Zonealarm Pro Firewall 2010 Review
ZoneAlarm Pro Firewall 2010 is created by Zone Labs, Inc. It is a powerful firewall software that protects your computer from malware and attacks from hackers. It will also offer protection for your personal data by blocking known Adware and spyware from intruding into your computer, and removing it if it has already infiltrated your machine. It also has a utility called myVAULT which protects your identity. It is geared towards the general public but is also ideal for the corporate environment. With this anti virus software you have complete control over the programs which run on your computer.
Feature set
- Personal data protection is provide via myVAULT. This is where financial data and password lists can be stored in a secure fashion such that a hacker cannot get to them and copy them without realising. Instead personal data is entered into myVAULT, with this you can then add in a list of trusted website which can access this, this stops other sources from gaining access. This feature was tested by entering in an account number and password into myVAULT then attempting to send it via an email, this was blocked by ZoneAlarm Pro
- Use your own antivirus it is possible to incorporate your own antivirus product with the firewall software, alternatively you can go for a one stop shop solution and get the ZoneAlarm Security Suite 2010 which provides total protection against malware including anti virus and spyware. protection.
- Email protection is provided in ZoneAlarm Pro via a feature named Mailsafe, it protects you in the case where email is received or sent with attachment, as this is one of the primary vectors of virus deployment. Many users think about incoming viruses but the thought of sending out email can potentially be as damaging to reputation
- Customization is simple within each section, you can also easily create a safe list of senders for email
Usage
- ZoneAlarm Pro is easy to use from a novice perspective. The control panel has been designed well and the individual choices have been laid out simply. Each part gives a short explanation the choices and gives other options. Irrelevant information has been kept to a minimum
- Weak troubleshooting is a problem that ZoneAlarm Pro suffers from, if for example an application you have such as ICQ has been already denied it can be tricky to find out where the option is to re-enable it due the number of options and features in the application
- It is an easy installation, during installation there is a SmartDefense Advisor that automatically configure choices of programs to run on the system without having to wait until the application has to connected externally for the configuration.
- Very reliable when testing with unauthorised port opening and communication, it was found to be 100% effective in shutting down the communication
- Good Help/Support is provided by ZoneAlarm Pro's docs. They are organized in a sensible fashion. So finding answers to question is easy. It is possible for a novice to learn everything they need to know. It is also possible to get instant chat support available on their website. This lets you put a question to their technical support. A premium phone number is also available
Summary
The market has many different firewalls, most work well as firewall, this one has better than average configurability and has the unique benefit of protecting your email, one of the primary vectors of infection by malware