ZoneAlarm Using ''Scareware'' to Sell Firewall

[ginnai]

ZA was really not a great option to start, but I agree that this is an egregious offense. Freeware/Trialware is at the heart of capitalism, companies competing for the right to have your business... cheap tricks and misinformation is not. Do the ignorant have the right to be protected from those who would take advantage... the answer is yes in all other sectors of modern life. I work in the food industry, we cannot mislabel our products or intentionally mislead them... why should software companies be allowed to?

My final comment would be to agree with thejerk on his first post. The average consumer has no need to elaborate safety measures (third party software)... windows firewall and online scanners is about all I use for my laptop and I am yet to have a problem.

 

[milktea]

I've tried the free firewall, and really liked it. So I purchased the retail ZoneAlarm firewall, and it works great. No annoying pop-ups. Though, I don't pay for any Anti-virus software. I just need a good firewall, so programs doesn't send out my usage data without me knowning.

 

[Guest]

Norton went over a complete overhaul over the past few years. It only runs two processes under windows and for most computers uses under 15mb of ram. Not perfect, but better than a lot of the free ones out right now.

 

[fazers_on_stun]

I switched to Microsoft's free Security Essentials when my Trendmicro subscription ran out over a year ago. No problems since then.

 

[thejerk]

[citation][nom]shanky887614[/nom]how about comodo, its a good firewall and if you want to you can use there antivirus as wellit is easy to use it is also a hips and any part can easily be disabled by right clicking the icon in the icon section at bottem right[/citation]


But why bother when MS has two excellent (and well-reviewed) products that were developed in-house under the auspices of those who wrote the OS code in the first place? All that's needed beyond the two MS components is a.) uncommon sense about the perils of the Interwebs and b.) a good anti-malware program like mbam as a backup.

Honestly, using anything else (at this point in time) is opening the door for future aggravation. Maybe we'll see more-effective products from 3rd parties in the future, but for now I am entirely confident in my recommendations.

 

[kinggraves]

When a company says that their antivirus is the only program that knows how to fix the virus, I just assume said company created the virus themselves and thus knows exactly how to remove it.

 

[hebe]

ZA is a crappy firewall. Comodo is free, and infinitely better... plus, it doesn't nag you to buy anything. It's a shame more people don't check matousec's ratings, then they'd realize that ZA has NEVER been a good, free firewall. Comodo and Outpost are two of the only ones that routinely beat out everything else, and Outpost's free version is pretty weak, because they update it so infrequently.

 

[thechief73]

This is a surprise to me ZA used to be qutie well recommended back in the day, but I have been using the MS firewall and Router Firewall since 2005 and never had any troubles.

 

[hebe]

thejerk, Microsoft's Firewall is NOT well reviewed.

thechief73, ZA was recommended by who? When is back in the day? I heard a lot of nonsense about ZA being a good firewall about 7-8 years ago, Outpost was the industry leading competition at the time, and got exceedingly little press by comparison. It's a real shame too, because ZA has simply never compared to Outpost, or the new leaders (Comodo and Online Armor).

 

[theholylancer]

ZA was great before that check point brought it and remade it... before it was much easier to control program in and out and ports but then check point comes in and made it almost impossible to do unless you upgrade for finer controls

 

[g00fysmiley]

so they are basically turninging from a legitimate company into a malware company ... glad i don't use thier outdated software anyway

 

[Camikazi]

[citation][nom]dman3k[/nom]Who here is glad that Norton Internet Suite comes with your Comcast Internet even if you are NOT glad you have Comcast?!? (Sorry, I have no choice but to go comcast!)[/citation]
I'm not, the last 4 comps I've worked on had the crap Comcast AV on it that did nothing to stop viruses AND slowed the computers to a crawl.

 

[nevertell]

Just use a router, make it a firewall and you're safe. It's stupid to plug in a computer right to the isp's cable. It's like unprotected sex, it's only good if it's with people you know and trust (lan), otherwise use a condom (router/firewall).

 

[Camikazi]

[citation][nom]ginnai[/nom]ZA was really not a great option to start, but I agree that this is an egregious offense. Freeware/Trialware is at the heart of capitalism, companies competing for the right to have your business... cheap tricks and misinformation is not. Do the ignorant have the right to be protected from those who would take advantage... the answer is yes in all other sectors of modern life. I work in the food industry, we cannot mislabel our products or intentionally mislead them... why should software companies be allowed to?My final comment would be to agree with thejerk on his first post. The average consumer has no need to elaborate safety measures (third party software)... windows firewall and online scanners is about all I use for my laptop and I am yet to have a problem.[/citation]
Windows Firewall and MS Security Essentials for me, both small fast and work very well. No real need for an advanced firewall for basic online stuff, well if you are intelligent and don't just click on anything that pops up that is.

 

[killmenow]

ZA is crap, always has been, always will be.

You don't need and shouldn't have a firewall on your computer (except for the build in Windows firewall).

I keep my system clean with only Security Essentials installed, no software firewall, no internet security crap, no whinge pop up's, no problems.

Product like this are for dumb people.

 

[HolyCrusader]

I've never liked ZA - even back when many people & sites loved it, I just never saw the appeal of it. The last software firewall I used was Black Ice, and that was when I was first got broadband access nearly 10 years ago.

A router's firewall + built-in Windows firewall is more than sufficient most of the time. People are far, far more likely to get infected by downloading a free card game or an e-mail attachment.

 

[Deadstick50]

Well, I was a loyal ZA user up till now, and have been recomending it to friends and customers. That ends today, thanks going out to you who listed the Comodo and matousec info. I can move to Comodo and get rid of both ZA and Avira in one move....never did like having to use seperate progs anyhow

NOW, @ the bitches about people FREELOADING on someones software lemme say this, they dont want me to use their $hit for free...dont damn offer it to me for FREE.....and if you dont like using free then take your a$$ and go buy it, but climb off of us who will use free
I been unemployed for damn near 2 years now...so free is where im at! K?

 

[hebe]

Deadstick50, Comodo AV isn't that good... better to stick with Avira.

 

[JD13]

Norton's is THE Worst! I use to use it, but after reading & finding out that it was incompatible with my Dell computer which even came with Norton's 12 or 15 month "Free" trial package.... I switched to Mc-A-FEE, it's not as bad & doesn't have any issues with video card drivers at all like Norton's did.

 

[cookoy]

some companies that fail to innovate and compete resort to desperate moves. remember SCO Unix?