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| Customer Reviews: | | Average Customer Review: ( 65 customer reviews )
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
48 of 54 found the following review helpful:
 What happened Zone Alarm? Aug 07, 2007
By JLP
I had been a Norton Security user for years and years. However, when my 2005 version was up for renewal on both my desktop and labtop, I balked at paying Norton's higher renewal rates or purchasing a whole new version of Norton. So after some research I switched to Zone Alarm 6 - 3 user license. It worked wonderfully. I could actually still work on my computer as it was scanning for both spyware and antivirus unlike the Norton. The firewall worked very well. It was easy to install, easy to configure and had very little impact on system performance. It seemed I had found a better solution to the somewhat bloated and system hungry Norton. Thus, I was quite happy to renew my Zone Alarm subscription for this year. However, I'm not sure what happened with the build 7 of Zone Alarm. It first caused problems with me receiving emails through POP3 account via Outlook 2003, my computer didn't always shut down, I could no longer use the InCD burning capabilities of Nero 6 (even after updating the Nero 6) and the final straw was that the antivirus hung up on a small system file on my spare SATA drive called tracking.log. Excluding this file or even the entire drive wasn't an option given how aggressive spyware, viruses and other nasties could be out there. The problem with the email actually was not an uncommon problem and the forum gurus at Zone Alarm didn't have much of solution which was to use the 6.5 build of Zone Alarm (2006 version)or just wait. I have switched back to Norton which has a very affordable 3 computer license, much less of a system impact than the 2005 and apparently the 2006 and is a well established company. I will simply have to write off my expense of Zone Alarm. I did fill out their survey notifying them of my problems and hopefully they will fix them.
12 of 12 found the following review helpful:
 Zonealarm 8 kills Vista and XP Oct 26, 2007
By JRH
"j5094"
March 15, 2009: I wrote a review for ZoneAlarm (see below) over a year ago. Recently I updated my computer to version 8. The problem with ZA being a cpu pig continues to be bad. The process scanningprocess.exe still hogs the CPU every time you try to use the computer. Turning it off under "antivirus - advanced options" restores the performance of your computer at the expense of ZA not scanning every file that comes into the cpu. Most of the files that you use are simply routine application files that ZA checks over and over at the expense of bringing the performance to a crawl. What you want ZA to check are new files that it has not seen before, but ZA is not smart enough to make the distinction. Norton Security Suite used to be the champion CPU pig along with McAfee, but Norton has now solved the problem. Both XP and VISTA will run smoothly with Norton with only a very modest tax on performamnce (unless you look you will never notice its tiny affects). It's too bad. ZA has been my favorite for many years. I like the level of control it gives you and I like the near-perfect firewall, but the perfromance hit is too much. Now, Nortin has improved its firewall and Antivirus components to match or exceed ZA. For me it's bye-bye ZA, and buy-buy Norton.
Previous Review
ZoneAlarm 7.1 for Vista is not ready for retail sale. Once you install it with Vista, your computer will likely slow to a crawl. The reason is simple (for most people). Zonealarm security suite will continuously run two processes, both called scanningprocess.exe, that along with another ZoneAlarm process, VSMON.exe, will consume most of your cpu. There seems to be no way to turn this off. On my machine, a new Lenovo with 2GB of ram, the cpu useage bounces around from 17% to 90%, with most of the time being above 50%. WIth so much of the computer's resources consumed, there is little left for you, the user.Plus, if you do something,such as starting a program, the useage jumps even higher. Finally, even though ZoneAlarm has just finished updating its files, it will continuously run updclient.exe, which takes up about 25% of the cpu. The company that produces ZoneAlarm, CheckPoint, will not respond to customer inquiry about this problem. So, go ahead and install it, and see if I am right. Oh, I forgot to mention, once you install it, it is hard tocompletely remove the Zonealarm Internet Security Suite - 3 UserZoneAlarm Internet Security Suiteprogram.
After posting this message, I have found a way to "solve" the problem of ZoneAlarm being CPU pig. You will have to turn off "On Access Scanning". Go to the AntiVirus/AntiSpyware tab and click on "Advanced Options", the click on "On Access Scanning". Uncheck the Enable Box. Click OK. In a few minutes your computer should return to normal civilized behavior. You have lost a valuable feature, but, hey, you can actually do something useful on your computer. This problem does not seem to affect the older versions under XP. Good Luck!
Operating System: Windows Vista Home Premium
Software Version: 7.1 (Vista)
Product Name: ZoneAlarm Pro
11 of 11 found the following review helpful:
 great software! get version 7.0.408.000 or above ! Nov 01, 2007
By C. K. Chua
I've been using this great software since it was just a tiny little firewall. through the years, they have held their own against the giants and still came out ahead. they have changed their partners for the better in most cases and when they have problems. they do fix it.
As with all the other reviewers below. I have encountered all of the aforementioned problems. it sure does get frustrating. but thanks to one of the reviewers below. what he said is true. after downloading version 7.0.408.000, so far all the problems I had vanished. it just vanished. the processor slowdowns, the outlook express taking forever, the slow browsing. gone! zip! nada! Yes, I do have to do a few more tests to do but so far, I'm very happy with the latest version. As i said. they do fix their stuff.
So to everyone who has problems. seek out the version 7.0.408.000 or above and upgrade. you'll all be much happier.
11 of 11 found the following review helpful:
Frequently crashes and is a resource Hog Jul 15, 2007
By Computer Programmer
ZoneAlarm Security Suite 7.x has been the single worst piece of software I have used in 20 years of computer programming. ZoneAlarm Internet Security Suite 6.x is somewhat better, but still not ideal for my system. Below describes why I feel this way:
It crashes fequently, which takes down the internet--sometimes within one minute of using the internet. The only way to bring it back is to reboot the computer. A less than ideal solution. When I searched the Web about the crash, it seems to be a well known problem, even to the ZoneAlarm folks, but they don't seem to have fixed in it subsequent releases.
Also it takes over 100 megabytes of RAM, and the computer runs *MUCH* slower with Zone Alarm running. It takes many times longer to boot and log onto the computer with it installed than with out it.
Constant crashes, and a much slower computer. I am going to replace it with another firewall as soon as possible, and consider the money I spent on ZoneAlarm Internet Security to be wasted.
10 of 10 found the following review helpful:
 Zone Alarm Internet Security Suite - They finally got Version 7 right! Sep 20, 2007
By M. Gavin
Zonealarm Internet Security Suite - 3 User
Like many of your users, I cursed Zone Alarm ISS Version 7 when I installed it. It brought my PC to a standstill. It wouldn't start up, wouldn't shut down, couldn't stop a scan, etc, etc.
They seem to have finally got it right. Before you install Zone Alarm ISS, make sure it's version 7.0.408.000 or later. Anything earlier and you'll be ready for a padded cell. This version seems to work well with Windows XP.
See all 65 customer reviews on Amazon.com
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![Zonealarm Internet Security Suite 2007 [OLD VERSION]](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51KdJ5lQazL._SL160_.jpg "Zonealarm Internet Security Suite 2007 [OLD VERSION]")
![ZoneAlarm AntiVirus 2006 [AntiVirus + Firewall]](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/411EECAC7WL._SL75_.jpg "ZoneAlarm AntiVirus 2006 [AntiVirus + Firewall]")
