Zonelabs Zone Alarm Pro

ZoneLabs Zone Alarm Pro

Summary: A firewall is essential on any Internet connected PC. Firewalls control what is allowed in and out of the computer, virtually eliminating the possibility of a hacker gaining control or of spyware that has found it's way in transmitting any data.

ZoneLabs Zone Alarm Pro, computer security

Article Body: A firewall is essential on any Internet connected PC. Firewalls control what is allowed in and out of the computer, virtually eliminating the possibility of a hacker gaining control or of spyware that has found it's way in transmitting any data.

ZoneLabs Zone Alarm Pro is a popular personal firewall application a piece of software installed onto the PC to block unwanted connections by using:

the Triple Defense Firewall

an anti-spyware system

the SmartDefense service

protection of privacy and identity

email protection

wireless PC security

Zone Alarm Pro is available in a variety of packages, from the single user license to large volume license packages, making it ideal for the home, small network or larger working environment. The program is clearly laid out and easy to use. If a query can't be fixed through support documentation, there are online user forms for quick and handy advice.

The Triple Defense Firewall, as the name suggests, has three layers of protection, providing excellent security against Internet pests:

defense against hackers, spyware, and Trojans by not allowing them through

prevention of bad programs attacking good programs on the PC by surrounding each application with a second firewall

deep down protection of the operating system against malicious attacks

SmartDefense works with the firewalls, automatically updating itself with information on new spyware programs and adjusting Zone Alarm's security settings to match. SmartDefense examines everything that tries to connect to the Internet from the PC to see if it is performing a valid operation. If it is not, access is blocked. If it does allow the connection, SmartDefense will continue to monitor the activity to ensure it does not perform any operations outside of it's built-in policies.

The privacy and identity protection works to stop annoying pop-up ads and to prevent personal information leaving the computer without permission. Email is kept secure with any suspicious attachments being quarantined for examination in case they contain anything harmful. Likewise, any suspicious outbound messages are also stopped to prevent unintentionally passing on anything nasty.

Even with all of the protection offered by the firewall, some persistent spyware will still find it's way into the computer. The anti-spyware system within Zone Alarm Pro roots it out, while learning to recognize legitimate items with spyware-like tendencies, such as the cookies for your favorite websites.

Wireless protection is crucial when out in the open on a laptop as well as on the home network. It's easy for a hacker to hijack a wireless connection or even set up their own. Zone Alarm can prevent connection hijacking wherever the connection is made.

Zone Alarm Pro runs on Windows systems only, with minimum specifications of:

Windows SE/ME, MB RAM (some functions may be limited and support is due to end for the operating systems late )

Windows Pro, MB RAM

Windows XP, MB RAM

Pentium III MHz or higher

MB available hard disk space

Internet access is required for updates (Internet Explorer, Netscape, Firefox, AOL and MSN compatible)

POP and SMTP mail only

Instant Messenger compatibility with minimum version number: MSN .., Windows Messenger ..., Yahoo! IM .., AIM .., ICQ Pro b, ICQ Lite ., Trillian .i, Trillian Pro ., GAIM ., Miranda ..