When I bought my Z100G, the clerk insisted I neede the security suite as well. That seemed strange since the Z100G's features included anti-virus and firewall support.

According to the ZA control panel, it (software?) resisted 14,000 attacks. Makes me wondering if the Z100G is doing anything.

Can the Z100G function without the software suite? Is it possible my setup up procedure has disabled Z100G protuection?

Think of it as defense in depth. The Z100G stops most attacks initiated from outside before they reach your computer(s). Then the security suite on your computer stops most of the rest of what gets through. There are other vectors for attack, such as downloaded software, memory sticks and optical disks, so you need protection on each computer not just a perimeter defense.

And the Z100 can allow you to see if machines in the secure network are trying to get out using ports that are not allowed. This can be an indication of a malware infection.

It's a very good question and a very good answer. There is only one "safe" configuration and that is completely disconnected from anything anywhere. The rest is all levels of risk. You decide how much risk you are willing to take.

I have the security suite and the Z100G. I still keep an eye on things. Depending on your level of protection, many things can get through.

One reason you may see so many "attacks" it that you have disabled certain things from automatically loading, such as ActiveX controls etc. Each one is a block. I probably block hundreds and hundreds of harmless things each day.

Regarding the "attacks," can I get a log showing me what I might have disbled that I could re-enable?

My virus definitions are updates frequently by the suite. I'm not aware of updates to the Z100G. Is that happening at the same time or should I be initiating a separate update?

You should not open ports just to make the event log less busy. Normally you only want to enable/allow just those ports that are needed. Open ports are attack vectors - even those that are needed for Internet access and e-mail.

There is a log page in the Z100 click "reports") to show you what is being stopped. Does the security suite on your computer get the logs from the Z100? If so it will report a lot of stuff.

The Z100 updates are separate from whatever security suite you have on the computer. The Z100 will update automatically, but there are links in the administrations pages of the Z100 to allow you to manually update the firmware and the anti-virus if you want. The virus update page tells you when the next check for updates is going to happen.