Zone Alarm or Norton Personal Firewall?

Which one is truly better? I know this has been brought up before but I wasn't paying attention >.<

Also, is it important to uninstall norton for RAM purposes? I only have 256 MB and I remember when we installed norton and still had mcfee running my computer nigh crashed.

Also, my mom won't pay the norton subscription so I'm assuming norton is better for me, but I still want to know the p[ros and cons.

Zone alarm by far. For me nay way. I dont own Norton and every night my ZA runs, it usually finds about three things that would ruin my computer. Flat out I love Zone Alarm because I think it does a better job. It does many things in one package and if you set it up the right way defends against pretty much anything.

256? I'd say getting more RAM is another priority(not higher, but ugh, I feel your pain). Heck, 1GB isn't anything to shout about anymore.

But yeah, Zone Alarm. If you have a little more of a budget to spend, I'd suggest EZArmor.

Definitely Zone Alarm as a firewall. The free version works perfectly, is easy to use, and is pretty inobtrusive. The same can't be said for Norton.

If you're ditching Norton entirely, AVG's free version has worked well for me in the past for antivirus protection. In my own experience it plays a bit nicer with lower-end machines than Norton and McAfee (no crazy popups when scanning random downloads and bloated scanning suites).

I use Zone Alarm. Pro on one machine, and standard on this machine. Works a charm, and has been protecting alot better since we got rid of Norton.

I use avast! 4.6 access scanner and zonealarm.
ZoneAlarm seems to be the favourite with the general public at the moment, I would stay away from norton....your safer installing a trojan on your pc.

The only firewall I have my computer is the Service Pack 2 firewall, which may, in many opinions, absolutely suck. Otherwise I have a spyware program also made by Microsoft, a Beta version.

Norton eats up your system memories, hijacks your programs and certain settings, and costs a lot of money for the annual renewal. Upon these things, Norton isn't a good Firewall. Sure, it may be perhaps safer than Zone Alarm, but it ruins your computer too much to be of an assistant in online safety.

I have been using Norton Anitvirus and Firewall now for going on 6 years. It doesn't slow donw my computer, and it catchs a virus like daily and instantly deltes it. Plus, it's always running, which is nice.

It automatically updats itself, and is VERY useful. I have had zone alarm before as I wanted to save money... but within a week I got a virus that zonealarm missed. I reinstalled norton and after it updated, it recognized it instantly and took care of it. Norton is definitly safer. The only way your system will slow is the lack of ram, since it is constetnly running. Just buy at least an extra 256. You'll need it down the road anyways.

Also I have Ad Aware, which detects allt he otehr crap that anitvirus software generally doesn't. In other words, Norton is better if you have the computer for it as well as the money. If not, zone alarm is perfectly fine.

Nither, They both suck and are very very annoying. I used to use Zone Alarm... but its just so crap.

I use, Sygate Personal Firewall.... Best firewall I've ever used. Its not annoying and just sits in the background doing its job.

I will take your advice V99.

Originally Posted by V99

Nither, They both suck and are very very annoying. I used to use Zone Alarm... but its just so crap.

I use, Sygate Personal Firewall.... Best firewall I've ever used. Its not annoying and just sits in the background doing its job.

Good advice Norton is to big advertised brand and overated in my view compared to other cheaper alternatives.

I remcomend FireFox also as your browser better then IE and also a Spywere nuker just incase somthin slips threw.