Customer Reviews

Zonealarm Internet Security Suite 2007 [OLD VERSION]

5 star:		(19)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(7)
1 star:		(31)

 

 

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.

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

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.

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.

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.

I don't often write reviews, but the negative reviews on this program are so disturbing that I wanted to share one positive experience here.

I use it on two four-year-old Dell computers, neither of which is very fast, and it performs very nicely. It has a non-intrusive, streamlined interface, does what it's supposed to, and the price is right.

The slow bootup problem existed in an earlier version and (as other reviewers have pointed out) is solved in version 7.0.408.000.

Frankly, I don't understand the negattive reviews at all.

I purchased this product to replace Norton Internet Security 2005 as my subscription was expiring. I felt it was time for an update, but NIS 2007 was poorly rated. I wasn't familiar with Zone Alarm before researching, but high ratings from PC mags and early reviews here convinced me to give it a try.

ZA might be a good product, but it most certainly hated my Dell with XP. ZA caused more anomalies on my PC than I'll try to list, but some included the complete failure of some web pages to load, page-loading-scroll bars that never went away (as if the page never completely loaded), repeated requirement to constantly log-in to sites over and over (i.e. ebay and others) where one log-in normally covered an entire session. Automatic scans (virus; spyware)seemed to run ok, but scans that I initiated manually nearly always resulted in PC lock-ups. As I said, too many anomalies to list. I tried virtually every security level setting on every feature of the program to no avail.

After a couple of months I dumped ZA in favor of the new Norton Internet Security 2008, and I am thrilled.

Up until last year we'd used Norton, from the dark ages of computers, where Norton had its start, until 2006. Under the influence of the multi-national behemouth Digital River, who'd acquired it, it went downhill and became a royal pain in the arse, awful, more problems than solutions and non-existent to useless support. We started looking for options as the time came to try and expurgate all the Norton junk gumming up our computer. Someone suggested ZoneAlarm Security Suite and after reading a few reviews we decided to give it a spin, and purchased the 2007 edition.

ZoneAlarm has a lot of the same frustrations built into it that Norton had, with possibly a few bonus ones. I have had to uninstall and reinstall it several times, but that never solves all its problems. I found that when offline and this program was no longer present, everything worked fine, but when back online and using ZoneAlarm for security's sake, all the problems return ~ slow start up, slow everything, and this damned memory hog is constantly scanning and using as much as a third to a half of the CPU or more. It causes continual freezes and I suspect as also being responsible for some unexpected shutdowns ~ and when it's running either of its scans, like the weekly ones for viruses or spyware, well, you just have to leave the computer alone with it, as the computer ceases to be able to do anything else...

The constant alarms thrown up, once it 'learns your computer', are uninformed of what they are throwing an alarm up for, making them mostly useless, including being ignorant of basic stuff, like the Mircrosoft Windows Operating System, XP in our case, not seeming to know what is and isn't acceptable or the norm. Most of the alarms fail to give a clear explanation of what it's on about, so deciding whether or not or which button to push ~ you aren't given enough to know what to do. They don't seem to have a clue so how can you be expected to? If, as it also does, it throws something like that up without an explanation and you decide one way or the other, out of ignorance of knowing exactly what the effect will be, and you push a button ~ YOU, or ME, WE suffer the consequences of ZoneAlarm's lack of detail.

I urge us all to vote with our wallets, something we can't do over the government's protected pet Microsoft. Please stop supporting businesses that can't produce a product that really is useful, helpful, intuitive and kind to the user. As this program currently stands it fails on all counts, and holding back a few viruses and hackers just isn't enough if it makes the rest of your computer aswamp with frustrations and raises ones blood pressure and ire.

Is there anything to be trusted to run without these infestations of bugs? I live in hope, but, I promise you, these two, Norton and ZoneAlarm, in their current state, are awful, pains in the backside, causing as many problems and frustrations as they profess to prevent, seeming as bad as the viruses, spyware and hackers they claim to protect us from.

When ZoneAlarm Security Suite 2007 expires we'll be looking again for an alternative. Who knows, maybe even Norton or ZoneAlarm may have awoke and done some serious reconsidering and work and made a program that can be depended on without all the endless other hassles... I'm not expecting that, but would be pleasantly surprised if they did. I hope someone does or has...

I am not sure what happened with ZoneAlarm Security Suite 7 but It is the worst ZoneAlarm I ever used.

It is a Resource Hog and will bring your PC to its knees. Every Time, I tried to kill the ZoneAlarm, It was updating the virus definations all the time ( 24 hours a day ) !!. You can't kill it, no matter what you do. It will frequently lock your pc and it get to the point, you just can't handle the freeze of PC.

I wasted my money on this and went with Trend Micro and much happy with it since then.

I am not going to use ZoneAlarm until I read 4 Star reviews or it improves and even then I will put it on my test PC to confirm.

Till then, Bye ZoneAlarm for now..

I strongly think they should refund the money and do some Quality testing on this product. I used to love the ZoneAlarm Suites so hated to write bad review but can't help with this release.

Once you install ZoneAlarm on a PC, you will surely know what 'Frustration' feels like. Worst ...

I am running Windows Vista Home Premium. Every time I try to install Zonealarm Internet Security Suite, it shuts down my computer. The only way I got the program to install was in safe mode. But, after restarting the computer it would immediately shut down once zone alarm began to run. I liked the previous versions, but this one is a big disappointment. I am now trying the trial version of Kaspersky Internet Security 6.0 Internet Security Suite. So far no problems and it appears to have awesome protection features that work very well.