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Reviews
ZoneAlarm Internet Security Suite 7.0
March 02, 2007
Reviewed byNarasu Rebbapragada
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Reviewed by: Katiesan10-01-07 Duration of ownership: 7 Years Strengths: Strong firewall, Kapersky integration, apparently has caught everything that has tried to sneak in. Weaknesses: Freaking PITA auto updater!!!!! Slows boot terribly. Auto updater causes conflicts, freezes system every few days or so. Overall Evaluation: Has overall been an excellent product for me, used the free version for years, then went to Pro for years, then got the security suite about year ago. It was a huge improvement over Norton's, which was impossible to use in my system running XP. It does slow the boot time considerably, and does cause an ocaisional conflict. I like the traffic icon in the system tray, which warns me when something else is trying to gain access and is hitting the firewall, in either direction. I can go look and see what's going on. Currently I have version 7.0.337.000. I have no problems getting updates, however I can NOT get the auto updater to turn OFF! So every dam hour it brings my system to a crawl and interferes with whatever I am doing! Generally I catch it and cancel it within 2-3 seconds, but if I'm really concentrating on work it will nail me! When I am in PhotoShop, God forbid I'm in LE where you can only undo ONCE! It just wiped out a photo I was retouching, because I have my snap to function enabled on my mouse (which I prefer, and which also conveniently helps me cancel the updater), and I was airbrushing, phhhtttthhhhttt, right across the image to the stinking update window! This happens so often with email, browsing, etc. that I swear whoever thought it was a good idea should be taken out and stripped, spray painted purple and have tattooed on their forehead "I am the IDIOT who wrote the ZA updater code!" Other than that it's been a heckuva lot better than Norton's suite, which says a lot about how bad Norton is. |
Reviewed by: davejapan08-27-07 Duration of ownership: 2 Years Strengths: Easy to use and setup. Very good firewall and anti virus. Never had a virus or breach of the firewall. Weaknesses: None Overall Evaluation: Have used Zone Alarm on six different pc's, NEVER EVER any problems or slow down of the pc. These include a Vista pc, a Japanese XP spec pc (which worked very well with the Japanese and English versions of Zone Alarm). We have never had a virus on any of the pcs (use internet for approximately 50 hours a week). Emails always work .We use Webroot Spysweeper in conjunction with Zone Alarm and they work well together. Spysweeper, like Zone Alarm deserves 5 stars. |
Reviewed by: reizao08-07-07 Duration of ownership: 2 Months Strengths: None Weaknesses: Slow down your machine at the point you think the viruses are better than the Antivirus. Doesn't work with many softwares. Technical support is almost inexistent. Overall Evaluation: I never get it fully working. The technical support never send a reply for you, even you are a registered user. Customer support act the same way. Get rid of this company. They are not prepared for the market. They don't care about your customers |
Reviewed by: Bajanexile07-16-07 Duration of ownership: 2 Months Strengths: ZoneAlarm Firewall. Weaknesses: Really slow with Windows Vista Home Premium OS. (See my Comments of 07/16/07) Overall Evaluation: Purchase with caution for use with Windows Vista. Regarding my comment of 07/16/07 "Somewhere out there there must be a better alternative/balance of security VS speed.", I am now using AVG 7.5 Anti-Virus plus Firewall and Webroot Spy Sweeper. This is the answer to my quest for a balance of speed VS security. The software has a very small "footprint" and Vista is now very fast indeed. Those looking for Internet Security for a Vista OS should try the AVG Trial Download. I think that you will like it. |
Reviewed by: shellygwar07-01-07 Duration of ownership: 2 Years Strengths: Very good at detecting attempts to access computer programs Weaknesses: Do not respond to questions Overall Evaluation: I used zone alarm pro for several years. However, Zone alarm repeatedly set my monitor on the poorest quality screen color. After two years of no response and becoming frustrated by having to reset my resolution,,,, I finally went with another company when my year subscription was up. |
Reviewed by: jules90f06-03-07 Duration of ownership: 1 Months Strengths: Nice UI, IM encryption Weaknesses: Blocks legitimate websites (i couldn't open all my web-based emails with the product); slows down Internet access; slows down my PC's bootup times; lousy customer support Overall Evaluation: ZA should have tested this product more before bringing it out to the market. As it is, I was never able to really appreciate what it does, except maybe for the IM encryption, which wouldn't work if the other party you're talking to doesn't have the same software installed (I think this is reasonable enough, though). It was the way I couldn't access all my web-based emails that really made me decide to uninstall the product (this maybe due to the fact that I'm accessing the new Yahoo Mail Beta, the new Hotmail, and Gmail, but I thjink that ZA should have anticipated this). Plus, it slowed down my Internet access and my PC's bootup times. I brought all these up with ZA customer support, but I got a response only after three days. By then, my patience had run out. When I decided to uninstall, it offered me the option to downgrade to the Basic firewall. I uninstalled, but the next time I booted up, the suite was still there. I again tried uninstalling, but still no luck. I then decided to uninstall it altogether. With my bad experience, I was mulling if I should get the free firewall. But for now, I'll stick to my hardware firewall instead. |
Reviewed by: jafo05-31-07 Duration of ownership: 1 Months Strengths: I really liked the program, virus, spyware were easy to control, updates etc were excellent. No problems with the program. Weaknesses: Really bad support, really. they offered e-mail an live chat. I wrote an e-mail and it took about 4 days for a reply, they didn't work weekends, so if the computer went down or you didn't have the internet protection you had to wait for them to write and then write again and eventually they got around to replying. Overall Evaluation: live chat was awful, it seems the chat support people did not know very much about the Zone product. Most of the time I knew from experience that what they told me was not correct. I finally gave up on Support and purchased Noton but it was not any better. it seems companies do not expect many customers to have any questions or problems so they try to save by not offering good customer support. Most customers once they get a few answers rarely need to go back for help so why not give them a reason to stay with the program. |
Reviewed by: q25605-29-07 Duration of ownership: 3 Months Strengths: Weaknesses: The Virus data base NEVER updated - tried to honesty get ZA customer service (you feel free to call them that, I just can't since they never provided a solution) to do their job and help getting the program to work. It never did so it has been replaced by one that does. Overall Evaluation: The product has flash - feel and looks. The eye candy is good and seems well build EXCEPT - the anti virus data base NEVER updated. Contacted ZA customer service (12+ times) to try to get the product to work. First : product in the BOX was obsolete - the product bought in 2007 could not update its self. Next I noticed that the ANTI Virus updates where ALWAYS unable to connect. ZA never provided a working / functional solution to this NOR ever had a clue (the easter egg solution where amusing after 8 th reply). Product was replaced by McAfee security center which does work / update and has a few more system tools IMO. Good luck with ZA - I know from my experience it will be a long time before I give any of their products a try. |
Reviewed by: waikiki05-26-07 Duration of ownership: 2 Years Strengths: Blocks out a lot of bad stuff. Weaknesses: Sometimes blocks out the good stuff like your programs and home network. Still not ready for Vista. Overall Evaluation: Program is becoming more user-friendly, but there are still numerous instances where something you want to do won't work and after hours of research and outside help, you find out ZoneAlarm is the problem. |
Reviewed by: Castro05-24-07 Duration of ownership: 5 Years Strengths: Superior firewall Even version 6 caught all the viruses and spyware that entered my machine. I have never suffered any infections with Zonealarm and with the Kaspersky engine its even better Very good spam filtering and cofiguration. This feature alone is worth the whole program and the major reason apart from the firewall that I havn't changed to another program A small but very pleasing feature of the firewall that I miss with all other firewalls: the red and green lights that blink when you send/receive information to the web. Weaknesses: - extremely annoying that it takes forever to download and install updates which takes place every time you turn on the PC. Can be turned off fortunately so you decide when to download the updates - virus and spy scanning is rather slow and not very informative along the way - ad blocking could be better - a major flaw is the failing ability to configure parantal control differently for each user Overall Evaluation: Zonealarm internet security suite is a pleasure to use and it never lets you down. I run XP and before that ME: never a single problem. It has just the right mix of features and alltough some features could be better implemted - parental control and scanning - it is very strong on security. I have used it on a total of now 5 different PC's and never had a problem with Zonealarm. I therefore find it puzzling to say the least that some users cannot use the program at all as I also use a broad selection of programs. I have tried out Symantec products and other antivirus products along the way. Symantec is, as with all norton products, somehow a disaster - it just wrecked my Vista test system completely and as usual found it impossible save for a complete reinstallation of Vista, to get rid of the program. |
Reviewed by: zol3805-21-07 Duration of ownership: 4 Years Strengths: (I use XP home, and see no reason to change to Vista.) Every time a program tries to do something you have not specifically asked for, ZoneAlarm pops up a window telling you what is being attempted and asking if you wish to allow or deny. The latest version of windows explorer has added a keystroke recorder. Without ZoneAlarm I probably would have not known. Now I always deny it. This is a very useful feature, and I have learned a great deal about what is going on in my computer from it. I also am glad for the Kaspersky Labs part. Weaknesses: The system analyzer is very slow, and while running, occasionaly stops all action but itself. This is a minor annoyance, and I let it run automatically because it seems to help keep my computer running clean and fast. I will check into adding a phishing filter, since PCW article says ZA lacks one. Overall Evaluation: I did the clean install of the 7 upgrade, as recommended, and had no trouble. I find the new version works very well. I also use AVG free, and plan to upgrade to pro. Also have System Mechanic 7 which I like very much, and use RegCure. My reason for redundant security is that I find that what one service misses, the backup gets. I have had very little trouble with conflicts, and no trouble with infections. ZoneAlarm may not be perfect, but I like it, and plan to continue using it for the forseeable future. Other programs I have installed are Registry Mechanic, Spybot Search and Destroy, SpywareBlaster, and Spyware Doctor. I have experimented with others, and removed them. As I said, all these work comfortably together, and I enjoy experimenting--- and I repeat, I have no infections. |
Reviewed by: JTdance04-11-07 Duration of ownership: 1 Months Strengths: Up until Security Suite 7.0 it was a great firewall. Weaknesses: After installation my computer would no longer come out of hibernation. I would have to re-boot every time. How do I know if a movie has finished recording if I can't see the screen? Re-boot now takes 4 to 5 times longer than before. Overall Evaluation: Security Suite 7.0 was so bad I un-installed it and tried to re-install ZoneAlarm Pro. It would not. I tried ZoneAlarm basic. It would not. So, I tried to re-install Security Suite 7.0 just to see. I could not re-install that either. After un-installing Security Suite 7.0, System Restore stopped working, at all. I contacted company 2 weeks ago. No response. How do I get my money back? How do I get my computer working again? |
Reviewed by: Erichrok04-02-07 Duration of ownership: 1 Years Strengths: Superior firewall and program control Weaknesses: Not to sure about the anti-virus and spyware components but so far I haven't suffered any infections Overall Evaluation: Zone Alarm Security Suite is the absolute best security application on my machine. Its extremely easy to install and not that difficult to configure. If anyone has had problems then they've most likely done an upgrade instead of a clean application install. I've run the free version and now the security suite on my machines over the past three years and have absolutely zero problems with this application. The only weakness that I can honestly say it has today is there isn't a Vista compatible version yet. |
Reviewed by: loubie03-30-07 Duration of ownership: 4 Years Strengths: Versions before 7.0 used to have a small foot print and were fast and effective Weaknesses: Version 7.0 version is full of bugs: Blue screen of Death, memory hungry, interference with appplications' performance, etc. Please read Zone Alarm User Forums before you buy it Overall Evaluation: Obviously the author of this article had not read the experiences of most users. Go to http://forums.zonealarm.com/zonelabs/board?board.id=inst to find out |
Reviewed by: rlknapp103-26-07 Duration of ownership: 2 Years Strengths: None Weaknesses: 7.0 is a complete piece of crap!!!! Overall Evaluation: DO NOT PURCHASE THIS PRODUCT!!! IF YOU OWN IT ... DO NOT UPGRADE TO IT!!!! 7.0 came out last week and the software asked me to upgrade. I tried and then caused problems with Outlook trying to open. Spent 5 hours before I figured out that it was the Zone Alarm release. Don't take just my word on it ... check their support forum ... the board is flooded with complaints. http://forum.zonelabs.org/zonelabs/board?board.id=inst Hate to say it, but Symantec is looking a lot better in my estimation at this point. |
Reviewed by: in1ear03-22-07 Duration of ownership: 2 Years Strengths: Ease of use Kaspersky antivirus Has an extensive PDF owners manual / operating manual available on company site Weaknesses: May be confusing to some users for updating (See comment about owner / operations manual) Overall Evaluation: The major point of wanting to do this review was to correct the "pricing" info you have. That priceat Amazon.com is for the ZA antivirus only NOT the Internet Security Suite. Which of course is more expensive, but still includes the year's worth of updates for program, anti virus and anti spyware. The higher rating for 7.0 is well deserved since the Kaspersky AV program is a better than the previous CA version. I've had it for 2 years and it has performed flawlessly. The program is highly configurable. ZA is of course the best firewall on the market and it now comes with a very effecient AV program. |
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