# Norton vs. Zone Alarm



## Robert_R (Jan 30, 2005)

Which firewall software is better in your opinion?


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## jgvernonco (Sep 13, 2003)

Zone Alarm...hands down.


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## koala (Mar 27, 2005)

Definitely Zone Alarm from my experience and reviews I've read, but you might want to look here
http://tooleaky.zensoft.com to see just how secure your firewall is.

There's a small program on this site to test your firewall's outbound filtering. It's beyond my level of understanding but you experts might know something about it.

From the site: "This software is targeted for security professionals. Unless you have a thorough understanding of software firewalls, outbound filtering methods, and the details of this exploit, there is no need to download this program. It's not going to do anything other than frustrate you. However, that said, it can be lots of fun to demonstrate to your friends how you can get right through their firewall if it trusts Internet Explorer."


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## JamesO (Mar 30, 2005)

Zone Alarm *free* firewall!!!

http://www.zonelabs.com/store/content/company/products/znalm/freeDownload.jsp

JamesO


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## superflysmith (Oct 15, 2004)

Zone Alarm is free and not intrusive like the Norton products.


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## waffleweed (Mar 25, 2005)

zone alarm all the way. pair zonealarm up with AVG anti-virus and your good to go. oh yeah that also includes good spyware utilities such as spybot and Adware SE.


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## kodi (Jun 30, 2004)

Zone Alarm without a doubt.


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## MD_Willington (Jan 11, 2005)

jgvernonco said:


> Zone Alarm...hands down.


Ditto

Norton is BLOATware, and often causes system conflicts...

MD


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## CbrMas1 (Dec 29, 2005)

*Norton hands down*

Norton hands donw is best


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## windmail (Dec 31, 2005)

I think AVG is better than norton. and the most important is that's free software.


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## johnwill (Sep 26, 2002)

I've removed all thing Norton from my systems as the updates ran out. I got sick of dealing with the configuration issues, and cleaning them off and re-installing whenever they'd get wrapped around their axles. I think Norton's stuff has gotten so bloated, it's not possible to release a product without at least one major bug or two, and I seem to be able to find them at will. :smile:


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## Resolution (Sep 17, 2005)

I hate Norton as much as the next person, but you can't honestly say that the free version of ZoneAlarm is better (in terms of firewalling capabilities) than Norton Personal Firewall. That's just absurd. The free edition has very little flexibility in terms filtering rules, and it is mostly a "start it and forget it" firewall. If you are going to compare the two, then you should speak with ZoneAlarm Professional in mind.


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## johnwill (Sep 26, 2002)

One has to question if 99% of the users have any need for the extra configuration capbility. A big part of the problem with Norton's products nowadays is they're adding every bell and whistle they can think of, that's why they're so bloated.


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## Blitze105 (May 3, 2005)

zonealarm hands down

so far i've had ONE problem with a zonealarm product (i fix a lot of computers) and norton.. yeah i can't count that high sorry
-blitze


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## smu122 (Dec 22, 2007)

Ive tried both, and Norton takes too much process memory and gets really annoying. It blocks everything, gives a lot of alerts as well. Zonealarm is quiet and does the work well. I'm talking about Zonealarm Security Suite btw, not the free one. :smile:


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