I used to us ZoneAlarm as a Firewall. After getting a virus AND Netbus despite ZA, I changed to Nortons Firewall. What surprises me, is that when I used Zone Alarm, I recieved messages every few minutes that someone was checking for open ports etc on my computer. Now that I am using Nortons, I never get warning messages anymore that someone is trying to hack me......could it be that Nortons lets everyone in? Or does it do the work in the background without informing me? Even though I have set it up, to let me know.......Strange.....am I underprotected with Nortons Firewall?

What antivirus software do you use? Zone Alarm did not let you down, as it has nothing to with protecting you from viruses. Neither will the Norton Firewall. Receiving warnings depends upon how you have set up your settings for the firewall. Go to PC FLANK and test your firewall, and read all their information about protecting yourself. All the best!

I used to use Antivir as a virus checker, and Firewall. For some reason neither of them picked up the following viruses I had. One of them being Netbus and Hybris.dem (I got them at the same time! I assume I got them through ICQ, but I was surprised that neither Antivir nor ZA warned me. Yes, I did open up files:-(, and didnt check them first! But shouldnt they have warned me against these? I will follow up the site you have recommended, thank you.

CAPT. Sorry, I forgot to thank you for your answer........... THANK YOU!!!!

Did you check your settings on ICQ? Usually you have to go under options and find the security setting and then set Norton AV as your virus checker. People make the assumption that just because you have a virus and security program, it will automatically check everything. You always need to check your settings after installation.

hi blossom, another good idea would be to delete all references of icq from your computer as icq is the one of the major ways of getting a trojan horse. the icq files are located in your windows directory and also in your registry. a good way to find out is to follow the capt's advice and go to pcflank and also do a trojan and port scan. also go to wilders.org and download a free 30 day trial version of Trojan Hunter and scan your directories, if a trojan is found it will delete it from your files and from your directory. also download a free copy of RegProt from Diamond, its a great little registry monitor. as for firewalls another option would be to get a router. it will provide you with added protection as it is a physical firewall, it would protect your puter from all incoming packets, you would only need a good free edition of z.a to block all outgoing packets. cheers and good luck, murve

ill tell you this much....NOrton's "Internet Security" in no way matches the superiority of Zone Alarm. People are mistaken by trojan horses. People dont hack into your computer and place a trojan inside and then do their thing. Trojans usually come hidden in a file you downloaded from the internet and didnt run a virus/trojan scan. Zone Alarm's job is to prevent "NetBus" to access the internet, and that IM SURE Zone Alarm did not let happen. Dont blame your firewall. Be a more responsible surfer/downloader and be aware and know the difference. As for the pop up warnings for Zone Alarm, if you go to the preferences menu, you can make it so that it quietly works in the background. You obviously had it on what i call "tattle tale" mode! .LOL. Go back to Zone Alarm. the Norton Firewall is vunrnerable to a number of trojan horses that i wont mention. Ill put it to you this way......if i used my hands.......i wouldnt be able to tell you how many can!