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#11
I haven't used anything but the build in firewall for several years now. I also have the additional protection of a hardware firewall on my main router so it never was an issue to even turn it off.
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
2GHZ Processor? 2GB of RAM? IS ZoneAlarm THAT heavy on resources?
DANG!
Try COMODO, good on resources. Others good:
ESET NOD32, Microsoft security essentials.
I Insalled the recent beta for Win7 and after a reboot following the install, my disk usage was at 100% continuously, in resource monitor. Explorer.exe and a svchost.exe were problematic. I uninstalled and 7 was cool again. I dunno. They need to fix this because I really like ZA when it is proper.
Ive not used a software firewall for several years I feel that the router and windows firewalls is enough.
I'm another that used to be a big fan of ZoneAlarm, I had the Pro version when I was using WinME and also on my XP for a while but when I got the Vista computer I just used the built in one.
I also uninstalled it from the XP machine, it started to get too bloated so I went with the built in firewall plus good AV's on both machines behind a secure router.
I was using ZA IS with my Vista and when I moved to 7 it would not work. On contacting ZA I got the reply well bad luck you are running a beta OS. SO I will never use ZA again. I still have a good few month active on my version
Last edited by DirtRider; 11 Sep 2009 at 02:07.
+1 for no 3rd party firewall. Like many others here, I used ZA for a long time but stopped using it a while ago. Windows firewall is all you need
Just to add my own experience ....
The fact that a correctly configured hardware firewall will beat any PC based software firewall is not in dispute.
With the nature of a lot of home and small business networks where the system security is perhaps not at the level of a typical managed enterprise system, external protection is not the only concern
A local software firewall does go a long way to protecting your system from "the other Idiot", the family member or work colleague that is not as careful as you are, or is "Just Curious".
Once a problem is inside the perimeter provided by the gateway firewall a software firewall can prevent the spread of an infection, or other issues.
I personally prefer a 3rd party solution, due to familiarity, but I will agree that, correctly configured, the Windows Firewall does provide good protection
Well stated, Barman58. I also believe that the majority of risk to home systems are the users in the house, as you stated.
I used ZA from when it first was available, and used SonicWALL as a hardware firewall on my home systems. I used them both (obviously not at the same time) so that I could see what was being sent out as well as what was coming in. ZA deleted too much from the freeware version, and the SonicWALL finally gave up the ghost. I switched to COMODO at that time, since I didn't have a lot of faith in the built-in XP firewall.
Now, I use Windows 7 firewall and the Windows 7 Firewall Controller on one system and COMODO on the other two systems. All systems use MSE and WinPatrol also.
If it looks like COMODO can do the job, I'll use it on all the systems when I get the final version of WIndows 7 next month. If it looks like Windows 7 firewall is holding its own, I'll go with that. Either way, I'll keep the AV software.