Question about using ZoneAlarm Pro

[Trev]

I just installed a trial version of ZoneAlarm Pro, which includes all kinds of spiffy features like the ability to block and/or alert you to various aspects of web pages.

When I come to this site, the "Privacy Advisor" pops up and tells me that it has blocked "Third Party Cookies", "Web Bugs", and something called a "Private Header." In other spots on the site, it says it's blocked ads, animations, etc. Those seem self-explanatory, but can anyone tell me what the first three really are? For example, what is a "Private Header", and why would ZoneAlarm consider it a bad thing?

Thanks,
Bob

 

[dieselsmoke1]

The privacy header control prevents your IP address, your workstation name, login name, or other personal information from being transferred to third-party sources. Some web pages will not function unless this setting is not check . So if you open a page and can't see that which you seek, check and make sure you hvae not enabled the remove private heading option.

 

[Trev]

Thanks, Dieselsmoke. Yeah, I've found a handful of sites that insist on third party cookies. I figured that was some kind of advertising thing. Not sure exactly what a "web bug" is, though. I'm also not sure whether to trust the new version of ZoneAlarm.. they've released some buggy versions in the past. Maybe it's triggering on something and mis-reporting it.

Thanks for the explanation of the headers. Without going too far off topic, though, I'm puzzled at how (and more to the point, why) I would block my own IP address from being sent unless I was a spammer or some other lowlife. I mean, how does a site like this one know what IP to send the data I've requested to if I've somehow blocked it from knowing my IP? Wouldn't that be like asking you to write back to me but not giving you an address to write to?

Thanks for the reply!

Best,
Bob

p.s. I noticed that immediately after my first posting on this, ZA stopped reporting "web bugs" on this site. Maybe there was something wrong that Muhammad and the guys fixed?

 

[dieselsmoke1]

The fear is that your IP address will end up on a spammers list somewhere, or worse your PC will be enlisted in a denial of service or similar web attack by unscrupulous persons without your knowledge.

The are countless "bots" roaming the web all the time looking for valid IP addresses and unprotected PC's. From what I have seen, Zone Alarm does a fairly good job at plugging holes and fending off attackers.

Downside: Sometimes blocks info you would like to gain access to.

Hope this explanation helps.

 

[Trev]

Good summary! I routinely post to usenet, and use a from and reply-to address of don.bother@forget.it /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif

And I've used all the utilities kindly provided by Steve Gibson at http://grc.com/freepopular.htm

I choose not to block ads on this site, and other sites I feel provide a real public service. But I'm puzzled by the "web bug" issue. Is this a special form of cookie, or is it an executable of some kind? I'll have to do some research on this.

Thanks for the info!

Best...........Bob

 

[Trev]

Guess I found the answer to my question:

http://www.privacyfoundation.org/resources/webbug.asp#1

Interesting, eh?

Bob

 

[dieselsmoke1]

Now That's a good explaination!

 

[Wildman1]

I run the free version of Zone Alarm on all 4 of my 'puters and it has done well for me. I have seen others experience problems with it.

 

[Junkman]

I had Zone Alarm Pro on my computer before I purchased a router, but it was a nuisance for me. I have been told that with the cable router, I no longer need Zone Alarm, so I disabled it...... If this is incorrect, please educate me..... thanks

 

[Trev]

</font><font color="blue" class="small">( I had Zone Alarm Pro on my computer before I purchased a router, but it was a nuisance for me. I have been told that with the cable router, I no longer need Zone Alarm, so I disabled it...... If this is incorrect, please educate me..... thanks )</font>

I believe it's incorrect. /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

There are two things you need to be concerned about; incoming intrusions, and outgoing "extrusions."

In one case, someone external is trying to break IN to your machine. In the other, a program, perhaps one you downloaded to do your income tax or whatever, is trying to break OUT of your system.. and send your confidential data, your mail list, or whatever, to some other site.

A hardware solution can largely protect you from incoming attacks, but it has no knowledge of what is going out. It just sees packets of data coming from your system..

The software firewall has more control over the outgoing stuff. It can determine what program is generating the packets, check to see if you have given this program permission to do so, and so on. So if your new game you just installed tries to contact a site on the net, the software firewall can pop up and say "Do you want to allow program X to access the Internet?"

Probably the reason you found ZoneAlarm to be a nuisance is that you had it configured to alert you to every stray packet of INCOMING "Internet Background Radiation" that happened to hit your machine.. 99.99999% of which are totally harmless.

Just turning off notification of this incoming stuff is what most people recommend. Only turn off notification of OUTgoing stuff if you are sure the program sending it out is well-behaved and trustworthy.

Did that make any sense at all? /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif