Firewall query

Hi,
I have windows XP and AOL.

I have used Zone alarm firewall for years and I love it and find it easy to use, however recently I have had problems.

I use AOL and have recently changed from a modem to a router. As a result I can now open up IE and browse online from there without signing into AOL.(much quicker)
With my previous modem I could only use IE once I had signed into AOL.

Anyway, my problem is that I cannot use Zone alarm with this new setup as it wont allow me to use IE outside aol.
As a result I have defaulted to using windows own firewall although I have been told it's no good. (Mind you, when I ran Shieldup -stealth test it passed :confused)

Is a firewall as important as people say? Which one do people recommend? Or maybe someone has some idea how I can get Zonealarm to work with my new router?
Also, not wanting to confuse anyone when i went to my speedtouch router's settings page (92.10.28.17) I discovered there are firewall settings there too! Does that mean my router is a firewall? :confused
Any help appreciated!!

 

i myself have also used zone alarm for years. i've recently been told that aol, is somewhat different than other isp's (dsl, etc). my guess is that it's a router setting (but, i'm not sure). your firewall that you see in your router (some modems/routers have this), is probably a "hard" firewall, a software firewall would compliment it. windows firewall only blocks incoming stuff, whereas (sp) a 3rd party firewall would block incoming, and outgoing stuff (if that makes sense?).

you could try disabling your firewall in your router, and/or playing around with settings?? - sos

 

@trish

Your router acts as a "hardware-firewall" this means that there is a firewall in there, yes. By default hardware firewalls are set to allow all outbound traffic but to block all inbound traffic that is not headed directly for a specific application, thus blocking all incoming attacks whilst allowing your computer to freely use the internet.

This is a good thing to have, as a hardware firewall will block most port scans/incoming attacks however it will be no use if your system should become infected by a trojan/spyware/malware etc as the infection will be able to freely communicate with the attacker, your hardware firewall will (by default) allow the connection as it is an application running on your machine and it will register as normal outbound/inbound traffic.

This is where a software firewall comes in use, a software firewall typically monitors ALL Traffic along a network, allowing the user to fully choose which applications they wish to allow access to the network, each time an application wishes to gain access to the internet it must go through the software firewall whereby the user can decide if they wish to grant it access (The user can use a number of functions to remember application rules for traffic flow).

In short it is useful to use both a hardware firewall (Such as a firewalled router) AND a software firewall (Such as Mcaffe personal firewall plus) because the hardware firewall can be used to defend against scans and attacks in general over the network whilst the software firewall can be used to monitor all traffic from a specific computer, this ensures protection from network attacks and eliminates the risk of infections communicating with attackers if your system should ever become infected.

As for internet explorer not working with zone alarm, it's probably a configuration issue.

 

It is definitely a configuration issue. Zone Alarm has been configured for AOL (and it sounds like it was AOL dial-up). The OP is now using DSL and doesn't need AOL (and should probably uninstall it completely and should also consider cancelling the account and not paying for AOL anymore if it isn't needed). For best results, completely uninstall Zone Alarm and use a different firewall. You can do a basic uninstall by using Add/Remove Programs, or click the following link and follow the instructions; it links to a PDF (Adobe) file. The instructions for a full manual uninstall start on page 79, step 1 says "start your computer in safe mode...". Here's the link: http://download.zonelabs.com/bin/media/pdf/za31_help.pdf Doing the manual full uninstall is highly recommended if you plan on using ZoneAlarm again; this way doesn't leave any 'leftover' settings that may confuse a future ZoneAlarm installation. However, I would use a different firewall so it will be cleanly installed with your new internet configuration. Comodo Firewall is fairly new and has a great following and was recently rated the best firewall available, free or paid (and it's free). There are other good free firewalls available here at Major Geeks and elsewhere.... here are some links to ZoneAlarm alternatives:
Comodo Firewall http://www.majorgeeks.com/Comodo_Personal_Firewall_d5033.html
Fileseclab http://www.majorgeeks.com/Filseclab_Personal_Firewall_Professional_Edition_d5184.html
NetVeda http://www.majorgeeks.com/NetVeda_Safety.Net_d5789.html
...and many more are listed here http://www.majorgeeks.com/downloads34.html
Take a look at Dynamic Security Agent; it's free and offers several security features: http://www.privacyware.com/dynamic_security_agent.html
And then there's Online Armor. It's a firewall with great security features also: http://www.majorgeeks.com/Online-Armor_d4872.html
I hope I didn't confuse the situation. Here it is in a nutshell: Remove Zone Alarm. Install a new, different firewall. If you have more questions, feel free to post 'em here!
Good luck!
:major

 

[3] Challenging someone's advice without adding any of your own doesn't help anyone, either. While yes, a little more clarification might be good, (especially for email's sake) it is clear that this user is now on a DSL router/modem, whereas before they were using a modem. Maybe a DSL modem, or analog. Doesn't matter, as the router handles the authentication Now AOL does not need to be signed into, and the new router is a Speedtouch router/DSL modem, as given in post number 1.

Not that it matters. Stay on topic, folks. This is about firewalls, not AOL.

 

@ Trish. Im also with AOL and have the same setup as you.
By that i mean the same router and now also dont need to sign on to AOL to get internet access. i just open up a browser. im using PC Tools firewall, and it works great with AOL for me. i didn't need to configure it at all for AOL.
give it a try, you can always uninstall it again if you have any problems with it.