I have been a long time user of the free ZoneAlarm Firewall. I think it is the most wonderful free firewall application for Windows since a very long time. In fact, I can remember using it before I got Windows XP. Today ZoneAlarm asked me to install their latest version. After having zigged and zagged around their commercial offers I downloaded the free version and installed it. After the obligatory re-boot I fired up my Firefox and to my surprise... I see an enormous fat ZoneAlarm Spyblocker toolbar. Did I ask for it? No, I didn't! I can't remember having seen and ticked an opt-in button! I really hate all those "free" toolbars. They disguise themselves as a handy search engine, anti-spyware add-on or what-not. But the bottom line is: I use Google for all my search-engining so I really don't need anything else, thank you! And most "free" toolbars are really just spyware anyway. So, when I found the ZoneAlarm toolbar staring in my face, I guess something just snapped.
I didn't just uninstall the wretched toolbar. No-o-o-o!! I just uninstalled ZoneAlarm altogether and went on to switch on the Windows XP firewall instead.
...
Talk about an unexpected turn of events, hey!
I tested the firewall on ShieldsUP!. It gave me a full stealth result. Well, obviously my NAT-router is definitely helping out a bit ;-)
So, from me, it's Goodbye ZoneAlarm and good riddance!!
No comments:
Post a Comment