Shareware that is worth buying
Written: Jan 23 '03 (Updated Jan 23 '03)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Good protection, good price.
Cons: None
The Bottom Line: Every machine connected to the internet needs a firewall. Even the non-free version is reasonably priced. By buying this software, you will help ZoneLabs continue to improve the product.
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| stevelarrison's Full Review: Broderbund ZoneAlarm Pro 2 |
The internet is proving to be one of those unique inventions that highlights the extremes of human nature.
On the positive side, the advent of cheap, fast, worldwide communications have created companies and industry that wouldn't exist otherwise. Vast amounts of free information make learning easier than it has ever been before. And keeping in touch with people has never been easier, or less expensive.
But while the positive side in undeniable, the medium also tends to bring out the worst in human nature. Spread of viruses was not as fast, or easy in an un-networked information age. 12 year old script kiddies couldn't bring billion dollar corporations to their knees using tools that are freely available for the curious. Identity theft and electronic theft were much harder to accomplish.
If you had asked me for advice concerning computer security 8 or 9 years ago, I would have recommended that anyone with a PC use good anti-virus software, and that they update their anti-virus signatures at least once a month.
Today, that advice would be laughable.
Firewalls, they aren't just for servers anymore
While good anti-virus software is still necessary, anyone who has a PC that is connected to the internet needs a personal firewall at bare minimum. In the past, firewalls were typically something built into routers and dedicated PCs that were the gateway to corporate networks. Now, everyone should be running firewalls.
Broadband users should go for multiple levels of protection. At bare minimum, a broadband user should use a router with a built in firewall (And seriously people, take time to configure it. Having a hardware firewall that still has a default password isn't very secure.) In addition to a hardware based firewall, running a personal firewall like ZoneAlarm on all nodes of the network is critical.
Dialup users should use a personal firewall on all PCs that they use to access the internet.
Come on, aren't you being paranoid? Why do I need a firewall?
For those of you who think I am over-reacting, perhaps you want to do a little research on the topic of Identity Theft.
Think about information that you put into sites like your online stock broker, or the online system to access your bank account.
Do you want someone getting your Social Security Number? How about the login and password to your bank account, or brokerage?
Think I am overexaggerating what can happen? Think that someone needs elite computer skills to be able to pull stuff like this off?
Well, sadly, if you think so, you are wrong.
Do a quick search using Google on "SubSeven" or "Back Oriface". These are a just couple of (older) tools that will allow the person who controls them more control of your PC from across the internet than you have sitting right in front of it.
These are just a couple of freely available tools. There are a lot of other examples, but I don't really want to discuss things that aren't as widely known in this forum.
The scary thing about this is that it requires no technical skills to control someones computer anymore. These 12 year old kids breaking into NASA and DOD computers aren't geniuses. The vast majority are script kiddies using software that other people wrote.
Your'e just paranoid. There is no way a script kiddie can touch me
Think so?
There are a variety of ways to infect someone.
Trojan Horse is a term used to describe an attractive program that includes functionality other than the advertised function.
Find a neat Chess program for free download on the internet? Or some other "useful" program? Even if you have anti-virus software that can check for trojans, or better yet, anti-trojan software that does a better job of checking for Trojan Horses, the possibility still exists that the author of the freeware has alterior motives.
In most cases, those alterior motives will end up being related to "spyware". Spyware is software that "phones home" and reports information about the activities you use your computer for.
If you are lucky, the unintended use of your computer is spyware that gathers information for marketing people, or other things intended to help the vendor make money. (Are you aware that KaZaa included software to make your computer participate in distributed computing networks in it's original releases?)
If you aren't lucky, the unintend use of your machine will involve key stroke logging to capture access to accounts used on the internet for financial purposes.
Even if a hacker isn't greedy, Trojan Horses can be used to get your machine to participate in an attack against other servers known as a Denial Of Service attack. Those these attacks are relatively common, one of the better known cases happened in February 2000 when Yahoo, Buy.com, and other major sites were attacked on a nightly basis.
OK, you got my attention. What can Zone Alarm do for me?
Well, ZoneAlarm is a personal firewall. It serves one function. Controlling traffic to and from your computer. Depending on software configuration, if you aren't running a firewall, your computer may have open ports that will allow a hacker to install Trojan Horses without you having to download and install a rouge program.
ZoneAlarm is one of the better personal firewalls available. It will make all the ports on your computer that you don't need to use for basic functionality invisible to the outside world.
In addition to blocking the outside world, ZoneAlarm will also alert you when programs installed on your computer are trying to talk to the outside world. Essentially, the first time any program tries to access the outside world, ZoneAlarm will let you know about it before allowing access. You have the ability to allow or deny access. You also have the ability to make your choice permanent, or have it prompt you each time that program tries to talk to the outside world.
There are some applications that you will want to allow free access to the outside world. Internet Explorer and your email application need to talk to the outside world. To make life easier, you will probably want to grant them free access without prompting you.
Other programs are in a gray area. If you have a personal firewall, you will be amazed how often RealAudio tries to talk to the outside world EVEN WHEN YOU ARE NOT USING IT. If you choose to have RealAudio on your machine, I highly recommend having it prompt you each time you want it to talk to the outside world.
Other programs shouldn't be allowed to talk to the outside world. Did you download a freeware chess program? If so, are you actually playing over the net, or are you just playing against your machine? If you aren't playing over the net, it doesn't need to talk to the outside world, and should be prevented from communicating with it. A program that tries to talk to the internet that doesn't need to talk to it is either "phoning home" to the company that wrote it, or it is a Trojan Horse. (In most cases, overzealous marketers are the problem) Earlier, I mentioned that Internet Explorer probably should be allowed to talk to the internet freely, but are you aware that Windows Explorer also tries to communicate over the net? I see no reason to allow it to, and therefore, have disabled it on my personal machines.
Installation
Installation of ZoneAlarm is relatively easy. It uses a standard installation wizard that requires running a setup.exe and following menus. After initial installation, you do need to put some thought into what you want to allow to talk to the outside world. If you make a mistake and don't allow a program to communicate to the world that needs to, you can always undo your "permanent" selection.
Why should I buy the "Pro" version when there is a freeware version available?
Every once in a while, a piece of shareware that is so useful comes along that it is worth buying. ZoneAlarm is one of the better personal firewalls available. I believe in supporting the people at ZoneLabs who created ZoneAlarm so that they can continue to improve the product as new security threats evolve.
Unlike some applications, buying a copy of ZoneAlarm will do more than just get rid of a "nag box" that appears when running the program.
ZoneAlarm Pro increases security by :
Offering protection against email borne viruses and worms While it won't filter your mail and prevent you from receiving an infected attachment, it will prevent a malicious program from mailing itself to everyone in your address book. If more people had software that did this, viruses like Klez wouldn't be so widespread.
Make marketers less intrusive ZoneAlarm Pro includes a few features to keep marketers from being overly agressive. It includes functionality to stop pop-ups, remove embedded advertisements in webpages, and prevent cookies from being used to track your activity. While these functions are available with other freeware, they are a nice inclusion. As I said earlier, I support what ZoneLabs is doing enough that I don't mind paying for the software even without the freebies. However, the freebies are a nice addition, and certainly provide more value than simply removing an annoying nag screen.
Allow you to track people trying to get into your system Sure, there are freeware utilities and websites that will let you trace an IP address, but again, bundling it within the application is a nice touch.
PestPatrol This is a software application that will scan your machine for Trojans and spyware. While AdAware from Lavasoft is free, it won't do much to identify Trojans. Most anti-virus software available today will spot some Trojans, but isn't as good as dedicated anti-trojan software. Pest Patrol is bundled free with ZoneAlarm Pro.
Conclusion
You need a firewall. ZoneAlarm is one of the better firewalls available. That in itself makes supporting future development of the software worthwhile. If the $40 for the Pro version of ZoneAlarm is out of budget for you, you should at least get the freeware version.
Recommended:
Yes
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stevelarrison
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Member: Steve Larrison
Location: Scottsdale, Az. USA
Reviews written: 171
Trusted by: 198 members
About Me:
Beer, the answer to, and the cause of all life's problems.
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