Will the free zone alarm be enough when also using a router

[EC99SS]

I'm about to network my two computers via a router. This will cover the "hardware firewall" portion. However I wanted to throw in a software firewall for the peace of mind. Will the free version of zone-alarm work fine or would I need to shell out the $50 to buy zone alarm pro 3.0 with all the nifty perks it comes with? Thanks for the help

EC

 

[yakko]

The router itself is enough in 99.9% of the home setups out there as long as you don't screw up the settings. If you want to add a software firewall the free Zone Alarm is pretty good.

 

[RockyMaivia]

I'd say you're okay with just the router as long as you don't open any ports with port forwarding, or use one pc as a DMZ.

 

[tboneuls]

If you want the extra peace of mind, get the free zonealarm. you may have problems with the router seeing the computer with zonealarm. you may have to set some settings in zonealarm to fix this

 

[JackMDS]

In general, security issue involves:

1. Unauthorized Internet traffic coming in (from the Internet to your computer).

2. Unauthorized Information going out (from your Hard Drive to some one else Web Server).

The latter is done mainly by programs that are "calling home". Unfortunately, the amount of programs that are calling home is growing by the day.

The Router's Firewall secures mainly the Incoming traffic, to secure the Outgoing aspect you need Software Firewall.

ZoneAlarm, as well as other Software Firewalls, will help you in the matter.

 

[Bglad]

Jack has got it. And as long as you aren't running a server or some oddball programs like videoconferencing that require detailed port setup, the free version of ZA will be fine.

 

[Thor86]

The problem with the free version is it only allows the three settings - high, med, low security. Anything in between requires the full version which can be tuned to your needs. (ie: blocking/opening specific ports and ips).

 

[EC99SS]

Originally posted by: Thor86
The problem with the free version is it only allows the three settings - high, med, low security. Anything in between requires the full version which can be tuned to your needs. (ie: blocking/opening specific ports and ips).

I thought you can do all your blocking/opening specific ports and such via a router. If that's true..then it seems like the free version is all I really need. Am I right in thinking this?

Thanks for all your replies!

EC

 

[JackMDS]

The Router does Block ports.

However, Blocking Ports is not the same thing as Blocking "Let call home" Appllications.

 

[dakata24]

i think ZA free and a router should be good enough.. that and some anti-virus software..

 

[DeepSparklePupa]

You will not be able to share resources between the networked machines if either one is using the free ZA. If that doesn't matter to you (i.e, you are not backing up one PC's data on the other, or using shared printers), then there is no harm using ZA. If that DOES matter, you've got to either install a firewall on the router or grab a more robust firewall for your 2 PC's.

-DSP

 

[dakata24]

Originally posted by: DeepSparklePupa
You will not be able to share resources between the networked machines if either one is using the free ZA. If that doesn't matter to you (i.e, you are not backing up one PC's data on the other, or using shared printers), then there is no harm using ZA. If that DOES matter, you've got to either install a firewall on the router or grab a more robust firewall for your 2 PC's.

-DSP

i dont have problems sharing resources with my networked pcs and all of them use zonealarm (free version).. i have the Local setting to Medium and the Internet to High.

on the security tab, click advanced. and add your Local Lan Ip range/individual ip address/etc... and there ya go. unless you specify those ip addresses in the advanced tab, zonealarm assumes that everything is coming from the internet, which in my case is set to High..