Top quality firewall for FREE!
Written: Feb 12 '00 (Updated Feb 15 '00)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Totally effective, wonderfully simple, and completely free!
Cons: Absolutely none found
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| the.knight's Full Review: ZoneAlert 2.0 |
There are plenty of software firewalls available now but only a handful have ever worked well enough to be worth a review. The best and most secure has always been the Conseal PC firewall, but its a technophobe's worst nightmare to configure.
A few attempts to make firewalls that didn't require extensive knowledge of protocols have been made. The two most notable being @Guard (now gone and replaced with something bloated and horrible) and BlackICE which crumbles everytime you update or patch any part of windows, including browser upgrades and patches.
Well along has come ZoneAlarm 2.0 and it was worth waiting for. ZoneAlarm 2.0 combines five seperate security features, each reinforcing the others. It combines a solid firewall, with access levels, zones, application checking and an 'Internet Lock'.
The Application Checking is a feature that has always been blatently lacking in BlackICE. BlackICE prevents information getting in - but gives no thought to information going out - the biggest risk from Trojan Horse virus programs. With ZoneAlarm however, when a program or application wants to connect outward to the net you are informed and have the opportunity to allow it or block it exactly as you do with incoming connections.
The user interface is amazingly clear and friendly, so much so that I had doubts about how effective it could be. Well I tested it very, very thoroughly and found it to be every bit as secure as my Conseal PC firewall, with not the slightest chink in it's armour. It may look simple but it is very effective indeed.
ZoneAlarm is far more friendly than either the highly technical Conseal, or even BlackICE (which has far too many undocumented features and assumes *everything* is an attack ... the program cries wolf incessantly) doing its job perfectly and simply.
All through this so far I have been wracking my mind looking for a negative thing, something to balance the praise. I have to conclude that I am unable to find much fault with the program at all.
So there's my review. I have found a software firewall that is at least as secure as the Conseal PC firewall (more so considering many of the configuration problems some conseal users have), which is simple to use and is absolutely free to private and education users. So don't just sit there, rate my review and then go get it for yourself!
Safe surfing everyone.
Recommended:
Yes
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Epinions.com ID:
the.knight
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Member: Black Knight
Location: London, England
Reviews written: 41
Trusted by: 49 members
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