SP2 firewall v. ZoneAlarm with Antivirus

[Boyho1]

I am currently running both firewalls but from time to time vsmon.exe seems to take over and hogs up to 80% of cpu.

My question is can I trust the new SP2 firewall and dump ZoneAlarm?

Frankie

 

[spyordie007]

I would actually disable the SP2 firewall and just use ZoneAlarm. While SP2's firewall may be a pretty good inbound firewall it has no outbound protection whatsoever.

Disabling the SP2 firewall might also solve your issue with the running away ZA process.

 

[madthumbs]

Personally, I would get rid of both of them and go with either Sygate (if you want free) or BitDefender (if you're resourcefull). I saw Zone Alarm causing stability issues a long time ago, same with BlackICE.

 

[Mem]

ZoneAlarm & Sygate are superior to the SP2 firewall, so disable the XP one,personally I would go with either Sygate or Kerio Personal firewall.

 

[bacillus]

hmm, I am reliably informed that the firewall for sp2 has both inbound and outbound protection!

 

[Mem]

hmm, I am reliably informed that the firewall for sp2 has both inbound and outbound protection!

Bacillus from what I `ve read ,

For the 90 percent of Windows users not running a personal firewall, the new and improved firewall in SP2 may be better than nothing, but it's just not good enough. I, for one, would never rely on it.

As I've reported before, the Windows Firewall lacks outbound blocking, a staple of most third-party personal firewall products and, I believe, an absolute requirement. Inbound blocking -- something which all firewalls (including Microsoft's new one) do -- is what keeps illegitimate traffic from entering systems and networks through networking channels known as ports.

As Zone Labs' implementation of SP2 compatibility demonstrates, absence of outbound blocking isn't the only significant vulnerability in the Windows Firewall.

Info here. .

 

[Boyho1]

Thx guys. In the short term I will disable the SP2 F/W and stick with the ZoneAlarm whilst I consider your alternative suggestions.

 

[The Green Bean]

sygate rox 😛

 

[Auric]

I recommend disabling XP firewall also, and replacing ZA with free Kerio Personal 2.1.5. I was a long time user of ZA but its development just became too bloaty and error prone, as is often the case. If you want to pay for anti-virus then Kaspersky Personal 5 is excellent, otherwise perhaps some freebee will be equivalent to ZA's.

 

[dguy6789]

i just use my hardware firewall which owns zonealarm and win xp combined. But i use xp and my hardware one, because the more protection you have, the better period.