Security software compatibility

Hello. I am just learning about security, and I've been told I should consider switching from the built in Windows 7 firewall to ZoneAlarm by a techy friend. I'm currently running Advanced Systemcare Ultimate Beta, Microsoft Security Essentials, MalwareBytes, and the Kaspersky TDSSKiller utility, TOGETHER. Successfully. All in happy compatibility.

What I want to know is, will adding another firewall program result in some compatibility issues? I know that adding a new one would disable the built in one, or, I think it will. Has anyone here (ever) successfully used any outside firewall with Microsoft Security Essentials, MalwareBytes, and Advanced Systemcare Ultimate beta or ASC with Antivirus 2013 (all together) before?

Not sure I want to press my luck...

I haven't heard much about Zone Alarm in years--certainly not on this forum.

I'd be suspicious of "Advanced Systemcare Ultimate", which sounds like a Swiss Army knife app of some kind that may do a lot of unnecessary or questionable stuff. Windows 7 doesn't need a lot of maintenance beyond the built in tools.

I use the Windows firewall, but there are other decent options. I'd just pick one firewall and be done with it.

I think your instincts about not pressing your luck are sound. As they say, "the enemy of a good plan is the search for a perfect plan".

Is there a way to set the windows 7 firewall so that it is more secure, and interactive, or it always just a background thing? I'd like to be able to see the rules, and what it is doing or not doing.

Advanced Systemcare has successfully saved me from my own stupidity several times already, it has a fantastic ability to repair the registry (and they have a nice force uninstall that helped me dump a load of bloatware). I'm beta-ing their new version with antivirus included, and so far, it's pretty flawless, but then, I am not under attack, so it's hard to say 100% for sure. I have nothing but good things to say about them though. They are a newer company (IObit), and they are doing a good job so far.

You can look in control panel/Windows Firewall/advanced settings and fiddle around to your heart's content.

But the premise of Windows Firewall is to not require a lot of interaction and constantly ask for input of some type from the user. I'd guess 95% of users just turn it on and do nothing else.

There is something out there called "Tiny Firewall" that I think is a front end for Windows Firewall and it might be what you are looking for. It's not a separate firewall--just a way of controlling Windows Firewall. I've heard good things about it, but don't have the urge to dig into it.

Phaewryn said:

Is there a way to set the windows 7 firewall so that it is more secure, and interactive, or it always just a background thing? I'd like to be able to see the rules, and what it is doing or not doing.

By default Windows Firewall has very conservative settings that render it quite insecure for its task, but the advanced control panel is the option you need to turn it more secure. The key feature to enable is blocking of outbound connections, which is off by default. The rules themselves I think is one of its coolest features with very detailed configuration is you want to spend a few minutes preparing it.

It's completely a background service. It's supposed to have incoming connections attempts notifications, but those rarely work really, and it completely lacks outgoing notifications so you have no way of knowing that, being one of the greatest flaws in it.

ignatzatsonic said:

I haven't heard much about Zone Alarm in years--certainly not on this forum.

I'd be suspicious of "Advanced Systemcare Ultimate", which sounds like a Swiss Army knife app of some kind that may do a lot of unnecessary or questionable stuff. Windows 7 doesn't need a lot of maintenance beyond the built in tools.

I use the Windows firewall, but there are other decent options. I'd just pick one firewall and be done with it.

I think your instincts about not pressing your luck are sound. As they say, "the enemy of a good plan is the search for a perfect plan".

I've been using Zone Alarm's free firewall for years, first on XP, and now on Win7 and have been happy with it. Many people don't like it because, until you get it "trained", it has a lot of popups, even more so than UAC. However, if one pays attention to the popup before blindly clicking it off, Zone Alarm gets trained pretty quickly. I find it easier to use than Windows 7's firewall.