewhere else. Same with a firewall.
STEP ONE: GETTING A FREE COPY OF ZONEALARM
Go to www.zonealarm.com and download version 2.1.44, the one for personal use, not the $39.99 Zonealarm Pro. If you already have your fat pipe it should be a 15 second or less download. It works with Windows 95/98/ME, and is just a double-click follow the instructions installation. While I usually recommend against installing a program to run at Windows startup, this one is an exception since the fat pipe is open as soon as Windows is loaded. If you forget to do that you can configure it to do so later.
STEP TWO: CONFIGURING ZONEALARM
Open the program either by double-clicking the icon in your system tray (if you installed it to run at startup), or by clicking on it on the program menu. It runs minimized until you maximize it. There are four buttons from left to right, Alerts, Lock, Security, Programs, and Configure.
ALERTS
The Alerts tab gives you a summary of the day's activity with number of Kilobytes sent and received. A dialog box shows current alerts by telling you that it blocked access from a specific IP address at which port on your computer with the time and date. If you click on "More Info" you'll go to Zonealarm's site where you can find out with "Whois" who is registered to the IP address it blocked.
It also keeps a log of alerts which you can disable or delete, and you can set it to display a pop-up window when someone tries to gain access. This window displays the same info you'll find in the "current alerts" dialog box, and since there isn't much you can do once you see the pop-up, I'm not sure why you'd want to have it there.
LOCK
Here you can enable or disable the automatic lock to engage after a certain set number of minutes or when the screensaver starts. The lock mode is also configurable to be set for High Security, which will stop all Internet activity, or to allow "Pass Lock" programs (which you can configure on the Program tab) to continue having access to the internet. Be careful how you set this because you may set up a download, then the screensaver comes on and kills the download if you set it to High Security. I set it to let "Pass Lock" programs have access in the lock mode.
SECURITY
This tab sets both Local and Internet security at the default "High", or by using sliders you can set them at "Strong" (allows application privileges, Internet lock can still block all traffic, blocks local network access, and access to Windows services and file/printer sharing) or to "Stealth", which hides all ports not in use by a program. There are check boxes to block both local and Internet servers and to enable "Mailsafe e-mail protection". The latter, if checked, will quarantine all e-mail script attachments. I have both Local and Internet set at "High" security, do not block either local or Internet servers, and enable "Mailsafe".
PROGRAMS
Zonealarm keeps a table of programs that connect to your network or the Internet. Each time you use one for the first time a pop-up window will ask if it is OK for such and such program to access the Internet. You can check a box to use the setting you choose every time so it will not always ask, and you can click yes or no. The program will enter the application in the table and show whether it is allowed to access a local network or the Internet (you can change the setting here), it is allowed to act as a server, and if it is a "Pass Lock" program (i.e. it will be allowed access to the local network or Internet when the automatic lock comes on). There are check boxes on this tab to configure each program.
CONFIGURE
On this tab all you do is decide whether you want it always on top when it's activated (yes), whether to load it at startup (yes), and if it should automatically check for updates (yes).
I've had it for two months now, and it has alerted me to a number of attempted intrusions, most of which were by my cable service provider. When I asked them about it, they simply said they do it to make the network safe. If you believe that's all they want I have a bridge for sale in San Francisco for $1.99. This program works, has not locked up my OS (Win98), does not conflict with any other programs, and if you don't believe me, PC Magazine recommends it highly along with about three other NOT FREE personal firewalls. Whether you get this one or not, if you have an always on fat pipe to the Internet you should absolutely get a personal firewall.
Recommended:
Yes
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JMB623
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Member: Joel
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