Zone Labs jumps on new Windows security API, but do we need more?

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Mostly wrong

For the clueless users, it will have to suffice since it would be much too confusing for them to be dinged each time something that came through an 'invisible' IE download wants get out. You almost sound like one of those users; you should see if you have Bargain Buddy or Wild Tangent in your list of running processes.

Knowledgeable people want to know every program that is connecting to a network. For these people, a software firewall that can't do outbound blocking is next to worthless. On the other hand, on a new system, when stuff like Microsoft's mouse driver (among other things) wants to get out, you can see why they wouldn't want to make you aware of what is going on in the background.

Going back to your statement it stops incoming connection attempts, there are two general ways to block incoming connection attempts: one that lets the requester know there is something that refused the request and one that does not give the requester any idea that there is anything there at all. In the first case, it becomes possible to disable the firewall from the outside. In the second case, you can only disable it from the inside, which will happen with most of these clueless users who use the Windows firewall, but still continue to use IE. Yeah, it will stop some nasty port seeking malware, but not the garden variety crap that can sift through a feature or flaw of IE.

By the way, there are not a whole lot of programs out there that can disable Zone Alarm from the inside AND suppress the warning it gives when it is brought down outside of its UI. I seriously doubt the Windows firewall is this advanced.

Posted by: Taz_z   Posted on: 08/09/04 You are currently: a Guest | Members login | Terms of Use

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