ZoneAlarm Free Firewall 2012

Specifications

Type

Personal

Free

Yes

OS Compatibility

Windows Vista, Windows XP, Windows 7

Tech Support

Forum and knowledge base.

More

Earlier this year Check Point's ZoneAlarm antivirus and security suite got a total makeover, a completely new look after years of wearing the same face. Now ZoneAlarm Free Firewall 2012 (free, direct) has received the same treatment. Don't worry; only its appearance has changed. Under the hood it's the same powerful free firewall as ever.

As Bari Abdul, vice president of consumer sales at Check Point Software Technologies, observed, "More than 200 million people today use free antivirus software, but they lack a strong two-way firewall, leaving their PCs vulnerable to online attacks." Check Point advises all users of free antivirus products to install the free ZoneAlarm firewall for added security.

New Interface
Like ZoneAlarm Antivirus + Firewall 2012 ($59.95 direct for three licenses, 3 stars) and ZoneAlarm Extreme Security 2012 ($79.95 direct for three licenses, 4 stars), the free ZoneAlarm firewall now presents the user with three panel-sized buttons representing protection for identity and data, computer, and Internet. Each button changes color if there's a problem; clicking the button brings up detailed status information and access to configuration.

The free ZoneAlarm visually includes all the features of the more advanced products. They're simply grayed out, with a link that offers an opportunity to upgrade to a paid product.

Zone Defense
ZoneAlarm pioneered the now-common feature of organizing networks into different security zones with different settings. WiFi hotspots and other potentially risky networks go in the public zone, while your own home or business network typically goes in the trusted zone. By default ZoneAlarm automatically puts unsecured wireless networks into the public zone. For other newly discovered networks it asks the user to choose.

Not surprisingly, ZoneAlarm passed all of my port scan tests and other Web-based attacks. With all ports in stealth mode the computer simply isn't visible to outside attackers.

Another now-common feature pioneered by ZoneAlarm is firewall self-defense. As always, I couldn't find any way to disable the firewall using techniques that could be incorporated into malicious code. In particular I couldn't terminate its processes nor could I find any way to stop or disable its essential services.

Some firewalls actively detect and prevent Web-based attacks on system vulnerabilities. The firewall in Norton Internet Security 2012 ($69.99 direct for three licenses, 4.5 stars) is especially good at this. In my most recent test it blocked every single exploit that I generated using the Core IMPACT penetration tool, and identified most of them by name.

Active blocking of exploits isn't a feature you'll find in ZoneAlarm. None of the exploits actually managed to penetrate system security, but ZoneAlarm didn't take notice of them.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ziffdavis/pcmag/~3/IN7ZxyRcMkI/0,2817,2396214,00.asp

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