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| Customer Reviews: | | Average Customer Review: ( 59 customer reviews )
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
43 of 45 found the following review helpful:
Not Bloatware Like Symantec Internet Security Oct 10, 2006
By Robbie Bobagov
"wicked good analyst"
After removing Symantec and installing Zonealarm my computer speeded up by a factor of at least 10.
I'm not certain why Symantec slows some computers down but leaves others going fast -
in my case it insisted on scanning every program transferred and used and on scanning every outgoing email even though I truned those features off.
I recommend Zonealarm for users with some expertise - during the initial usage you need to understand what programs to allow and what to block (look them up on Google).
16 of 17 found the following review helpful:
!WARNING! Not the Zone Alarm We Once Knew! WARNING! Mar 02, 2007
By CST
"Psybearian"
I am an experienced computer professional and beta tester and ZA 7 is an unmitigated disaster. Issues clearly identified while in beta were not fixed when CheckPoint(an Israeli company which purchased ZA in 2004) released the "gold" version on Jan 15, 2007. If you do manage to get it working it uses anywhere from 80 to 170 MB of RAM! Then the so called "Kaspersky" antivirus database will corrupt. This makes Symantec products seem elegant.
It is insult to injury when the arrogant attitude of tech support adds to the frustrations. The wall of silence from CheckPoint ZoneAlarm is stunning as they have still not fixed even one of the numerous problems.
Steer clear. Try Comodo Firewall / AVG anti-virus or anything else but this.
19 of 21 found the following review helpful:
Comes with a 560 + page PDF File User's Manual Nov 21, 2006
By in1ear You can read it BEFORE buying the product by looking on the ZA site. I'm going to make this hard and make you google it.
I'm not going to criticize anyone except to say IF you have a question or problem, the ZA website lists pdf file user manuals for all of the company's products. There are some compatibility probs for example with Yahoo Mail BETA. As soon as Yahoo finalizes it's mail server ZA will be compatible. Simply switch back to yahoo mail (pre beta). There are several other beta products but generally if you're having problems they can be easily fixed by adjusting the settings just like all security programs. ZA REALLY is better at what it is suppose to do than other products ONCE you have learned how to use it. Kinda like most things in the world of things that are unfamiliar.
I use the free stuff too, and recommend them for those who are on a budget - students, etc. but the ZA suite is worth the money and is more effective for those who can't afford to get mugged or pickpocketed on the info hiway. I know what you're thinking btw...but ask yourself "Is your private information, time and computer worth it to you?" If so go with Zone Alarm, learn how to use it and be safer on the net.
John Row
in1ear
10 of 10 found the following review helpful:
This Product Is Not For Average Users Apr 13, 2007
By M. Garcia While I respect some folks gripe with this programs friendliness, the reality is that this security software is Not for the average user, this product is very command-oriented, meaning that it give users different level alerts (Firewall, Suspicious Behavior, Program Access Alerts, etc.) where the user allows or denies program access to and from the internet very frequently, which can be very tedious for busy users. I'm a Certified PC Technician and it took me quite awhile to get it running properly in the background without any advisory popup interruptions, you do have to carefully configure the software to recognize all of the programs that you use frequently like IE, Outlook, Instant Messaging, ISP, etc. in the 10 different areas of the software's Control Panel.
Also, the Network Configuration Wizard, automatic VPN configuration, and other features of Zone Labs security software help you to quickly set up your network environment, which again took quite sometime, but it was up and running smoothly, as for the Spyware aspect of it, that need a bit of improvement, but generally ran and found most file hidden in the registry even though I ran Ad-aware right after and found nothing, the Anti-virus did a fairly decent scan.
I would not recommend this product to busy folks, it definitely take some configuration task-time to get it working properly on many different levels, however, I do agree that the vsmon.exe and three other associated file clients, do consume a good amount of resources behind the scenes (Check Your Task Manager Processes Tab) but so do other Internet Security Software.
The software needs about 64MB (Win2000) and 128MB (WinXP) to run it, but in reality, is better if you have at least 1 or 2GB of RAM overall to run it properly on Windows, also, this product without a doubt is for Power Users who like to tweak with settings, I personally was able to run and configure the software properly the first time and haven't touched it since, without emailing or calling their questionable Tech Support Line, Also, this product is NOT Vista compatible like it suggests.
In conclusion, if you're trying this product, don't buy the 3 license user pack, get the single PC version and be ready to do some configurations and manual reading as well, because you really need to understand basic computer networking and how vulnerable pc's really are when connected to the internet specially if you're exchanging information online, Trust me, I've tried most programs in this category of Internet Security and I think this is one of the best. I Hope this review helps you solve your problem.
31 of 39 found the following review helpful:
Effective but Annoying Nov 24, 2006
By David A. Lessnau A couple of years back, I subscribed to, and used, the regular ZoneAlarm firewall. After a while, I got annoyed with the program's tendency to get in my way during normal use. I tried other firewalls, but after reading some reviews about the effectiveness of those compared to ZoneAlarm, I came back, bought, and installed this Zonealarm Internet Security Suite. Unfortunately, I'd forgotten how annoying ZA is. After a couple of month of use, I once again uninstalled it. It's nice having the firewall, anti-virus, and anti-spyware stuff all in one package coming from one company. But, once I figured out that the problems I was having with Amazon and Ebay were related to configuring ZASS (for which there really wasn't a solution), I just gave up. As replacement, I downloaded Microsoft's free "Windows Defender" (anti-spyware) and am evaluating their trial version of "Windows Live OneCare" (anti-virus, firewall, etc.). For all intents and purposes, those are transparent to my computer use and don't cause any problems whatsoever.
If you don't mind being very aware of your firewall, anti-spyware and anti-virus software, I do recommend Zonealarm Internet Security Suite since it's one of the most effective packages out there (at least according to the reviews I've read). But, if you just want something to work invisibly, then I'd suggest trying something else. As such, I rate this at an OK 3 stars out of 5.
See all 59 customer reviews on Amazon.com
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