Zone Alarm 2.1

Reviewed by: Bob Giles

It's not often that I get excited about software, but Zone Alarm is definitely one program that deserves a mention. It is good. It works. It is effective. It's FREE to private users!

What's Led To This Hype?
Many of you will have heard me mention the fact that, unless you take precautions, you are likely to receive unwelcome visits from intruders whilst online. I must be truthful and admit that I have always adopted something of a blasé attitude, as I have never knowingly suffered any noticeable problems, that is until recently.

Tricia, my long suffering other half, has just discovered the Internet and guess what, my machine has recently started playing up. I know, I know! This is where you expect me to go into a tirade about persons of the opposite gender and technology! Well, I may have made such mutterings once or twice, but now I am not so sure.

Whilst, discussing my sorry tail of woe with my colleague, Nigel Graham, whom some of you will know, he mentioned . Zone Alarm.  He mentioned that it had recently warned him of an apparent attack on his home machine from a Russian site.

Nigel was at his most convincing! I checked out Zone Labs website www.zonelabs.com and thought, "Why not give it a try?" After the 1.6Mb download had completed, I installed the software without any hitch.

Once Installed and configured, it sits happily on your toolbar, minding YOUR business for you. If you mazimise it, you get a very neat panel giving access to all functions

The program will log everything to a text file if you tell it to, as well as warn you immediately of any apparent unauthorised access to your computer

So What Is This Program?
Zone Alarm combines the safety of a dynamic firewall with total control over all of your applications' Internet use. You have to authorise absolutely everything before it allows access to the Internet ......... Internet Explorer, Outlook .....everything!

We are approaching the time when it will not be uncommon to be online permanently due to the proliferation of freeinternet access, ADSL etc. With these benefits comes the risk of being a fixed target for thieves and vandals. It is only common-sense to take precations. The features and intuitive user interface in ZoneAlarm is a good first step. Couple this with a regularly updated virus scanner and you should be pretty safe. But do be aware of the armadiloeffect! You know...... Hard on the outside but soft on the inside!

Is There A Real Threat?
I thought that I would leave this until last. You decide. Below is an actual screen shot from my machine after having been on-line for an hour and a half. Note the number of attempts recorded! However, do be aware that not all are threats. Many ISPs will ping your machine in the normal course of business.

 METCOM Rating: 99%