Firewall For Free! (Zone Labs ZoneAlarm)

Member Name: sparksteroid

Product:	Zone Labs ZoneAlarm
Date:	21/10/08 (65 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: pretty tight security for free

Disadvantages: too tight sometimes

I always used to use brand name security software though it came to the point where it just wasn't doing the job any more. I didn't really know what other option I had than to search around for a free firewall and antivirus.

Zonelabs Zonealarm is one name that came to mind which seems to have an extremely good reputation as being one of the best software firewalls available for free. I'd never really been able to trust in free firewalls before, they always seemed a bit dodgy, but I didn't have a choice.

Upon installing and using Zonealarm I was pleasantly surprised. It doesn't use up much of your computers resources and runs lightly in the background. The user interface is also pretty clean looking and easy enough to figure out how to use, though I'm not too keen on the yellow colour.

Zonealarm displays a 'Z' icon in the system tray and whenever traffic is sent or received it shows two small bars, like on a graphic equalizer, which move accordingly. Double clicking on this icon opens the program up. Similar to Mcafee Firewall, there is a stealth mode feature which hides your computers presence on the internet by blocking all inbound connections. In fact, security in Zonealarm seems to be tighter than Mcafee, which I have been told by IT Technicians is the best firewall in the world!

In fact, Zonealarm is showing that it is blocking more inbound connection attempts than Mcafee was. Zonealarm can be pretty tight at times and really does keep control on everything. Some people have some problems having some of their programs connecting to the internet only to be blocked by Zonealarm, but once you figure out how to configure the settings it's pretty easy to use really.

Summary: An excellent software firewall for free

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