I guess ZoneAlarm is not for me.

[Pool Hall Ace]

I'm running Windows Vista (yeah, I know) and ZoneAlarm appeared to be causing Firefox to hang. I unstalled Firefox 3 and installed Firefox2 instead. Unfortunately, that didn't help. I tried going from ZoneAlarm 8x to ZoneAlarm 7x, but same story.

Now I'm wondering, is a third-party firewall really that critical?

Dog, I hate Windows. X(

[Duer 157099]

1. Try Comodo

I was a long time ZA user who finally had to ditch it when it got too resource hogish.

I've moved over to Comodo and have been very satisfied. Free and just as customizable as ZA.

[Pool Hall Ace]

3. You know, I had Comodo for a while

but somehow was convinced that Zonealarm was OMGsomuchbetter!! I'll go back to it and see what happens. :)

[Duer 157099]

4. I know what you mean, completely

I was like that at first too. It took me awhile to "uncover" where I had to go to make Comodo behave in a familiar way to me (ie, alert me whenever someone wanted a connection, or a program wanted to change something, etc -- but suppress other familiar alerts). There's a learning curve, but eventually you'll be happy with it.

:thumbsup:

[Pool Hall Ace]

6. Did Comodo hang Firefox for you?

If you use Firefox, that is.

[Duer 157099]

7. Comodo? No. I use the current Firefox and current Comodo

Unless you mean ZA. By the time I gave up on ZA, it was hanging everything up for me.

[Pool Hall Ace]

8. Oh, OK. I downloaded and installed the latest Comodo last night and so far,

everything is running smoothly and running quickly. However, I'm still using Firefox 2, so I guess it's OK to upgrade Firefox now.

[whistler162]

2. If you have a router and use the built in firewall

Zonealarm or any other firewall is a third firewall.

The NAT'ing ability of the router is a excellent firewall and then the built in firewall is also good.

[Pool Hall Ace]

5. Oh, I have a modem, but not a router.

So I guess ZoneAlarm was not a third firewall. :blush:

And I don't know what NAT'ing is, sorry. :blush: I'm not much of a computer person. :D

[whistler162]

10. A explanation of NAT

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Network_address_translation

are you on dial up?

[Pool Hall Ace]

12. I'm on DSL.

[canetoad]

9. Why do you feel that you need a firewall

other than Windows built in?

Are you regularly visiting insecure sites? Using P2P? Following every link, no matter what your instinct tells you about the site?

The level of security you require depends very much on WHAT you do on the net and your level of experience in detecting bogus sites and links.

I wont tell you to ditch your firewall, but I question if you really need it.

[Pool Hall Ace]

11. Um . . . because all the cool people seem to have one? :)

I was thinking that if one firewall was good, two would be better. :D

[Why Syzygy]

13. I view my firewall (ZA)

as much as protection from what may be on my machine attempting to make outside connection as for any potential incoming. If I did not have it, google updates would have been having a field day making connections all week while I was unable to view the entire monitor (it was flashing). As it was, I was unable to see task manager to a degree to end task on google updates, as I routinely do when I can SEE the monitor. I had to "deny" access each time it made an attempt, as I WAS able to see the ZA pop up.

[Pool Hall Ace]

14. I wasn't trying to imply that ZA was useless.

It just wasn't working for me because I have Vista. Now that I'm using Comodo, everything is proceeding smoothly. I don't object to the pop-ups at all, but I was tired of Firefox hanging. :)

I wish I could get rid of Vista, and all things Micro$oft on my computer, but I've been told I would have to buy a whole new machine, and that is just not in the budget right now.

[woo me with science]

15. We used ZA for a long time,

and I still love the format of it. However, the latest versions started conflicting with everything, and it eventually became just too much of a hassle to keep. It also began to suffer from bloat compared to earlier versions.

We have switched. Lots of good ideas on this thread and others on this forum. I will tell you that AVG free version let nasties onto our computer twice when we used it, though. Of course, we have teenage surfers in residence going to game sites, etc..... It may be a better choice for those whose surfing is less enthusiastic and random.