is there any other desktop firewall BETTER than zonealarm?!?

i was wondering is there was any other desktop firewall better than zonealarm because i need the best firewall. also i have mcafee security center, has anyone tried the personal firewall plus and is that better than zone alarm? also my computer and dsl modem is plugged in to a surge protecter, at night i turn off the surge protecter, does that mean hackers have no way to hack into my computer since the surge protecter is turned off?

[Uranium-235]

with no power, nothing can get in or out.

the best firewall is probably a unix/linux/*bsd system setup seperately that routes the packets from your DSL Modem to your machine and back (IP masquerading)

but, that's a bit difficult to setup

for your kind of use, zone alarm is perfectly fine

you can't 'hack' a computer which isn't turned on, and if it's plugged into a surge protector, which is unplugged, it's not turned on

First of all, ask yourself "why would anyone want to hack my computer"?

If you can come up with a valid answer, then install a firewall. But if your computer has no significance what so ever, why create problems for yourself.

If your computer is only on when you use it, why would a hacker waste his time waiting for you to turn it on again to resume hacking? It would be a total waste of time and for what? To look at your collection of porn or read your email?

Hackers don't generally hack other peoples personal computers unless they have some sort of beef with them. They go for the government or corporate networks or websites.

What you probably need is a good anti-virus protection program. Worms and Trojans are a bigger threat to you than a hacker.

yea, i thought of posting this after my post, but was too tired

people are far too paranoid about being hacked

viruses are definately the biggest threat to the majority

[vee_ess]

Sygate Personal Firewall is also very good. It protects inbound as well, but not quite as well outbound. It does, however, have security features that ZoneAlarm does not including protection from DoS attacks. Sygate's firewall has an easier interface to use.

The best Software Firewall i've come across is Sygate Personal firewall
www.sygate.com
and best of all its free

Originally Posted by M4CH1N3

First of all, ask yourself "why would anyone want to hack my computer"?

If you can come up with a valid answer, then install a firewall. But if your computer has no significance what so ever, why create problems for yourself.

If your computer is only on when you use it, why would a hacker waste his time waiting for you to turn it on again to resume hacking? It would be a total waste of time and for what? To look at your collection of porn or read your email?

Hackers don't generally hack other peoples personal computers unless they have some sort of beef with them. They go for the government or corporate networks or websites.

What you probably need is a good anti-virus protection program. Worms and Trojans are a bigger threat to you than a hacker.

i would claim otherwise. On broadband connections, people often do things like IP and port scanning looking for a random computer to toy with. Does this mean they are going after you in particular, no. but it does mean that if you don't make yourself safer than the next guy, you'll be easier to hack and therefore a more likely target. Remember, you don't have to be faster than the tiger, just the guy next to you.

When you're on broadband, you're a bigger target for port scanning

They're not looking to crack you personally, more to exploit something you're running and install a trojan to use you as a part of a botnet

The MSBlast virus would of been defended using a firewall though as the RPC port should by default of been blocked