Do i need ZONE ALARM now i have a router

[#1]

I have recently changed from my Binatone 500 modem  and  installed Plusnet's router ( Thomson TG585 V7 )  and i have been advised i no longer need ZONE ALARM.
I am running Windows XP
1. Does the router give firewall protection ?
2. In respect of virus protection i use  AVG free version  and i also run Spybot twice a week .
Do i have sufficient cover if i uninstall  Zone Alarm ?
Regards
Keppy

[#2]

Hi keppy2008 - my answer is yes, yes ,yes  as a correctly installed Zone Alarm will help monitor any outgoing connections. . If you pick up ant malware it will probably want to phone home and ZA should alert you to this.
Rob

[#3]

Definitely keep Zone Alarm.

[#4]

The router blocks all incoming connections but will allow all outgoing connections from your PCs.
ZoneAlarm will warn/stop both outgoing and incoming connections so will protect you from any malicious apps that have got onto your PCs and are trying to infect others on the internet or are trying to 'phone home' with your login details, so you still need it for full protection.

[#5]

My answer is no, no no.  ZoneAlarm was a product that was very useful for a while but nowadays is vastly more trouble than it's worth.  These days it's really only valuable to people who have time to waste and so, when it asks them if xyz.exe can access the internet, have a few hours to spend finding out what xyz.exe actually is.  The XP firewall plus your router firewall is already a belt and braces approach to keeping you safe from inbound threats.  The promise that ZoneAlarm would alert you to outbound threats  (when you have already got the virus) was always illusory because most people won't recognise a threat by the name of its executable and don't have the time to find out.
PS If you really want an outbound firewall then there are a few  security suites that offer an "intelligent' outbound firewall that makes its own decisions about what can have outbound access.  You can override the decisions if you wish but you avoid all the annoying "such-and-such" is trying to access the internet pop-ups.         

[#6]

ReedRichards' reply is quite comprehensive, but I would advise keeping ZA on there, if only to notify you that something is amiss after the event.
If it's not causing you undue hassle to keep creating firewall rules for new software or causing computer slowdowns then there's no need to remove it.

[#7]

ZA has alerted me to bits of software "phoning home" (usually software sneaked in as a part of something else e.g. toolbars) which I've then dealt with.
I vote for definitely keeping it!

[#8]

I thank you all for PROS AND CONS ... the original advice did come from a  Plusnet  technical adviser and i  uninstalled Zone Alarm on that advice a week or so ago. 
I will now go for belt and braces plus another belt  and will load it up again. Suppose overkill is better than underkill !!!!!!
Thanks to all.
keppy

[#9]

Of all the firewalls you can get, the one that comes with Windows is far and away the best at not messing up your networking.  But if you've just got a single computer with a USB printer (so no networking required) and you're habituated to ZoneAlarm's interruptions and impossibly cryptic questions then indeed why not another belt?

[#10]

and the M$S firewall doesnt stop outbound either

[#11]

Yes, yes, but the whole point of my objection to ZoneAlarm is my contention that there is no virtue in the ability to stop outbound traffic unless you also have the ability to quickly and easily identify if the process originating the outbound traffic is legitimate or not.   

[#12]

So rather than be alerted to the fact that something is trying to call out by information that may be difficult to understand (99% of the time Google clarifies it any way), you rather rely on the M$ firewall which actually does very, very little more than the protection given by being behind a NAT firewall router?
In summary your view is ignorance is bliss.

[#13]

No, rather than rely on something that gives me cryptic clues that I may have malware and which would force me to waste my time researching on Google, I rely on security software and keeping my computer up to date in order to stop me getting the malware in the first place.
In summary my view is:  a stitch in time saves nine and prevention is better than cure.

[#14]

I'm with ReedRichards on this one.
I usually felt quite confident about what to allow or disallow with ZA, but it was sometimes a bit tiresome. The crunch came about a year ago when, although not throwing up alerts, ZA was impairing the reliability and call quality on Skype.
I now run AV & AM in real time, run regular scans, and an extra one if browsing seems in any way different from usual.

[#15]

Quote

I rely on security software and keeping my computer up to date in order

and excuse my french where the hell do you classify ZA