is the ZoneAlarm Internet Security Suite worth $9.95 for a year?

[FrogMan]

Asking people who've used this suite, is it worth it?

I currently use the free ZoneAlarm firewall with AVG as my anti-virus on one PC and Avast one my son's PC. I installed some freeware parental control software on my son's PC but this suite includes a parental control function, as well as an anti-virus, an anti-spam, and an anti-spyware, from what they say.

Anyway, just got an email offering the suite for $9.95 (3 PC/ 1 year) so I thought I'd ask the friends of FOFC what their thoughts were on that suite.

Thanks in advance.

FM

[FrogMan]

dola, it's a one day deal type of thing, good until tomorrow morning 6am PDT...

FM

[Peregrine]

I used it for a long time and I think it's a pretty good deal, though I am now using a different firewall software. One thing I will mention is that it doesn't seem to play well with Vista - I had all kinds of weird issues with applications not running correctly, and finally determined that ZA Pro was the cause, which is why I am using something else now.

[Alan T]

Well, I don't want to give the wrong impression by what I say here, so I'll put it this way. Here are the main points when considering security software

- Most importantly some protection is better than no protection. (if it is a legit piece of security software)
- There really is not that much difference in quality between the best free security software applications and the ones you pay for. The main advantage in purchasing software comes from the support you receive if something goes wrong (or you contract a virus on your system)

Speaking specifically regarding what you mentioned above..

Zone Alarm - Was the premiere software firewall when it first became big/popular. Most of the issues that it has these days is not really a problem with the software design as much as people who use it don't understand how to use it effectively and allow in too much, or mis-configure it to become ineffective. That combined with many of the modern day worms/viruses are built to effectively navigate around software like Zone Alarm. Since most users now use home cable/dsl routers that have a Hide-NAT capability, software firewalls aren't as important and can be replaced instead by some form of system auditing/protecting software like Windows Defender or WinPatrol. If you don't have some form of hardware firewall or cable router that prevents people on the internet from connecting to you, then having zonealarm is actually pretty important.

You also mentioned AVG, which for a while was one of the better free Antivirus software applications out there. The problem with Antivirus software is that you are only as good as your ability to keep up with the most recent worm/viruses, and lately (the past year or so), AVG has had problems with keeping up with the infections combined with too many false positives.

You mentioned freeware parental control software, but did not name which you use. The only recommendation that I can give for this would be to try out K9 parental control software if that is not what you currently have. It is free for home use and designed by the same people who develop bluecoat web proxies. It pretty much seems to be the best in the market right now, and even better is free.

Basically the bottom line is, the best way to protect yourself and your system from attack is good web browsing habits, keeping your system and its applications updated regularly (applications such as adobe, java, etc often have exploits and are regularly patched), and try to keep a reputible antivirus software installed on your system with updated virus definitions. I highly recommend using something like Windows defender or WinPatrol to alert you of any system configuration changes , and finally some form of firewall (either software or hardware based)

[DanGarion]

Originally Posted by Alan T

Well, I don't want to give the wrong impression by what I say here, so I'll put it this way. Here are the main points when considering security software

- Most importantly some protection is better than no protection. (if it is a legit piece of security software)
- There really is not that much difference in quality between the best free security software applications and the ones you pay for. The main advantage in purchasing software comes from the support you receive if something goes wrong (or you contract a virus on your system)

Speaking specifically regarding what you mentioned above..

Zone Alarm - Was the premiere software firewall when it first became big/popular. Most of the issues that it has these days is not really a problem with the software design as much as people who use it don't understand how to use it effectively and allow in too much, or mis-configure it to become ineffective. That combined with many of the modern day worms/viruses are built to effectively navigate around software like Zone Alarm. Since most users now use home cable/dsl routers that have a Hide-NAT capability, software firewalls aren't as important and can be replaced instead by some form of system auditing/protecting software like Windows Defender or WinPatrol. If you don't have some form of hardware firewall or cable router that prevents people on the internet from connecting to you, then having zonealarm is actually pretty important.

You also mentioned AVG, which for a while was one of the better free Antivirus software applications out there. The problem with Antivirus software is that you are only as good as your ability to keep up with the most recent worm/viruses, and lately (the past year or so), AVG has had problems with keeping up with the infections combined with too many false positives.

You mentioned freeware parental control software, but did not name which you use. The only recommendation that I can give for this would be to try out K9 parental control software if that is not what you currently have. It is free for home use and designed by the same people who develop bluecoat web proxies. It pretty much seems to be the best in the market right now, and even better is free.

Basically the bottom line is, the best way to protect yourself and your system from attack is good web browsing habits, keeping your system and its applications updated regularly (applications such as adobe, java, etc often have exploits and are regularly patched), and try to keep a reputible antivirus software installed on your system with updated virus definitions. I highly recommend using something like Windows defender or WinPatrol to alert you of any system configuration changes , and finally some form of firewall (either software or hardware based)

+1 on what Alan said, he's an expert in this field.

I'd also like to chime in that you might want to check your ISPs website / help site and see if they provide any type of service for free. Road Runner offers Computer Associates Internet Security Suite which is an all in one product that does a decent job for what it is. As with any protection software a lot of the stuff is subjective if someone likes it or not. Also depending on the setup you have with your computer will determine how well the software works for you. But as Alan said, some protection is better then no protection.

[FrogMan]

Thanks for your input Alan and Dan.

As I said, I'm already using the free ZA firewall in combination with one of the free AV on both my and my 12yo son's computer, so I know (and agree) that some protection is better than none. The parental control I went with is PG Surfer from ParetoLogic and it looks to be doing the trick, although I will take a look at K9 too. His computer was a used one (from some government office) given as a Christmas gift, and it was sort of automatic that I'd put some parental control on it, on top of talking with him about his surfing habits. FWIW, his PC is hooked to a router via a wireless network connection and both PC share the same internet connection.

What I was looking for was mostly, would that suite be better, worse or about the same as what I'm using right now?

I also agree that good web surfing habit will do you a world of good, and I'm not worried about mine, but mostly my son's, who's pretty much new to the whole thing, relatively speaking. I keep drilling to him that whatever he wants to install or run has to be cleared by me, but you just never know when he'll get that "super cool email attachement" that will wreak havoc on our whole little network.

FM

[Alan T]

Originally Posted by FrogMan

Thanks for your input Alan and Dan.

As I said, I'm already using the free ZA firewall in combination with one of the free AV on both my and my 12yo son's computer, so I know (and agree) that some protection is better than none. The parental control I went with is PG Surfer from ParetoLogic and it looks to be doing the trick, although I will take a look at K9 too. His computer was a used one (from some government office) given as a Christmas gift, and it was sort of automatic that I'd put some parental control on it, on top of talking with him about his surfing habits. FWIW, his PC is hooked to a router via a wireless network connection and both PC share the same internet connection.

What I was looking for was mostly, would that suite be better, worse or about the same as what I'm using right now?

I also agree that good web surfing habit will do you a world of good, and I'm not worried about mine, but mostly my son's, who's pretty much new to the whole thing, relatively speaking. I keep drilling to him that whatever he wants to install or run has to be cleared by me, but you just never know when he'll get that "super cool email attachement" that will wreak havoc on our whole little network.

FM

Yeah, I'm not sure that I can give tips on how to handle some of that since it starts entering the area of "good parenting" versus "good computer security" since at some point it get to the point of how to properly instruct your child on responsible internet usage.

Regarding the specific software you mentioned, I guess the main benefit I see from zone alarm is the software firewall function. The other functions that the ZA suite contains are inferior to other competitors that are out there (including some that are free). $9.99 isn't really alot to spend though, so it is not like you are spending a fortune for it or anything though (I blow more on text sims that I never end up playing). I would say though that you could piece together a free Antivirus, free parental software suite, free software firewall that would perform better than the suite.

I guess the main question for me would be what type of support do you get by purchasing this? If you get pretty good support, then why not. That way if you ever do get some form of virus, you have someone that you can call to provide you a boot floppy to clean it, or instructions on how to clean it.

[Drake]

I run Comodo firewall and Avast! for antivirus...both of which are free -- they regularly seem to kick the ass of the Symantec business caliber antivirus I can get free from work and whatever professional grade firewall it is we use at work (that I can also get for free).

That said, recognize that when I say "better", I mean "better for me as an individual user managing my PCs" rather than "better from an organizational standpoint for deploying to 200+ PCs in a network environment and keeping them safe/clean".

But I generally like free -- even over cheap.

[Galaril]

Originally Posted by Alan T

Well, I don't want to give the wrong impression by what I say here, so I'll put it this way. Here are the main points when considering security software

- Most importantly some protection is better than no protection. (if it is a legit piece of security software)
- There really is not that much difference in quality between the best free security software applications and the ones you pay for. The main advantage in purchasing software comes from the support you receive if something goes wrong (or you contract a virus on your system)

Speaking specifically regarding what you mentioned above..

Zone Alarm - Was the premiere software firewall when it first became big/popular. Most of the issues that it has these days is not really a problem with the software design as much as people who use it don't understand how to use it effectively and allow in too much, or mis-configure it to become ineffective. That combined with many of the modern day worms/viruses are built to effectively navigate around software like Zone Alarm. Since most users now use home cable/dsl routers that have a Hide-NAT capability, software firewalls aren't as important and can be replaced instead by some form of system auditing/protecting software like Windows Defender or WinPatrol. If you don't have some form of hardware firewall or cable router that prevents people on the internet from connecting to you, then having zonealarm is actually pretty important.

You also mentioned AVG, which for a while was one of the better free Antivirus software applications out there. The problem with Antivirus software is that you are only as good as your ability to keep up with the most recent worm/viruses, and lately (the past year or so), AVG has had problems with keeping up with the infections combined with too many false positives.

You mentioned freeware parental control software, but did not name which you use. The only recommendation that I can give for this would be to try out K9 parental control software if that is not what you currently have. It is free for home use and designed by the same people who develop bluecoat web proxies. It pretty much seems to be the best in the market right now, and even better is free.

Basically the bottom line is, the best way to protect yourself and your system from attack is good web browsing habits, keeping your system and its applications updated regularly (applications such as adobe, java, etc often have exploits and are regularly patched), and try to keep a reputible antivirus software installed on your system with updated virus definitions. I highly recommend using something like Windows defender or WinPatrol to alert you of any system configuration changes , and finally some form of firewall (either software or hardware based)

I could not have put it better. Nice and in easy to undrestand laymens terms for those not in the infosec career field.