Others say...

"Troublesome software updates"
I been using Zone Alarm Anti-virus for a couple years. It comes with firewall and antivirus software. Both firewall and antivirus works great... before any software updates. A software update happens when Zone Alarm publishes a new version of software that completely replaces this software. You will be notified when there is a new software ready to download and run. The update happens every three to four months.

The problem is, every time I update my Zone Alarm Antivirus, I ran into software problem that prevent AV from running, at all. Every time, I had to send email to customer service to get help. The turnaround time, from the minute i have problem, to the time the problem gets fixed ranges from several hours to several days. During that time, my computer was NOT protected from virus, at all.

Zone Alarm is good when it works. But beware of the software updates.. it might piss you off.



"Do you get what you pay for?"
I bought this product based on Consumer Reports review. I've had Norton and McAfee in the past which slowed down my system. My computer is slower to start up with ZoneAlarm, but faster than McAfee while on. However, most of the time, I need to shut off ZoneAlarm in order to access the internet - just like another reviewer. Defeats the purpose don't you think? It also recognized my offices's software as a virus and although I allowed access, it keeps showing it as a virus. I'm going to have to go to another product.

"Buyer beware"
I installed this 2 days ago. It installed easily enough...within less than 5 minutes I was doing my first virus scan. It only found one infection, which I don't think is accurate (I think it missed some stuff). Every time...*every* time you connect to the internet or go to a site it will come up with a popup asking you to allow or deny access. Gets very annoying after a while. The last straw came today, when I could sign on to the internet but not access any sites. I ran my Spyware Doctor and my Adaware, they both came up clean. On a whim I uninstalled the ZoneAlarm, and voila my internet starts zooming along smoothly again. This was a total waste of money for me, I only wish I had kept the receipt so I could return it.

"Too complicated"
The idea of being notified of every possibly suspicious action sounds good, but in practice ZoneAlarm is too intrusive for most home computer users. It seems to have bugs too, starting with an installation that initially wouldn't work on one of the computers on my home LAN. ZoneAlarm also seems to forget some actions that are allowed and supposedly remembered. I haven't gotten exasperated enough to buy another antivirus product and uninstall ZoneAlarm yet, but I'm close!

"Easy Install, Gets the Job Done"
CD installs easily, it even comes with a nice short instructional video.

Once installed, ZoneAalarm is fairly unobtrusive, but seems to get the job done.

Well-designed product!