Hardware Firewall vs Zone Alarm

I've been using Zone Alarm since moving to cable internet several years
ago. I just installed a new wireless router, a Linksys Wireless-G
wrt54g. According to the box it comes with the "powerful" SPI firewall.
Any opinions about whether or not this is an improvement over Zone
Alarm?

I have both WRT54G and ZA running since ZA gives me more control
especially over outbound traffic.


--
Esquire
brought to you by http://www.wifi-forum.com/

JS wrote:
> I've been using Zone Alarm since moving to cable internet several years
> ago. I just installed a new wireless router, a Linksys Wireless-G
> wrt54g. According to the box it comes with the "powerful" SPI firewall.
> Any opinions about whether or not this is an improvement over Zone
> Alarm?
Your hardware firewall can prevent access to your network, but will
assume that everything coming from the network is legit. That is where
your software firewall comes in. When used in conjunction with your
hardware firewall, zonealarm, sygate, norton and the others will keep
you informed of what is trying to connect to the internet. I recommend
that you Keep using them both.

The WRT54G is not a "true" hardware firewall.

Bill Crocker


"JS" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:8YGCd.35752$(E-Mail Removed)...
> I've been using Zone Alarm since moving to cable internet several years
> ago. I just installed a new wireless router, a Linksys Wireless-G wrt54g.
> According to the box it comes with the "powerful" SPI firewall. Any
> opinions about whether or not this is an improvement over Zone Alarm?

"JS" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:8YGCd.35752$(E-Mail Removed)...
> I've been using Zone Alarm since moving to cable internet several years
> ago. I just installed a new wireless router, a Linksys Wireless-G
> wrt54g. According to the box it comes with the "powerful" SPI firewall.
> Any opinions about whether or not this is an improvement over Zone
> Alarm?

The basic theory is, "defense in depth," or in other words, layered
security. Thus, having a hardware firewall PLUS host-based firewalls (ie,
ZoneAlarm, Norton, BlackICE, etc) is the right way to protect your machines.

Jonathan wrote:
> "JS" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
> news:8YGCd.35752$(E-Mail Removed)...
>> I've been using Zone Alarm since moving to cable internet several
>> years ago. I just installed a new wireless router, a Linksys
>> Wireless-G wrt54g. According to the box it comes with the
>> "powerful" SPI firewall. Any opinions about whether or not
>> this is an improvement over Zone Alarm?
>
> The basic theory is, "defense in depth," or in other words, layered
> security. Thus, having a hardware firewall PLUS host-based firewalls
> (ie, ZoneAlarm, Norton, BlackICE, etc) is the right way to protect
> your machines.

The thing to be wary of is something I ran across. A hardware (router based)
and software (computer based) firewall are fine, but two softwares are bad/a
no no. If you have (or upgrade to ) xp sp2, it has a built in firewall that
has to be disabled.

"Peter Pan" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:(E-Mail Removed)...
> Jonathan wrote:
> > "JS" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
> > news:8YGCd.35752$(E-Mail Removed)...
> >> I've been using Zone Alarm since moving to cable internet several
> >> years ago. I just installed a new wireless router, a Linksys
> >> Wireless-G wrt54g. According to the box it comes with the
> >> "powerful" SPI firewall. Any opinions about whether or not
> >> this is an improvement over Zone Alarm?
> >
> > The basic theory is, "defense in depth," or in other words, layered
> > security. Thus, having a hardware firewall PLUS host-based firewalls
> > (ie, ZoneAlarm, Norton, BlackICE, etc) is the right way to protect
> > your machines.
>
> The thing to be wary of is something I ran across. A hardware (router
based)
> and software (computer based) firewall are fine, but two softwares are
bad/a
> no no. If you have (or upgrade to ) xp sp2, it has a built in firewall
that
> has to be disabled.

Good point. I completely agree. Only one host-based firewall should be
active.

On Wed, 5 Jan 2005 13:07:27 -0800, in alt.internet.wireless , "Peter Pan"
<(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:

>The thing to be wary of is something I ran across. A hardware (router based)
>and software (computer based) firewall are fine, but two softwares are bad/a
>no no.

This is an urban myth. I have run with Blackice and Zonealarm very
successfully for years on the same box - first on NT4, then W2K then XPPro.
One will intercept before the other, so typically one sees very little
traffic, and only catches what the other misses.

--
Mark McIntyre
CLC FAQ <http://www.eskimo.com/~scs/C-faq/top.html>
CLC readme: <http://www.ungerhu.com/jxh/clc.welcome.txt>