Perhaps you haven't noticed, but there are a lot of nasty things out there on the Web waiting to steal your identity, compromise your data, or infect your computer system. Zone Alarm has long been a force against such threats. Known primarily for their personal firewall product, particularly because they provided it free of charge for personal use.
Zone Alarm was purchased by Checkpoint, one of the more established names in enterprise firewall appliances, but they continue to produce tools aimed at making the Internet and Web surfing experience safer for home users as well, including their new product- Force Field.
Force Field Overview
Most people are familiar with the concept of a force field. It is found throughout sci-fi culture, especially in Star Trek episodes, as an energy force surrounding an object which acts as a shield to protect the person or object inside. Zone Alarm has adopted that concept to protect users while they surf the Web with their new product, Zone Alarm Force Field.
Force Field Features
Zone Alarm Force Field protects you and shields your computer from malicious Web activities in a variety of ways, including:
- Blocking unauthorized downloads or malicious software installations
- Provides antiphishing protection and alerts you to suspected phishing sites
- Identifies known spyware sites and protects your system from spyware
- Blocks keystroke logging attempts
- Initiates special secure browsing session when connecting via https (secure encrypted Web session)
- Capable of 'virtualizing' your Web session so that all cookies, history, bookmarks and other traces are erased once the virtual Web session is closed out
- Provides ability to employ Force Field privacy to protect your Web surfing even when using other computers
Force Field Availability
The product is currently being tested in its Beta version. You can download it for free probably through the end of the year. Zone Alarm predicts that the software will be available in early 2008 at a price of $29.95.
Force Field System Requirements
Zone Alarm Force Field can be installed on Windows XP SP2 or Windows Vista (32-bit) platforms. The browser protection works with either Internet Explorer (versions 6 or 7), or Firefox 2.0.