Hello everyone,

I am hoping someone can please help me with the following...

My current security setup is...

AVG free anti-virus
Windows Defender anti-spyware
Zone Alarm free firewall version 6.5.737.000
Cyberhawk http://www.novatix.com/cyberhawk/
Firefox browser with no-script extension
Sandboxie

I also do periodic scans with AVG anti-spyware free (real time disabled), spybot search and destroy, lavasoft adaware, a-squared, and bitdefender online scan.

My current setup is working fine, but recently when I tried to upgrade Zone Alarm free, it caused my computer to crash and restart so I had to go back to version 6.5.737.000 which always worked great. I have also read reviews that the most recent version of ZA is also causing crashes. Additionally, ZA free is now about a 38 MB download which takes some time to download on a 56 k dial up connection.

I like to keep my security software updated, but do I really need to update to the most recent version of ZA ? If not now, then when ?

I have been thinking of trying the free Comodo firewall as it seems to have good reviews, although I heard that the company was previously affiliated with a spyware company. I heard similar rumors about the company behind spywareterminator previously being affiliiated with spyware.

Is comodo 2.4.18.184 a better choice than ZA free ? The upcoming release of comodo (version 3.0) is supposed to have HIPS, so as long as it does not conflict with cyberhawk, I guess I should be OK, or I can do away with Cyberhawk if the HIPS in comodo is good.

Please let me know what you guys would recommend, should I try to stay with ZA free, or go with Comodo ?

Thanks for your help.
John

Hi John,

I still use the old ZA version 2.6.357 on all my systems at home. It's only 857 Kb and I really don't see any needs to switch to a newer version (all my ports are hidden and protected).

Also, some problems were reported related to Comodo Firewall, so, I would stay with ZA.

Chris

Hi Chris,

Thanks for your feedback.

Maybe I will just stick with ZA then. I have always liked ZA & was ready to buy ZA Pro, but when I started to have problems with the new ZA free, I decided not to get the pro version, & just went back to ZA free version 6.5.737.000 which always worked great for me. Do you use the free or paid version ?

The main thing that concerns me about ZA free is that it does not rate as well as ZA Pro, or most other firewalls, as far as leak tests http://www.firewallleaktester.com/.

If a trojan, dialer, keylogger, or other malware gets onto my system, I would like the firewall to prevent the malware from calling and/or reporting home as best as possible. Comodo seemed to have very good ratings as far as outbound protection & leak tests. Recently, at the site given above, Comodo also did very well at preventing itself from being shut down by malware, which has been a strong point for ZA in the past, but ZA did not seem to do as good as Comodo in the tests.

The only thing that concerns me about using an old version of security software is that there may be holes or Vulnerabilities in the older versions of ZA that have been fixed in the newest version. All the ports may be closed and hidden with an older version of ZA, but my feeling is that if there is a hole or Vulnerability in the old version of ZA, then malware can find a way around the older firewall more easily, especially if you have something on your system that you are not aware of, like a hidden keylogger that is reporting home over the net.

Thanks again,
John

Well, as I said, this is a very old version of ZA free. My system got a true stealth on all ports and remains silent on external pings and incoming packets (it blocks and does not respond), at grc.com

Also, I'm not very concerned about trojans or keyloggers, as I am very careful on clicking at links (althought I test some from HJT logs for security reasons), and I don't use this system neither to store any important personal info, nor to do internet banking, and my mail client is set not to display anything unless I open the preview pane (which I do after deleting all the junk). I have it mostly to avoid hackers from coming in (I'm more concerned about incoming traffic than outgoing traffic).

Never been infected for more than 3 years though (almost 4 now, I would say).

Chris

Hi Chris,

Thanks for your message.

It's interesting that when at the Gibson Research site https://grc.com/x/ne.dll?bh0bkyd2 my computer seems to pass with flying colors showing all ports in stealth mode. However, when at http://www.pcflank.com/test.htm the tests says that my ports 135,137,138, & 139 are visible.

The test at http://scan.sygate.com/home_homeoffice/sygate/index.jsp says the systems has a "safe" rating so I guess two out of three is not bad. Still, I wonder why the ports are visible at http://www.pcflank.com/test.htm ?

How does your version of ZA do at the Pcflank site ?

I'm running ZA free 6.5.737.000 but I use this computer to pay my bills and I have some private data & emails stored on it, so I'm looking for the best security I can get at reasonable cost. I'm running free programs because they have protected me so far & I figure why pay if I don't have to. I would have purchased the Pro version of ZA if the new version was not buggy on my system.

My thoughts are that you need to have a good anti-virus, a decent firewall, and an anti-spyware program with resident protection. This, along with using Firefox with the no-script extension & sandboxie, protects against most of the bad stuff. However, recently I began to feel that some type of protection against zero-day threats is needed, which is why I installed Cyberhawk, which seems to be running fine so far.

I don't want to install any more security programs or get too carried away, but would consider replacing an existing program with something better, which is why I was curious about the Comodo firewall as compared to ZA free.

Thanks again,
John

Additional note:

When I tried the leak test at pcflank.com, it said that my firewall had been bypassed, but cyberhawk identified the leaktester as a virus and gave me the option to block it.