zone alarm versus windows xp firewall

Skyhigh

Zonealarm is one of the better firewalls out there but in order to take full advantage you need some technical expertise and knowledge of ZA.

Of course it does work "out of the box" to a degree.

There is absolutely and utterly no comparison between ZA and the Windows Firewall.
Plus you should always have a 'standalone' non-OS-integrated firewall to avoid any potential OS hacks/conflicts.

You'll also find that there are more 'complaints' about ZA not only because more people use ZA but also because many people decide they want to "fiddle" with the settings, which can cause problems when you get them wrong, especially on some of the more advanced options and configurations.

Also with any software there is the possibility of a configuration conflict, although you will note that any conflict between ZA and Windows is usually down to Windows behalf, as thats the supporting enviroment.

:!:

taurusgb

Thanks for all the helpful replies - have decided to stick with zonealarm. Apart from all your good advice, what helped me make my mind up was that after downloading and installing 2 lots of windows updates, by looking at zonealarm I could see that both times the new downloads had done something to messenger which had altered my settings and zone alarm was prompted to ask me if I wanted it to act as a server (I do NOT! :mad:) even though I had always kept it blocked unless my dh wanted to use it.

Thanks again - help appreciated!