Firewall Questions - ZoneAlarm, Sygate?

[BDawg]

Currently, I'm using ZoneAlarm 2.6, but I've been having some startup issues. Sometimes, when Win98SE tries to boot, vsmon.exe (a zonealarm app) stops responding, and I can't get to the network login. Sometimes, it doesn't.

If I shutdown ZA, delete vsmon.exe, and re-install ZA, the problem goes away for about a week, but then starts back.

Anyone know what's up with this?

Has anyone tried or heard about Sygate as an alternative?

 

[Carbo]

Sygate is suppossed to be good, too, but I haven't used it myself. As for Zone Alarm, version 2.6.88 is the latest available. I run it with W2K Pro without any problems at all. Contact their tech support and see what they advise about your issue.

 

[Linflas]

That is a new one on me. I have been running Zone Alarm under Windows 98 Se, Windows 2000, and Windows Me with no problems. Perhaps you can play with the startup order in the system configuration utility and have it start last?

 

[Jal]

I had problems with ZA getting along with McAfee.

I dumped McAfee, loaded another Virus Checker, and all is fine.

 

[Electric Amish]

I run Black Ice Defender. Never had a problem.

amish

 

[BDawg]

How do you contact ZA with tech support questions? Do they only offer support for the pro version?

 

[classy]

Tiny Personal Firewall is the best one. Its easy to use and passes all security tests. I also had problems with Zone Alarm. Zone Alarm wouldn't allow me to connect to the internet through Quake even though it was configured to do so. Get TPF. I think you'll like it. For home use its free just like ZA. You can get it here.

 

[TimberWolf]

Electric Amish:

According to Gibson Research, BID won't stop Trojan bots on your system . . .

Review

TPF rates well, especially on dual CPU systems . . .

 

[MrBond]

I used BID for a while, switched to ZA yesterday. ZA is a PITA at first, but it'll get better once all my programs are content. It's likly I'll only run it for a week or two at a time, just to check my PC for any strange outbound traffic, and then go back to BID. BlakcIce is excellent at stopping incoming attacks, but with my router at home and its built in firewall, I don't get any on the LAN (so I can't test ZA). I've said it before, and I'll say it again though. ZA is free, and its begging to be cracked. When a single program is preventing DDoS attacks and hack attempts and its FREE, there's got to be some movement against said program. But I'm probably just being paranoid.

 

[Electric Amish]

Yeah, but Gibson tested it after the bots were already on the system. BID doesn't check outboud traffic. If BID is installed, the bots wouldn't be there in the first place.

amish

 

[TimberWolf]

Perhaps I'm misunderstanding this, but:

If BID somehow fails to identify an "inbound" Trojan (or bot), then you have no subsequent alert to any attempts by the bot to comm with it's server.