Poll: Firewall

[Delusion2001]

What's better, Zonealarm or blackice defender?

 

[Jal]

Where is the poll?

Do a search for ZA and BI, you will find a ton of weekly threads about them.

 

[BigKev]

I use Zone Alarm ... but that's just my preference.

 

[thEnEuRoMancER]

Zonealarm

 

[airfoil]

Black Ice.

 

[FOBSIDE]

ZONE ALARM all the way! =)

 

[DocDoo]

BlackIce Defender is not really a "firewall!" It's a N.I.D...

ZoneAlarm has the ability to hide ones footprint on the net, this makes it harder for someone to shoot you if they can't see you

BlackIce has never been responsible for locking or crashing a computer it has been installed on (generally speaking), and uses very little resources

ZoneAlarm has locked and/or crashed a computer it has been installed on (5/7), and uses from 9% to 15% of Windows resources

BlackIce can't block an out-going packet

ZoneAlarm can block out going packets

These 2 programs might be marketed to the same group of users, but they are essentially different type of programs.

If I was on a dial-up (56K), I would only use BlackIce Defender.

If I could only use 1 program (BI or Z/A) for a DSL or Cable connection, I would choose Z/A.

For my needs, I use both and find that they compliment each other, I feel naked any other way

------(Forgot to add)---------

Since the "heading" is firewall, lets not forget the "hardware" firewall approach. Currently I am only using the software version, but I think the ideal firewall would be:

Hardware firewall (Linksys, Netgear, ect...)
-- and --
BlackIce Defender

To me, that would be a perfect firewall for under $150!

 

[HomerSapien]

I use blackice. Blackice does have the ability to hide ones self on the net. Zone alarm crashed on me alot when i tried it out. The general feeling of zone alarm is clunky. I havent used the latest version of zone alarm, but i really like the log that black ice makes.

 

[DocDoo]

<< Blackice does have the ability to hide ones self on the net >>



I was not specific about that....

BlackIce does not block ping request. If you are running BI and I ping your PC, I get a reply!

With Z/A, you would get 100% packet loss!

This is helpfull against someone doing a general sweep over the net to see what machine answers. (ie. &quot;Hello, I am here... my phone number is 24.xx.xx.xx&quot

That is what I meant

 

[BrianRick111]

I like BlackIce...gives you the intruders ip and is easy to report.

 

[TP]

ZoneAlarm Pro here, a little more flexibility than free version

 

[esung]

Tried both, I'll lean toward Zone Alarm. but the pro version is probably better, except that I don't really want to spend money and buy it. but for best protection, a hardware firewall is better, but again, it cost a lot of money for personal use.

 

[HomerSapien]

ahhh..yeah, i dont know if it blocks pings, but it will log who ever is pinging you. then you just block them and then it wont take anything from them.

 

[SonOfZeuz]

Zone Alarm is by far a better firewall than BID (BID is not actually a firewall) I have personally witnessed people getting into computers with BID running (they even deleted the BID files when they were in) BID just sat there like a dead fish. BID does nothing about outgoing packets.
I'm not saying ZA is perfect, it has flaws of its own, but between the 2 - chose ZA

I use Atguard BTW



*EDIT - Oh ya ZA is free

 

[DocDoo]

<< i dont know if it blocks pings, but it will log who ever is pinging you. then you just block them and then it wont take anything from them. >>



Actually, BlackIce Defender will not log anyone that sends a ping request to your PC (only if it's a ICMP flood, DOS), thus making it impossible in setting a &quot;block rule&quot; on them.

 

[JackBurton]

Best firewall...FreeBSD!

 

[device]

Linux's Netfilter
Snort

 

[Mytv]

Atguard with
Ad blocker
Cookie blocker
Popup closer

Too bad bloatware, Symantec bought them out.

 

[Quickfingerz]

neither

conseal is better than both it's more configurable.

 

[mikysee]

I use ZoneAlarm.

 

[TCool]

You might want to try Tiny Personal Firewall too. Its free and is supposed to be very good. I haven't used it enough to know. The Air Force contracted to use it for all their machines.

Its not quite as user friendly though as zonealarm. But I myself have been having some lockups lately, and have tied the problem to ZoneAlarm causing it, or at least conflicting with something.

I'm trying the Tiny Personal Firewall right now.

http://www.tinysoftware.com/pwall.php

They compare their firewall to others here:

http://www.tinysoftware.com/pwall_comparison.php

 

[chuckieland]

i use zonealarm pro

 

[gaucho]

i use both ZA and ZeroKnowledge Freedom..
Freemdom's firewal is a bit lacking but compliments well with ZA.. and best of all, you get annoniminity on the web with freedom. Check them out. Zero Knowledge

 

[DocDoo]

gaucho... How much does Zero Knowledge affect your online speed. I was one of the Alpha testers for them way back.... and back then, it would really slow you down. Even when 1.0 was released, it was still slow...