Norton Personal Firewall 2002, or Zone alarm?

Lenny

OK, Just wonderin what YOU think is a better firewall, don't mind reviews, pls no links to reviews either, which one do you use and feel comfortable with.

Something

Before you post, read the following...

http://www.sysopt.com/reviews/firewall/index7.html
http://216.239.39.100/search?q=cache:-UZHRD436FgC:www.hackguard.net/compare.htm+firewall+comparison+norton+zonealarm&hl=en&ie=UTF-8
http://techupdate.zdnet.com/techupdate/stories/main/0,14179,2817237,00.html
http://download.com.com/1200-2027-938346.html?tag=txt
http://www.cnet.com/software/0-352108-8-20017782-2.html?tag=st.sw.352108-8-20017782-1.arrow.352108-8-20017782-2
and
http://www.pcworld.com/resource/article/0,aid,97430,pg,5,00.asp

Thx, vote right, VOTE ZONEALARM!

noog

I have a hardware firewall and some other bits and bobs installed on my machine to detect activity..

I also use proxys extensively..

Dun

I'm perhaps a bit paranoid so I'm using both. I used to have to disable ZoneAlarm a lot as it has a tendency to much up scripts (like the one above ^ on Boards), but the latest version is a lot better. I can't believe that review saying about Norton being difficult to configure and being unstable. I've found it a lot more configurable and stable than ZoneAlarm (I'm using the Pro version). From the interface I think it's a lot more user friendly as regards information provided to the user - ZoneAlarm has 'frightened' several people I know often. Mind you if you're anyway savvy then you'll recognise an isp ping as opposed to someone port scanning.

Personally I don't trust either on their own, but together, I feel a bit more confident

Oh, and although ZoneAlarm releases new updates every once in a while, NPF integrates with LiveUpdate (good if you have Norton Anti-virus too) and you can check for incremental updates rather than downloading the setup file again like ZAP.

ando

i'm on isdn so i dont give a rats a*s about firewalls !

KdjaCL

I have used Norton ,Zonealarm ,Black Ice and some other free thing.

Zonealarm wins it for me takes an age to load at boot but i can live with it.

Have had no problems i couldnt fix with it and the new on has network support.

I feel safe as i can be on my budget.
But i dont get paranoid about hacking if Tom the Box wants to hack me in IRC im sure he can and if someone is intent on getting into my system im sure they can also and theres nothing i can do about it.


kdjac

RicardoSmith

I'm on dialup so don't use one, but i tried ZoneAlarm a few times and it seem to require endless tweaking and administration. Most of the time I always ending turning it off to do something and never bother turning it on again.

Dingatron

Smothwall (linux) and Zone Alarm (free version) isn't bad.

i'm on isdn so i dont give a rats a*s about firewalls !

I'm getting isdn in tomorrow. How does that make a difference to security?

eth0_

Originally posted by ding
Smothwall (linux) and Zone Alarm (free version) isn't bad.
I'm getting isdn in tomorrow. How does that make a difference to security?

Presumably because ISDN is so damn slow, no hacker would bother their arse trying to run exploits on you!

I didn't like zone alarm, it was very annoying how it took quite a long time to load up, and the fact you have to configure it quite a bit before it's working nicely.

Norton i'd trust a bit more, although it has a tendancy to mess up settings on outlook express and others. Smoothwall is good if you have an extra box to put it on.

RicardoSmith

Because IDSN like Dialup doesn't have a static IP or an "always on" connection. No?

Dingatron

Presumably because ISDN is so damn slow, no hacker would bother their arse trying to run exploits on you!

There speaks someone with broadband methinks ;-) Going from a 56k modem to isdn has to be better than my current setup, plus the companys paying so it 'll do for the moment.

LoGiE

Tiny Personal Firewall. Better then Black ice and a number of other more successful software firewalls. www.grc.com has a good report on firewalls and they're effectiveness

TenLeftFingers

Zonealarm version 2.? was very good. Didn't cause problems with you Network neighbourhood like the latest one does. I have it on CD somewhere, must root it up.