Freeware Firewall Software - Zonealarm Pro

There are 2 types of computer firewall. One is a network firewall and other is personal computer firewall. A network firewall is basically the skin of your system; it is considered the first line of defense for your network. That is, it absolutely serves as a guarding system for both incoming and outgoing traffic that happens in your computer system. The main purpose of a firewall is to keep unwanted and uninvited guests from browsing and checking your network, as well as install malicious code that could further compromise the network's security. This can be a hardware device or either a software application and usually is placed at the outskirts of the system to operate as the gatekeeper for all incoming and outgoing traffic.

ZoneAlarm Pro makes sure that it performs all the jobs a firewall should do. According to reviews, ZoneAlarm Pro is one of most powerful and functional firewall software available. Here is why it has won-over thousands of users:

1. Protects the computer from incoming or outgoing illegal transmission. In case a hacker was able to enter the computer he is prevented from stealing personal or confidential information, which essentially negates the purpose of invading your system in the first place. Some of the more savvy hackers tend to ignore systems that they know is protected by ZoneAlarm Pro.

2. Idle port blocking: This means that when the ports are opened during transmission they are guarded thoroughly. So, when the ports are done doing its job ZoneAlarm Pro turns it off to avoid any exploit. This will prevent hackers with port scanners from entering your system using unused or idle ports that were accidentally left open, or opened for use by other software.

3. Stateful inspection: The software examines the packet and port information to prevent the system from spoofing-style invasions, which compromise systems by masquerading as friendly or expected communication signals.

4. Full-stealth mode: This means that the software makes sure that the ports of the system are invisible during scanning of ports, which negates any attempts by hackers to trawl the net and scan for open ports that may be vulnerable to brute force attempts.

5. Self-protection: The software has the ability to defend itself when a malicious program is trying to harm it, particularly in the case of malware that tries to modify or tamper with the program codes of security softwares. ZoneAlarm Pro will automatically block any attempts to modify its source, both in memory and at the disk.

6. OSFirewall: Tracks harmful and suspicious activities observed at the operating system area.

7. MD5 spoof protection: Hackers are prevented from taking advantage of valid programs from being used as a host or carrier of malicious files.

8. Behavioral rootkit detection: Blocks any rootkit programs depending on the behavior instead heuristics or signatures.