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I am not affiliated with Znealarm nor any other softwware vendor. All opinions are personal, gained over years of use and are my own.

I accept that like all software, some programs do not behave the same way as one would expect. I have been using ZoneAlarm Pro since the very eary versions and gone, with it, through some stability teething problems. I have always used the commercial version over the 'free version' because it has far more useful and powerful features. My current operating system is WIN XP PRO with service pack 2.

Installing the program is something a kid in diapers can do - to get the real power of the program you do need to learn a bit more in terms of firewalls but not necessarily that much. I am stunned at how useful this program is to me. Even though I now have a hardware firewall, I still use the latest version of ZAPRO because its features are not matched in any way by the hardware firewall nor the bog basic firewall inside XP.

While the obvious objective of all firewalls is to guard against unwanted intruders, ZAPRO will give you a very detailed report on the site that a progam was attempting to send information too as well and almost enough info for a sketch artist to draw the person's face. I can easily tell when a new program is attempting to get access FROM my PC to the internet or a previously safe program has changed, This has saved my butt a hundred times at least because asided froom known program changes (XP upgrades for example) I can more easily identify spyware or worms etc.

There is a great section called the vault in which you can store whatever information you like that you DO NOT want to have anyone see. So if a program atempts to send your address or phone number etc without your permission, it pops up a window asking if this is OK. That is cool. On the privacy side you can set a master privacy setting then modify each specific page so it has its own privacy setting. This trick means you can be overly cautious in general (stopping JAVA, cookies etcc) and then turn each feature on so that you can happily see the site you want.

I have only used Zonealarm tech support once (maybe twice) during several years of use. That has to say something. I do recall the response was not fast but then the problem was not desperaely urgent either. The support person was very helpful, friendly and courteous.

I have found you have to use some common sense here too. For example, to make the best use of any security product, you have to keep it up tp date and give it a password that cannot be brute-forced or guessed. You also need to keep control of what is in your temp internet folder - as in, delete the contents after surfing every time. I realise this may mean a modest performance hit for dial-up users but if a site has dropped a package on your temp internet area then it will activate either the nest time you use the internet or even the next time you turn on your PC. If there are no contents to use then there is nothing to activate. I would happpily recoomend the commercial version of Zonealarm pro to anyone - even people behind hardware firewalls because you can quarentine each of your PC's on a network, share only what you need and work without worrying. I wa really surprised at how many programs attampt to get access to other PC's on a LAN when no such contact is really needed.. I've tested about 5 different firwalls and found that overall, ZAPRO blows the competition out of the water in terms of price, performance and value for money. I would not stop using it until I can find a better mouse trap but over the last 3 years or so I have yet to see such a beast.

Added: October 5th 2004

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NOTE: Product reviews are independently written by our members and do not necessarily express the opinions or views of CastleCops.