XP SP2 vs. Zone Alarm Firewall

I'm currently using dial-up and am seriously considering DSL. I'm using SP2's firewall and was wondering if I should switch to Zone Alarm or if I'm OK with what I have, Any benefit to switching to ZA? I like the SP2 firewall because it's pretty unobtrusive but many are using ZA. What are the differences between the two? Thanks.
Bronson7

 

Without a doubt, switch to ZA. Windows Firewall is unidirectional only. This means you can only control incoming traffic, and not outgoing. If you were to suffer a spyware infection, and it was trying to send out your credit card numbers on the internet, ZA would stop it where WF would not.

 

Thanks Milty. That is a big difference! Appreciate it.
Bronson7

 

Here's another EXCELLENT reason to use ZoneAlarm:

Media Alert: 180Solutions Withdraws Lawsuit Against Zone Labs
SAN FRANCISCO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jan. 30, 2006
"Our customers rely on ZoneAlarm to protect them while they innocently surf the Internet," said Laura Yecies, general manager of Zone Labs and vice president of Check Point. "Ultimately, all consumers must be able to choose what to allow on their PC and to understand the intent of the program. Zone Labs remains committed to innovating proactive protection to advance the safety of all consumers online."

I would recommend that everyone read the entire story to see an excellent example of a company that really has the consumer's best interests as their goal. This single newstory (originally posted on MG) was all it took to convince me to quit using ZA Free and to buy the Pro version instead.

I didn't provide a hyperlink-there are too many reporting news agencies to choose from. Just insert the first line in a search engine and then choose a site to read it.

 

Thanks Prisoner. Another excellent reason! ZA it is.
Bronson7

 

Hi I have used ZoneAlarm® Internet Security Suite for over 3 years I think now and used ZA free when i first got into computers 9 years ago and have allways found it to be the best firewall so far.

I got the ZoneAlarm® Internet Security Suite because it dose everything my opion is it kicks the crap out of norton but there is one downside to ZA and that is that it dose slow the system down you mainly only notice on single core 32 bit chips but it dose do alot of great stuff like:

Basic Network and Program Firewall --- this is all you get on the free one
Advanced Network and Program Firewall
Operating System Firewall (OSFirewall™)
Anti-Spyware
Antivirus Protection
Identity Theft Protection
Auto-Learn
Game Mode
Spy Site Blocking
Privacy Protection
Anti-Spam and Anti-Phishing
Email Security
IM Protection
Wireless PC Protection

My score is 9.6 for this fire wall out of 10 and worth every cent also my grading score on this is the hole 9 years of playing with it and if i was asked for the last 3 years alone since I brought it I would give ZASS a 9.9 rateing out of 10.

My main computer i just had problems with dew to SP2, had 62000 small attacks and about 250 high grade attacks on the system in 1 and a half years so i think that speeks for its self plus no one got in to my system the hole time.

Thats my opinion everyone to there own but.

 

ZoneAlarm is the best free firewall available im my opinion. Nothing has access until you approve it.

This may help, How to Protect yourself from malware!