Re: Black Ice or Zone Alarm?

From: NeoSadist (neos@dist)
Date: 12/01/02 

From: "NeoSadist" <neos@dist>
Date: Sun, 1 Dec 2002 01:58:02 -0700

"dukane" <dukane@NOSPAM.comcast.net> wrote in message
news:MPG.1852fe54dc5b1d129896e7@news-central.giganews.com...
> In article <u19G9.30047$wS.2049427@news1.west.cox.net>,
> SpamFree@spam.com says...
> >
> > >
> > > Dude, I'm sick of the opinion polls. It's about time someone got some
> > > "junk" computers and installed one of each major brand of firewall on
> > each,
> > > and then we all went on a hacking attempt spree on them. Last one to
be
> > > compromised is the winner.
> > > But I'm sick of the opinions. If you want advice, visit pcmagazine
> > > (www.pcmag.com). Norton Personal Firewall was rated #1, followed very
> > > closely by ZAP. The only reason is cause NPF is more configurable.
ZAP
> > is
> > > a very good firewall for home users. Black Ice wasn't even listed.
> > >
> > >
> >
> > The Ford Xploder is the most popular SUV in America, too. What does that
say
> > about reviews....and more importantly, about the intelligence level of
Ford
> > owners?
> >
>
> How true! It's all about $$$. Most of the major magazines are nothing
> but whores for the companies that give them their ad money and Symantec
> spends a fortune on advertising. How else do you thing they get to be
> rated #1 by those supposed "unbiased" PC mags?
>
> I have tested most major firewalls and virus scanners on different PC's
> over quite a number of years. It was part of my job.
>
> Norton virus scanners are OK..there are a number of better ones. Their
> firewall is trash, plain and simple. It has mucho problems with its. exe
> getting corrupted, necessitating a reinstall. Do that a few weeks in a
> row and it starts to get old.
>
> ZoneAlarm is nothing but trouble. You will understand should you ever
> have to uninstall it. It has a tendency to just stop reporting
> intrusions. Whether it is still blocking them and just not reporting it,
> or it is shut down is unknown. It gets VERY flaky at times. Getting back
> to uninstalling it...it is a nightmare. This program puts so many
> registry keys on your system that the makers of ZoneAlarm don't even
> seem to be aware of how many. They used to have a page on their website
> stepping you through removal of the program. I have tried this with 3
> different PC's and OS's and it is never completely removed and caused
> problems with a fresh install. I would not recommend this firewall to my
> worst enemy...well, maybe my WORST enemy.
>
> BlackIce is an excellent firewall. It has some minor issues on some PC's
> running XP. No show stoppers, though.
>
> I have lately been using Sygate. I find it to be an excellent firewall
> with some good features like a built in traceroute and whois.
>
> Kerio is another good firewall. It lacks the traceroute and whois
> features that Sygate has. If you don't care about that, it is probably
> the best free firewall there is out there.
>
> Tiny is the best I have tested so far. It is not for the inexperienced,
> however. Also has some minor issues with some pc's running XP. Again, no
> show stoppers.
>
> I know you didn't ask about virus scanners, but you'll find none better
> than Kaspersky.
>
> My educated $.02.
>
> dukane

Whatever. Have any of us done a true test of the firewalls like I suggested
earlier in the thread? Better to trust the opinion of someone who's claimed
to do the trials than one of us who haven't done them.
But seriously, I want to do the trial. Get a bunch of P3 computers, one
with each brand of firewall. Then make a "blind" script that browses random
web sites, while we try to hack into them from remote. THAT would be a
test. I'd like to offer my own computers as "bait" to the test, but I don't
have any backup computers. If we could all get together and look at it some
time, sorta like a Defcon meeting, THAT would be a realistic test.
But then again, how can you claim that the pc magazines are biased? Have
you found "proof" of these so-called kick-backs that the software companies
are giving to the pc magazines? You can't cause you aren't FBI, so think.
Where did you work? What versions were you testing? I bet it's been a
while, and the market has changed significantly since then.

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