1) I have never trusted Windows security features, that’s why I went looking for a better solution. ZoneAlarm was recommended to me by a friend and I have been using it ever since.

2)I can’t really give you a definitive answer because I haven’t used McAfee in years…I dumped both McAfee and Norton ages ago because they are both memory hogs, imho. But I suppose if you have tons of memory then it doesn’t matter.

3)There is only one way to know for sure if ZA adds more protection to a system behind a router with NAT. Do the port probe test…Shields Up is a test you can try at Gibson Research located at http://grc.com/default.htm
Try it on all ports/all common ports without ZA and then again with…if you have complete Stealth..then you know that all ports are closed and you’re secure.

Interesting comments on Zone Alarm. I tried it years ago and was not happy with it at the time, but no doubt things have changed.

I was wondering: do you have any thoughts on

1) ZA in comparison to the built-in firewall features of Windows XP;

2) ZA in comparison to a combination of McAfee’s Enterprise 8i anti-virus with spyware option used along with Webroot’s Spysweeper; and

3) For a system running behind a router using NAT, does ZA add much more protection?

Hope all is well and that you’re having a good summer,

-Danny.

The icon started blinking every time an attacker would want to break into your computer, you would click on it and it would show you his/her location.

Now I’m using ZoneAlarm Security Suite, works just as great, but no blinking!

Long live ZoneAlarm.