ZoneAlarm is the granddaddy of all personal firewalls. It was on the market before most of us ever heard the phrase "personal firewall." ZoneAlarm's security suite was showing its age, however, with a dated user interface. Thanks to a comprehensive makeover, the main display in ZoneAlarm Internet Security Suite 2009 (also known as ZoneAlarm Internet Security 8.0) has an entirely new look. Once you get past that façade, though, things are much the same as in version 7.0. In some areas, ZoneAlarm actually seems to be losing ground by not advancing fast enough. Even so, it's still among the best security suites. It costs $69.95 for three licenses or $49.95 for one, but for a limited time you can get the three-license version for the one-license price.

Panda Security on Wednesday released the 2009 editions of its line of security products: Panda Global Protection 2009, Panda Internet Security 2009, and Panda AntiVirus Pro 2009. All three products feature Panda's proprietary "Collective Intelligence" technology to protect users against malicious software with minimal effect on the PC's bandwidth.

"Panda Security is the first and only company to extend the incredible benefits of cloud computing to consumer PC users through our innovative Collective Intelligence technology," said Ryan Sherstobitoff, chief corporate evangelist for Panda Security. "Buying the Panda 2009 products is like subscribing to an online security service that intelligently protects users without them even noticing."

Most anti-malware products rel

As the Red Queen once said to Alice, sometimes it takes all the running you can do to keep in the same place. F-Secure offers a number of improvements for the 2009 edition of its security suite. Some are hidden, like improved anti-malware performance and accuracy and support for 64-bit Windows Vista. Others should be obvious, like easier and faster installation and an updated interface. But my testing of F-Secure Internet Security 2009 shows that F-Secure isn't running fast enough to stay in the same place.

SAN FRANCISCO - A federal appeals court on Thursday declined to rule on whether lawsuits seeking to target President George W. Bush's warrantless wiretapping are covered by secrecy laws or can be challenged in court.

Citing the FISA Amendments Act of 2008, a three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Thursday sent the case entitled "Hepting v AT&T" back to a district court that had heard an earlier case.

The Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act governs wiretapping of foreign agents but also spells out ground rules for investigating U.S. citizens suspected of espionage.

The suit against AT&T alleged the telecom company violated federal privacy laws by helping the government wiretap U.S. Internet users. The 9th Circuit panel heard argume