![]() ![]() Prominent on the toolbar is Site Check, which evaluates every Web site you visit. I'd much prefer to know when a Web site has attacked me, even if the attack failed.Īlong with the free ZoneAlarm firewall you get a multifaceted security toolbar for Internet Explorer and Firefox. None of the exploits managed to penetrate the test system, but ZoneAlarm took no note of those attempts. I also attacked the test system using the Core IMPACT penetration tool. When I tried to change a Registry value to turn the firewall off I got "access denied." I couldn't terminate any of its processes or disable its essential services. Not surprisingly, ZoneAlarm also resisted my every attempt at disabling it the way a malicious program might. Between the browser protection and the firewall's own capabilities, ZoneAlarm blocked all but one of the tests. I challenged ZoneAlarm with a collection of leak tests, harmless programs that demonstrate techniques use to evade program control. ![]() Note: Internet Explorer is the only browser protected you'll need ZoneAlarm Extreme or the standalone ZoneAlarm ForceField for full protection. My programs had no trouble launching IE to open specific Web sites, but they couldn't shut it down. I saw this feature in action with my own test programs that launch and terminate instances of Internet Explorer. Check Point's Jordy Berson explained that the firewall protects its own processes using ZoneAlarm's ForceField technology, and that this protection extends to Internet Explorer. To start, any attack that relies on manipulating Internet Explorer will fail. The OSFirewall feature in paid ZoneAlarm products specifically detects and blocks most of these sneaky techniques, but even without that feature ZoneAlarm Free does a pretty good job. ![]() Typically they'll try to connect with the Internet by manipulating or masquerading as already-trusted programs. The only pop-ups you'll see relate to uncommon programs (ones not in ZoneAlarm's database), so you should pay attention in those rare cases when ZoneAlarm Free asks what to do.Įver since the first personal firewall appeared, malware authors have been seeking ways to evade program control. According to Check Point, this feature automatically configures firewall settings 97 percent of the time, so where the old free firewall would have overwhelmed the user with 100 pop-ups, the current one would just display three. ZoneAlarm Free Firewall 9.2, much like Zone Alarm Extreme Security, leverages the SmartDefense Advisor. The free ZoneAlarm, however, has always been known for its deluge of confusing pop-ups that ask the uninformed user to make important security decisions. ZoneAlarm Extreme Security makes those decisions by relying on a feature called SmartDefense Advisor, which taps into a massive database of known programs and results in fewer queries for the user. When any program attempts to access the network or Internet, the firewall must decide whether or not to allow it. Program control is the feature that makes some personal firewalls horribly annoying. ZoneAlarm passed all of my port-scan tests and fended off all Web-based attack tests. Your local network goes in the Trusted Zone it's still plenty secure, but you can share printers and files without hindrance. It puts up maximum protection for connections in the Internet Zone-public networks, coffee-shop wireless, and such. ZoneAlarm Free Firewall 9.2 streamlines basic firewall protection and adds significant bonus features, bringing the product back to preeminence in the personal firewall realm.Ī full-blown personal firewall should protect your computer from attack by hackers and also prevent misuse of your Internet connection by local programs-ZoneAlarm excels in both areas. Though the company never abandoned its original free utility, they did let it languish without significant updates for quite some time. ![]() Over the years, that initial simple tool has evolved into a range of security products, with ZoneAlarm Extreme Security 2010 ($69.99 direct) at the top of the food chain. The release of the original free ZoneAlarm utility in 1999 effectively created the personal firewall market.
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