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Zone Alarm is free. It provides some security. It can log traffic on your pc. It uses some system resources. I don't see the problem. It may be true that a skilled Hacker/Cracker, what ever you wanna call "them", can waltz right through; so what? Because someone can pick the locks on my front door in less then 8 seconds I shouldn't bother to lock my doors? I do not like Steve Gibson or grc.com, I do not like Zone Alarm. But I would suggest using a firewall, and Zone Alarm is free. I must admit it is a decent firewall. I guess the long and short is; Can't hurt to run a firewall, and Zone Alarm is free. Go ahead and try it, see if you like it.

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Would you lock the doors on your house if say 4,000 people were coming over? When the internet only sends me one or two packets a day ill think about locking my doors!

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my computer got hacked to use it to hack another (some company). i lost my internetconnection because my provider thought i was the one breaking in (the company complained). i didn't knew anything untill i couldn't connect to the internet no more. after i regained my connection i started using zonealarm and was surprised at the number of attacks. there was much harmless stuff (like in this site (i quote): The firewall has blocked Internet access to ad.doubleclick.net (206.65.183.155) (HTTP) from your computer [TCP Flags: S].) from the time i used it, the number of attacks lessened. now i get pretty less alarms. i never got problems with my system performance because of it, but maybe thats because i'm just a home user. and i don't doubt there are plenty of people with enough knowledge to hack my computer even with zonealarm on it. but even if thats one on two, the chance they hack your computer is reduced by 50%.

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I have Zone Alare and the reason I use it, is when I surfed the net before I got Zone Alarm I noticed I got losts of stupid phone calls trying to sell things to me sometimes 4 a day and I got a lot of dirty e mail and since I now use it I dont get that, if I could prevent from getting the above I would not use it because it does use the resources and space, but it seems to be something that saves all the above garbage from happening & Time Rider if you can let me know how to get rid of this stuff without using Zone Alarm I would sure like to know because I would prefer not to use it. Sue

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Coolest Guy, Yes, I would lock my door if 4000 people were coming over everyday. Ever consider how many of those "packets" are just junk? Most of the crud bouncing back and forth from your computer is just that, crud. A firewall determines what is acceptable traffic and what is not. Many can decide for themselves, as well as give you the option to create custom rules. I'd love it if my front door scanned each person who walked up and based on what it saw it would either open or remain locked and say no one home, If an unknown or unidentifyable person came up they would have to knock. That's, basicly, how a firewall works. If running a firewall or antivirus causes your system to slow noticeably , then maybe it's time to upgrade or check how your computer is configured.

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Ok, TR, you do have a point, but still. I'm connected to the network of the university where I'm studying, and use file-sharing a lot. I know, this makes me more vulnarable than the average user... I know several people on the network that have been hacked, by student on the same network. None of these hacked people was using a firewall! Zonealarm=wast of diskspace? few mb more or less doesn't make a lot of difference on today's harddisks. An mp3 more or less, I don't care. Cliff, good point. Zonealarm put most ports into stealth mode (if not all, I don't exactly know), so you're hidden for portscanners. For now, I mainly use zonealarm to keep people out of my shared files and to prevent spyware to connect to the internet if the spyware managed to install without me knowing it. But this is my situation. If you just have a simple connection to the internet, chances to be hacked are indead for lower than in my case. I think most of these computers that were hacked on 'my' network, were students that think they are funny by being able to hack an unprotected pc. On that point I must agree with you TR, against experienced hackers, there can't be done much. But if your data is that valuble, just store it on a computer that isn't connected to the internet. But even then, if they really want it, why not just steeling the computer:) Johan

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i have a university connection also, so if what johanovitch is true, which i don't doubt, i'm probably more vulnerable to hack-attempts than most users, and so my posthacked paranoic behaviour was not necessary. maybe zonealarm isn't really necessary as some of you suggest, but as long as one doesn't notice reduced system performance, why not use it. i'll keep it even when i ever stop studying, get kicked out of here and have to look for a commercial provider.

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Puts ports into stealth mode? i wonder if this is for real or if grc detects zonealarm and automatically posts "stealth" its a conspiracy i tell ya!

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Zone Alarm is great,get it if you want protection. To those who say that a good hacker/cracker can brake in even if protected by firewall you have to realize that they have to find you first.That's what makes ZA so great,it never responds to ping or tracert therefore make you invisible on the internet.

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Peter, You are absolutely right. If you can't be seen you can't be hacked. Unfortunately using chat programs or internet games does leave you a little vunerable as far as "finding" your computer goes. oh well, I still vote for using a fire wall and since Zone Alarm is free those who don't want to pay should opt for it.

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Some time ago, the IT manager suggested that I might find it important to install a firewall on my home system. Since I am in the business of designing interesting applications, I looked around a various systems. Sometimes, the least expensive software actually is the best and I purchased a copy of Zone Alarm Pro, just to see if it actually lived up to it's marketing expectations. It does indeed stop DNS attacks and Ping Floods: we put it through it's paces. While in Stealth Mode, we were not able to find the target computer through any means. While there are a pletora of "script kiddies", "hackers" and "crackers" on this planet, any one of these aspiring individuals MUST be able to find the target computer to do any damage. In conclusion, Zone Labs, Zone Alarm Pro does what it is supposed to, make your computer invisible to the wanton perpetrator.

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I too was in the postion of needing to secure my computer on the university network. So I decided to use zone alarm. It seemded to do it's job. But what really sold me was when I was doing a power point presentation and zone alarm popped-up asking me if I wanted to allow power point to connect to the internet!!! Now that is what mainly use it for is to block that damn spy ware. regards

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I tried Zone Alarm and decided to go with another program. I deleted the Aone Alarm file and now I can't access the internet, ICQ, AIM, or anything. Any suggestions???? Thanks