ZoneAlarm Memory Usage - Not Worth It (56K warning)

Joined
Feb 14, 2009
Messages
524
Well, I've got a core i7 computer with 9GB of ram, but does that mean my ZoneAlarm should use 1.2GB of it?

zonealarm_1.2gb.png
 
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thats not zone alarm thats kapersky firewall. i assume your talking zonealarm the brand that is.
 
thats not zone alarm thats kapersky firewall. i assume your talking zonealarm the brand that is.

Yeah, ZoneAlarm uses the Kasperky antivirus engine. Too bad Kasperky sucks. They should have used someone else.

FTW, VSMON is a ZoneAlarm process.
 
wow.....was there some particular reason you needed to capture the task manager in full screen 1680x1050? even if you wanted some extra blank white space to have room for the text that you added to it, you could have just dragged the window open a slight bit more than normal size, then just used alt+prtscn to capture only the task manager window to cut down on the file/image size.....
 
why are you using a software firewall?

is that a joke, or are you genuinely interested in why he has chosen to run a software firewall?

routers/hardware-based firewalls are good as a first line of defense, and will stop a lot of bad stuff from causing problems, but many people (myself included) like to know when something is trying to access the internet from the computer, and have the power to allow/deny that program access as they see fit.....
 
tin foil hat too?

if your behind a nat firewall that is generally enough, i am sure for a home user which i assume he is, a software firewal does nothing more then eat up resources and nag you to allow or block items.

if you like that have fun, but their is a reason not many people here recommend software firewalls or "internet security suites"

for all those consultants how many times have you spent 30minutes + on a network/internet issue only to just disable Norton/Mcafee/Etc Internet Security and the problem just fixes....
 
^ +1. People come in here all the time with "No internet" or "Email not working" problems. First thing I see when I turn it on, N360 or NIS. What's the first thing I do? Remove it. 9/10 times that fixes the problem.
 
trust me, as someone who does end-user tech support for internet providers, software firewalls and "internet security" suites have caused more than a fair share of headaches for me when troubleshooting.....but mostly, that's because the people using the computers are morons to begin with, and don't know how to configure them properly, and in some cases, can't even figure out how to temporarily disable them to see if that is the problem or not. but i don't blame the software for the headache, i blame the stupid user of that product.

for anyone with more than half a brain, they should be able to set up a firewall properly, as well as look to the firewall as the first step when troubleshooting connection issues.

and i have had software firewalls come in handy before, since i have accidentally clicked on links to "bad" websites that try to install malware/spyware/trojans/etc. automatically when visiting the site....had i not had a software firewall, that stuff could have made its way onto my machine and been at the very least a nuisance to clean off of it.

just because you don't like software firewalls and don't get any value from one, it doesn't mean that they are useless.

i personally use PC Tools Firewall Plus, it works great for what i need it for, and doesn't use much in the way of system resources...it uses a whole 20MB of memory. i have 2GB of system memory on my laptop, and even with VirtualBox running an Ubuntu installation that utilizes 512MB of the memory, plus 32MB more for "video" memory, my entire system's memory usage is still only at 70%. 20MB of 2GB is nothing....
 
^ +1. People come in here all the time with "No internet" or "Email not working" problems. First thing I see when I turn it on, N360 or NIS. What's the first thing I do? Remove it. 9/10 times that fixes the problem.

yeah, i'm gonna have to agree about those products....i do hate NIS/N360 and McAfee Security Center with a passion, because they've become so bloated, it's not even funny.

PC Tools Firewall Plus and Avast! Free are my tools of choice, so much lighter, and do a MUCH better job than those others.....
 
why are you using a software firewall?

tin foil hat too?
if your behind a nat firewall that is generally enough.

For an educated user maybe, but not for many people. Are you going to let the family computer go without, while your kids click on everything that comes by? Your laptop on another network besides you own? There are many reasons to use a software firewall.

Quit thread-crapping...let's keep discussing alternatives(aside from "only dopes use software firewalls").

I've used Kerio 2.1.5 (last free version) before........man was it lightweight. Worked good, but it's not too intuative for a noob user to use.
 
For those who desire a 3rd party software firewall...Comodo or PCTools. I'd want to format any computer Zone Alarmingly got near...that thing has caused so many problems.

I'm not a fan of software firewalls though, NAT router for me. All I'm concerned about is blocking the strange unwanted from coming into my network.

For the arguements about uneducated PC users needed 3rd party software firewalls....you know that 99.999999999% of the time all they click on is "Allow" and those incessant prompts they get hammed with every few minutes? "Explorer.exe is trying to access the internet", YES! "Adobe Acrobloat updater is trying to access the internet..do you wish to allow" YES "svchost.exe is trying to access the internet, do you wish to allow?" Yes already...stop bugging me..yes yes YES YES YES!

Seriously, most end users are like that with software firewalls, they get so fed up with the alerts they just slam the "STFU and yes already" button without reading anything.

And Norton Internet Security actually got to be one of the, if not THE, lightest ones out there starting with the 2009 version. Their 2009 antivirus is under 8 megs...UNDER 8 MEGS! CPU utilization practically nil. If someone worked with end users all the time, you'd think they'd be up to date with specs....hit some of the software forums for those who know antivirus and software firewalls well...you'll see Norton came back with a grand slam last year when they totally completely redesigned their products from the ground up. And this is coming from one of the biggest Symantec/Norton bashers out there (me!).
 
funny people defending them. properly configure bs. i have configured NIS/N360 firewalls in the past for clients of mine that just subscriped to it or had like 3 years left to get it working. Sure it works for a week, till something updates and then reverts back. I cant even count how many times i've had to resetup or redisable that piece of shit software firewalls. leave em off, put antivirus on the machine, stick em behind a wireless/wired router and call it a day. if they are getting spyware/virus nothing is gonna help em.

and "for a guy in end-user support" i am sure you like to sit around with the person that can't even go to the remote support website and configure their bloated firewall while they are complaining the computer takes a while to boot up or load properly.

moreso, people with half a brain, comeon your in support, how many people call in have half that computer brain? they can barely move the mouse
 
I've used Kerio 2.1.5 (last free version) before........man was it lightweight. Worked good, but it's not too intuative for a noob user to use.

<3 KPF 2.1.5. I'm sure I still have a copy of the installer around here somewhere...

I agree with pretty much everything being said here - the people most likely to use a software firewall are also the most likely to configure it completely incorrectly so that nothing works or to just click "allow" for anything that wants through (turning your firewall into Swiss cheese). If you know how to properly configure a firewall, then you're probably not going to do much of the stuff that the firewall would stop anyway. If you need a firewall to catch your screwups, you're probably not going to configure the firewall correctly in the first place.

I've used software firewalls before (configured down to the specific IP and port for all non-Firefox apps). I've had it catch some stuff while playing with questionable files. I've used it to block web-based ads (port 80) in internet-enabled apps. However, it mostly did nothing. It let good traffic through, and never saw any bad traffic.

To work properly, a firewall needs to be closed down as much as possible, while not interfering with good traffic. For anything connecting to a constant IP and/or port, it should be limited to that IP/port. For example, lock your browser down to ports 80, 443, and 8080. Your email client should be locked down to 25, 110, 143, 587, 993, and 995. Games that use static servers should be limited to those IPs (and ports if possible). Games that use different random servers (deathmatch FPS) should be locked down to the specific port(s) they use, and possibly IP if you only play on a few servers. If you allow any random app to access port 25, then your firewall isn't stopping spammer worms. If you allow any random app to access port 80, then anything can download malware. Having too much blocked is annoying. Having it too open defeats the purpose.
 
is that a joke, or are you genuinely interested in why he has chosen to run a software firewall?

routers/hardware-based firewalls are good as a first line of defense, and will stop a lot of bad stuff from causing problems, but many people (myself included) like to know when something is trying to access the internet from the computer, and have the power to allow/deny that program access as they see fit.....

Exactly. I'm tired of everything wanting internet access. I love ZoneAlarm, but this has gone too far. I can't stand the slowness. BitDefender good anyone?
 
I lost track of how many times removing norton or mcafee fixed someones internet issues.
I've gotten to the point where I don't even know why I bother with an anti-virus. 9 out of 10 pcs I worked on at my old job that came in for virus removal, had an active and fully up to date current anti-virus. These days viruses are so bad that anti-virus software is next to useless.
 
yeah, i'm gonna have to agree about those products....i do hate NIS/N360 and McAfee Security Center with a passion, because they've become so bloated, it's not even funny.

PC Tools Firewall Plus and Avast! Free are my tools of choice, so much lighter, and do a MUCH better job than those others.....

I'll have to check this product out when I get home. It may not run with 64-bit Vista Ultimate.

Platforms: Designed for Windows® Vista&#8482; 32-bit, XP, 2000 and Server 2003

I hear Comodo Firewall is decent.
 
Comodo firewall is awesome. it also has a Comodo Defender which is kind of like the Vista permissions control software. It makes sure that scripts, apps and various programs dont run on your pc with out your permission. rules can also be set up.

and it has a very light foot print. my friends memory foot print was reduced by 90% when he switched from Zone Alarm.
 
I'll have to check this product out when I get home. It may not run with 64-bit Vista Ultimate.

Platforms: Designed for Windows® Vista™ 32-bit, XP, 2000 and Server 2003

I hear Comodo Firewall is decent.

ZoneAlarm is Vista x64 compatible. That's where I'm using it. I've been complaining to their tech support, and they think it's a memory leak. They're going to take a look into it.

The best security product I've used is BitDefender Total Security. It uses less than 10MB of memory for the whole suite, and the firewall is great. Great antivirus, firewall, and tuneup tools that don't mess up your PC.
 
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