• ZoneAlarm - provides basic Internet security for personal and non-profit users, and for those personal and non-profit users it is free.
• ZoneAlarm Plus - provides "harder" security and greater control for small business, consumer, and "firewall purists". It costs $39.95 for a Perpetual License; fee includes one year of free upgrades
• ZoneAlarm Pro - provides top-of-the-line security and privacy features for small business and consumer users. It costs $49.95 for a Perpetual License; fee includes one year of free upgrades

Since I have already paid for ZAPro, I am reluctant to uninstall it and drop back to ZAPlus, but I will attempt to explain some of the things which it appears to me that ZAPlus offers to people that are just using the free ZoneAlarm, so that you can see whether you want to pay the $39.95 for ZAPlus.

ZoneAlarm Plus is especially appropriate for the "firewall purist" who wants only Zone Labs' great firewall features and precise control over settings, without getting into areas like privacy control and ad blocking provided by Zone Alarm Pro.

It provides the same access to the expanded AlertAdvisor® service (including the world map plotting of suspected hacking activity) as it's bigger brother ZAPro. When I first installed the original Zone Alarm I went through a lot of effort tracing everyone that attempted to break into my computer, including reporting some of them to the FBI, but to tell the truth even though the AlertAdvisor® service makes it much easier, I no longer bother to use this service. I am just happy that Zone Alarm has protected me from the invasion attempt. However, because I thought some of the readers might be interested in seeing what they make available, here are six maps of attempts to invade my computer

MailSafe quarantines auto-executing attachments from the user's e-mail. MailSafe identifies 46 different suspect filetypes. MailSafe is not a substitute for a good Virus program like Norton or McAfee, but it augments them. It will rename a file like xxx.exe to xxx.zl9, and if you click on it to open it it will warn you that it COULD contain a virus. If you tell it to go ahead and open it, and if it does actually contain a virus, then a program like Norton or McAfee is important to protect you from yourself.

For information on all three ZoneLabs products see http://www.zonelabs.com. If you do not have any firewall on your computer, then at least install the Free Zone Alarm. The fact that you just use a dial up connection, and that your computer is not always online (like it is with Cox Cable or DSL) does not mean that you don't need a firewall. When I first installed ZoneAlarm on my laptop, for use at TCS programs, very often I would see 15 or 20 attempts to break into my computer, just during the hour or hour and a half the program lasted.

I very strongly endorse everyone using one of the three Zone Alarm products. I was so impressed by Zone Labs making Zone Alarm free for anyone to download and use, that although I was not convinced that I had a desperate need for any of the extra features of ZAPro, I bought it just as my way of saying thank you to Zone Labs for making Zone Alarm available - the same reason I register shareware programs that I use (although ZoneAlarm is NOT a shareware program).

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