Windows 7 - Is Zonealarm Even Needed Anymore?

**robbins** · 08-17-2009

I tried installing Zonealarm on Windows 7 and it did not work. It got me thinking, is it even needed anymore? Is the Windows 7 firewall good enough, along with a good anti-virus program?

**zigzag3143** · 08-17-2009

Quote: Originally Posted by robbins

I tried installing Zonealarm on Windows 7 and it did not work. It got me thinking, is it even needed anymore? Is the Windows 7 firewall good enough, along with a good anti-virus program?

Im afraid a software firewall other than win 7 is needed in my opinion. Zone Alarm had the market cornered back when but there are other options these days. I use Eset Smart Secutiy (NOD32 plus firewall) and love it. Others have had problems with ESS's firewall but I have it running on 4 boxes with no problems.

Everyone has their own favorites but I haven't seen ZAP being chosen at all.

Ken

**Victek** · 08-17-2009

Quote: Originally Posted by robbins

I tried installing Zonealarm on Windows 7 and it did not work. It got me thinking, is it even needed anymore? Is the Windows 7 firewall good enough, along with a good anti-virus program?

.
If you'd like to try a third party firewall with program control - similar to ZA in some ways - look at PrivateFirewall 6.1 which is freeware.

</title> <meta name="description" content="Privacyware - Advanced Threat Prevention and Security Intelligence Solutions"> <meta name="keywords" content="personal firewall, intrusion prevention, host intrusion prevention, security information manageme

**Captain Zero** · 08-17-2009

Allow me to decent, then, from the prevailing view here.

An external or additional software firewall is not needed.

The firewall provided with all NT-based OS' is extremely robust. And, properly configured, is a very viable solution for protecting a PC - or several PCs.

With Windows 7, the usability of the built-in firewall makes it all the more effective, allowing users to configure many advanced features easily, even if most were present in previous versions.

Out of the box, the Windows 7 firewall (by default) is soundly setup and is effective almost immediately. Of course, the software firewalls are not as reliable as a hardware fireall but that's another topic.

For now, Windows 7 users need only rely on the fireall provided to them with the OS.

**Sassa** · 08-17-2009

I agree with Captain Zero...
Just for the info... I found this on ZoneAlarm site:

Quote:

ZoneAlarm® Antivirus 9.0 Beta

ZoneAlarm Antivirus includes both Antivirus and the award-winning Firewall. It prevents and disables most recent and sophisticated viruses and PC attacks.

New in this beta program:
• Windows 7 compatibility. This is our second public beta compatible with Windows 7
(32 and 64 bit). Also works on XP and Vista.
• New Antivirus engine. Faster and more effective than our previous engine.

The following minimum requirements are recommended for the best performance levels and experience with our software. Installing our software on computers that do not meet these requirements is possible but will result in a lower-quality user experience, and in particular slower performance.
Recommended minimum software, operating system, and hardware:

Microsoft® Windows® 7:
2 GHz 32-bit processor, 2 GB RAM
2 GHz 64-bit processor, 4 GB RAM
Microsoft Windows, XP SP2 or SP3, Home or Professional Edition:
1 GHz 32-bit processor, 1GB RAM
Microsoft Windows Vista SP1 or SP2 :
2 GHz 32-bit processor, 2 GB RAM
2 GHz 64-bit processor, 4 GB RAM
250MB of available hard-disk space.

ZoneAlarm security software works with most types of TCP/IP connections including Ethernet LAN, wireless LAN, DSL, cable modem, and dial-up connections.
The idea resolution for ZoneAlarm security software is 1024 x 768 or higher. Some software screens might not display properly at resolutions of 800 x 600 or lower.
Known Issues

When upgrading ZoneAlarm you may see "installation failed" during the installation process. The install will still succeed.
ZoneAlarm's Anti-Virus is incompatible with Kaspersky AV and Kaspersky Internet Security Suite.
Upgrades from Vista to Windows 7 are not supported.
ZoneAlarm may fail to install on Windows 7 in VMWare and on some Intel network cards.You may download the latest compatible Intel driver from here.

**zigzag3143** · 08-17-2009

sassa

By agreeing with Capt Zero are you saying the win 7 firewall is enough, or are you saying that zone alarm is preferred? I was a strong ZAP proponent until recently, I beta tested since XP till now but just had too many problems. What i locked onto was the last paragraph about the unsupported things.

Ken

**Captain Zero** · 08-17-2009

One additional point on this to clarify...

There's reason enough to avoid a third-party firewall (even though, I too was a big proponent of ZA thoughout the XP years) in that the additional layer and 'hooks' that ZA introduce into the system are not only superfluous but redundant. Consider that ZA *must* use core elements of the TCP stack already present in the OS. That means, that all you're doing by using ZA is providing another interface for the firewall that already exists in the OS.

Much the same way AOL, STEAM and other applications use the Internet Explorer rendering engine to display its pages, ZA relies on core elements of the fireall already built into the OS to function. It simply adds another layer of bloat and dubious functionality, at best.

**Sassa** · 08-17-2009

Quote: Originally Posted by zigzag3143

sassa

By agreeing with Capt Zero are you saying the win 7 firewall is enough, or are you saying that zone alarm is preferred? I was a strong ZAP proponent until recently, I beta tested since XP till now but just had too many problems. What i locked onto was the last paragraph about the unsupported things.

Ken

I agreed wit him about windows firewall (it works fine for me)
I was big fan of ZA too, but ZA ls long forgotten.
I found that beta thing is interesting...

**KazeNoKoe23** · 08-17-2009

ZoneAlarm hasn't been necessary for at least 3 years IMO, and I used to love that firewall.

**pparks1** · 08-17-2009

I haven't used anything but the Windows firewall and a router based firewall for a number of years and haven't needed anything stronger. Of course, I'm also not an avid user of p2p apps, and torrents, and IRC stuff either...so my surfing is pretty secure. In the rare event that I need to hit a site of questionable content..I just fire up a virtual machine like Puppy Linux with firefox and use that instead.

Windows 7 - Is Zonealarm Even Needed Anymore?

Is Zonealarm Even Needed Anymore? problems?