User opinions for ZoneAlarm powered by click for full size ZoneAlarm provides essential protection for Internet users. Combining the safety of a dynamic firewall with total control over applications Internet use, ZoneAlarm gives rock-solid protection agains...   Avg. User Rating: Recommended by users 60% of the time (63 total) Write your own review at SnapFiles.com! The reviews and opinions below are posted by visitors. They do not necessarily reflect our opinion, and are solely based on the experience of individual users. I will use others... 10/1/2008 18:15:00 Recommended:   No  Posted by:  gimpguy (370) Overall: ZA is "as basic as I can say" A resource hog, slow startup, becoming bloated, perhaps has been bloated for some time. Any version I try, "and I do give it a chance" seems to only get worse. I think it needs to quit being a showboat like Norton and go back to being the excellent firewall it was years ago. Then I may consider going back to it. I had a dsl issue when I was blocked completely, not resolved yet. It's security is good, I give it that but not enough to make me keep this on my pc. So until the next version..... 19836 Good ol' reliable zonealarm... 1/6/2008 18:29:00 Recommended:   Yes  Posted by:  kol2008 (18) Overall: The free version is good. The Pro version is excellent. NEVER use McAfee AntiVirus (or certain other McAfee products) with ZoneAlarm as there are serious conflicts and McAfee will cause your computer to lockup as it boots. It is then very difficult, if not almost impossible, to then uninstall McAfee AntiVirus and you may be forced to reformat your hard disk and reinstall the OS. 18150 Best freebie firewall software... 10/6/2007 10:35:00 Recommended:   Yes  Posted by:  ARD_UK Overall: ZoneAlarm is now upgraded to ZoneAlarm 7.0.408.0. I use Windows XP Home Edition with SP2. As long as the Windows Firewall is disabled you should use ZoneAlarm without any problem. Another thing to bear in mind is to carry on updating the Windows security files. At one stage with an earlier version of ZoneAlarm it did slow down the shutdown procedure to such a state that I had to close down the machine using the Task Manager. I have been downloading the Windows updates manually of late; one of these files may have cleared it. Theres always going to be a hacker getting round any sort of firewall eventually, particularly software versions but ZoneAlarm is the best freebie out there. 17516 Im a true ZA fan... 7/31/2007 11:44:00 Recommended:   Yes  Posted by:  MyNameIsSylar (2) Overall: Some people say firewalls slow the connection down, specially when it comes to dial-up. It happens ZA doesn`t. I tested it several times with/without it and my speed remains the same. When I had to reformat my HD and used Internet without ZA installed, I had much more reports on Ad-aware, AVG and Spybot S$D. So I say Zone Alarm is pretty efficient, although the newer version warns you too much about outbound connection attempts. It doesn`t have any problem with P2P programs, except the crappy Shareaza. As long as they keep the good work, Ill will be using ZA when I move to broadband. 17011 Works, but...... 6/4/2007 13:40:00 Recommended:   Yes  Posted by:  pantherman (14) Overall: For a free firewall it seems okay. But I did get hacked through it and am looking at alternatives. 16593 Needs a rollback... 5/14/2007 08:37:00 Recommended:   Yes  Posted by:  jackfrost (35) Overall: I am very satisfied with the older product versions, and found them to be more than adequate and quite feature rich and designed with thoughtful simplicity. i cannot say this about any version above 5.5 however and strongly urge that one dig into their own personal archive and replace any new version with an older one or to find a suitable replacement elsewhere, like (rip) sygate, etc. this is an excellent example of flagrant abuse of the word "upgrade" when applied to a newer product revision, as this is nothing more than bloated buggy nonsense and can cripple some machines. it is *not* an upgrade. it is a downgrade. look elsewhere if you don't have the pockets for a hardware firewall, etc. avoid this. 16451 Zone alarm... 4/20/2007 15:21:00 Recommended:   Yes  Posted by:  Dustin Overall: Just as a little background on me, I'm a system admin at an ISP and recently one of our customers asked for help with Zone Alarm free version. After downloading the free version to a test machine, it provided DECENT security over both a LAN and from the internet. However once I executed a port scan from a remote computer I was able to not only detect open/closed ports but Zone Alarm did nothing to stop my intrusion once I started. The overall security from a "script kitty" seems to be quite good, but from another point of view I was able to get past the security in under 10 minutes and gain full access to the machine that had Zone Alarm installed. Overall I would recommend this to the average user but for serious security nothing beats a BSD hardware firewall. 16234 You'll always end up going back to this one.... 2/8/2007 09:34:00 Recommended:   Yes  Posted by:  mattcn81 (2) Overall: Experience shows when you use ZoneAlarm. You can tell the programmers know what they are doing. When you click remember it remembers. It doesn't ask you about the same program 40 times. The learning curve on this is about 30 minutes. Support is great, not that you'll need them often if at all. I don't understand the 4star rating. 15602 Nice firewall... 1/19/2007 01:22:00 Recommended:   Yes  Posted by:  hydrowisp (3) Overall: Its an Excellent software base fire wall so if anyone is without a firewall should really try this 15348 Creates more problems than it solves... 1/2/2007 11:04:00 Recommended:   No  Posted by:  Avenger Overall: Ever since I installed ZA-pro, my computer has been so unstable. Windows crashes abruptly. Web browser cookie handling is faulty (even after disabling it, I cannot open some sites). Disable ZA-pro and voila! all problems disappear. Frankly, I would rather use another firewall. 15186 Pass thru... 12/12/2006 10:27:00 Recommended:   No  Posted by:  hrwasp (66) Overall: I use to use ZoneAlarm Free and later Pro versions back in the day. I have since moved on to a stronger firewall. One of my customers requested some information on this product so I re-evaled it. This latest version of ZA is a PASS! It causes some faulty errors when booting up IF the machine boots up. Uninstalled rolled back the settings, my test machines work fine again. I recommend looking elsewhere! 15039 Could never get it to work right... 9/4/2006 01:23:00 Recommended:   No  Posted by:  marc57 (2) Overall: Tried this firewall several times and could never get it to work right. Between crashing my computer and freezing it on shutdown, it was a real mess. And to top everything it wouldn't uninstall right and even after removing everything from the computer and registry I finally had to format and re-install windows just to get my internet access back. this is NOT a stable piece of software. 13944 The best free firewall... 8/27/2006 05:33:00 Recommended:   Yes  Posted by:  macic6 (2) Overall: ZoneAlarm is definitely the best free firewall program, it protected me from many hacker intrusion attempts, and it also quarantined suspicious e-mail attachments. 13849 Great fire wall... 8/19/2006 15:49:00 Recommended:   Yes  Posted by:  Pondejim (8) Overall: It works well for me. It has blocked 29,935 intrusions, with 186 being high rated, since installing ZoneAlarm free about 3 months ago. Without it my PC was very vulnerable. Never having a fire wall for many years prior, I have been very lucky in having no major problems. Having this, in conjunction with Avast, AVG, Ad-Aware, Spybot, SpySweeper and Spyware Blaster, I feel nearly "bullet proof". Thanks for a the great up-front protection. 13762 As safe as you feel... 7/3/2006 03:19:00 Recommended:   Yes  Posted by:  cameos (3) Overall: ZoneAlarm (Free version) is pretty much a piece of "Personal Firewall for Dummy" or "I feel safe even I know nothing about network" software, It's easy to use for beginners, and for most average users it does its job well. However, for advanced users, it's simply not as good as Sygate or Comodo. Of you really want to use ZoneAlarm, get the Pro version (not free). 13347 It's the best firewall!!!... 3/2/2006 10:08:00 Recommended:   Yes  Posted by:  BJ_Ge0rgE (4) Overall: ZA is the best firewall because is easy to use it and blocks almost all hackers...I have tested a lot of firewalls and this is the best! 12128 Beware if you have multiple users on your pc... 2/3/2006 11:45:00 Recommended:   No  Posted by:  MartinBell Overall: If your computer is configured for single use, then ZA v6 will work fine. (I suspect that is the case for those folks who've added ill-tempered posts criticizing the unfortunate people who have suffered.) However, there is a major flaw in Version Six. It blocks internet access on computers with multiple users. Uninstalling does not fix the problem. I am a computer scientist with two decades of experience using PCs and find it very disappointing the ZA appear to be in denial over this. However, check out the many sites on the web where this issue is discussed and you have the crumb of comfort of knowing that you are not alone. A once reliable, easy-to-use firewall can no longer be relied upon. :( 11793 Listen,all of you lol... 12/23/2005 16:49:00 Recommended:   Yes  Posted by:  TechPC Overall: Ok, ZoneAlarm was a good firewall at one point. There are many flaws and problems that people will have with any platform, and OS across the world using this firewall. Those of you who slander other people's problems in their posts just is not right. Nobody is perfect as you people claim to be. I know much about computers, and am far from perfect. I too had problems with Zonealarm after it's last release. Thank you. Cheers and Beers 11258 You get what you pay for is still true...... 11/29/2005 01:11:00 Recommended:   No  Posted by:  JSoftInc (6) Overall: Yahoo messenger and VNC viewer stopped working once I put this firewall on, and I gave these programs full rights. The antivirus did find one trojan, but what good is it if it could not repair or delete it? The same crap is still getting through even with this firewall and it is version 5.5. Thanks for the info about vsmon also and not upgrading to version 6. What good is this program if you have to do a bunch of work to get it to work "normal" and not slow your system down?? Forget [..], used it and uninstalled it and of course it did not totally uninstall. Guess you could buy [..] or some other firewall and then be totally pissed... 10975 I used to think this was the best........ 11/27/2005 09:03:00 Recommended:   Yes  Posted by:  TheDarkLord (11) Overall: This firewall is pretty good. It has a good interface and is simple. I think it's overhyped though. I don't think the security is the best. I passes most firewall tests, but the main drawback is the lack of program control. This means that a trojan can "hijack" other allowed programs without being detected, and as a result, security is compromised. It is not very configurable, though this does make it perfect for the beginner- you can get it up and running very easily. If you don't know anything about firewalls, this is the best program for you. I had some trouble configuring ZA to share network resources. To sum up- it's a good firewall. Simple, and easy to set up. Good for the rookie, but advanced users will want more configurability and features. 10951 Great firewall... 11/23/2005 20:31:00 Recommended:   Yes  Posted by:  webexpressions (38) Overall: I have taken and tried several different firewall programs and have found that the Zone Alarm is the BEST by far for both features and PRICE..... Excellent program if you are looking for a great firewall program, give this one a shot. The price is right and it works great. The place to go if your looking for a program that does what it says , is at Snapfiles.com 10923 Problems with new version... 11/16/2005 10:14:00 Recommended:   No  Posted by:  DrDeath{KLE} Overall: The old version worked great, but when i updated to the new version, it started making my pc freeze up and slowed my pc down to the point that i had to manually shut my pc down. when i restarted my pc, it froze up again, finally i was able to access my pc, and try to find out what was happening, and to find some type of remedy to this problem, but after a few pages of searching the net, it wouldn't allow pages to open. at first i thought it was a virus or some type of spyware/malware program in my pc, but it was not anything on my pc, but the za firewall itself. i removed it from my system, and have not had any problems since, also, i have installed a much better firewall, that doesn't cause any of these problems. sure it's a great firewall, but only the earlier version, the newer version is the worst thing that i ever had on my pc. if you can dl the old version, do it, but NEVER dl the updated version. 10833 Good firewall... 11/15/2005 09:20:00 Recommended:   Yes  Posted by:  ploppe Overall: What`s wrong ,I have used Zonealarm Pro for years with no problems at all. Tried [..] and [..] before with big problems in every sense. Get tired and had used only ZoneAlarm Pro after the horrible experience with [..] and [..]. 10823 Learn how to use a firewall correctly!!!... 10/28/2005 08:26:00 Recommended:   Yes  Posted by:  safesite Overall: I jus HAD to register here stumbling upon these negative and silly reviews of Zone Alarm by some people here which I was looking for due to an update. I agree with "dirtnap" and his points of views. I simply was laughing at all of you saying how "bad" this firewall works!! I have used this firewall ever since I started protecting my Win 2000 desktop and laptop and I NEVER had any kind of problems with it as far as I can remember! Maybe you guys who run Windows XP (or Windows Xtremely Problematic!) should either get to know your computer better or start using Windows 2000 or NT based Windows versions and define Zone Alarm right. I run AVG Antivirus and Spybot SandD as well as Spywareblaster. Updating my Windows frequently and I got NO problems with that. Funny you guys do...! By the way, this firewall has protected me so far 2100 times!! And I have good security on my PCs I feel...! 10623 A wee bit of advice... 10/22/2005 00:19:00 Recommended:   No  Posted by:  guardian_angel Overall: Just a bit of advice for all the reviews commenting on how Zone Alarm is a pain in the ass for broadband connections. The reason you loose your connection is that ZA blocks access to your web proxy address so NO DNS. To get around it, find out your DNS server addresses from your ISP and add them to your NIC properties as static addresses. 10570 Have used it for 2 years - no problems... 10/7/2005 18:27:00 Recommended:   Yes  Posted by:  dirtnap (32) Overall: Who are these people who have problems with ZA!? It is THE premium free firewall on the 'net. Perhaps those having problems need to clean their registry of old applications which can conflict. I use ZA with antivirus and spyware software without problems. If you'll clean up your registry you should not have any problems with ZA. Also review ZA's "Program Control" list to disable apps no longer on your computer. If you aren't using ZA you are not getting the BEST protection. 10415 Watch out!!... 10/6/2005 21:53:00 Recommended:   No  Posted by:  Nexar466 (6) Overall: When ZA starts messing up your PC, good luck getting it all out of your system. I used it 3 years ago, and wound up reformatting. ZA is a joke!  10403 Rubbish... 9/22/2005 12:59:00 Recommended:   No  Posted by:  Ramsey (5) Overall: What a rubbish program i upgraded from version 5 to this. big mistake its hard to use, bloated and slows my pc. Avoid this product. Do yourself a favour and use ... which is a much superior product and will not use huge system resources like ZA 10258 Often internet loss... 8/9/2005 08:21:00 Recommended:   No  Posted by:  Mike98 (12) Overall: Easy to uninstall via the control panel. I think, that the fact, that ZoneAlarm has earned the Designed for Microsoft Windows XP Logo is fairly overrated. This firewall blocks admittance to too many websites and is therefore complete useless for the normal use of the internet. 9798 You can do way better!... 6/28/2005 13:09:00 Recommended:   No  Posted by:  Sindonich Overall: Zonealarm use to be a very tight program small clean and simple but now it's a godzilla monster it takes up too much system resources zonealarm makes a terrible mess in the registry and it's buggy. Securitywise many Hackers just laugh at this firewall (Ok to be fair they actually laugh at other windows firewalls especially microsoft's ICF included in Win XP because it sucks) If you really want to stay safe you can do better buy a solid hardware firewall that offers serious protection for your data even a decent NAT router at $150 is worth it. 9317 Easy... 6/5/2005 14:16:00 Recommended:   Yes  Posted by:  R2-D2_ (16) Overall: Well, works fine for me, block only when i choose to. 9080 Great for its primary purpose... 6/4/2005 06:30:00 Recommended:   Yes  Posted by:  whwmdw (5) Overall: I have used ZA for over 5 years and only ran into problems with the earliest releases of version 5.0 on a Windows XP SP2 machine. The later versions have not caused any problems. I believe many of the hangups with ZA from the other reviewers are due to using ZA with its antivirus and mailsafe features turned on and conflicting with other antivirus programs or Windows XP firewall. I use ZA only for the firewall feature and disable its other features, along with Windows XP firewall. As a firewall ZA is great. I wish that the user could more easily clean out some of the temp files it creates, such as those created during a crash of another program, but the simplistic interface does not provide that feature. Otherwise, I am very happy with it. 9060 Great hype - bad results.... 6/4/2005 03:30:00 Recommended:   No  Posted by:  HazardData (2) Overall: This program worked great at first, then it changed registry settings without prompting. I couldn't get online untill i made changes with my registry keys and network settings. The uninstall didn't work,left multiple files behind. So I ended up manually going through the registry removing keys and other hidden elements. Ill stick with ... like all the banks and financial gurus around here.... 9058 You need antifreeze for this program... 5/11/2005 15:55:00 Recommended:   No  Posted by:  Caroline (5) Overall: This is the only firewall I know of that allows me to send and receive files over YIM with no problems. However, it's not worth it due to the continual lockups I get. They usually last for 20 seconds at a time occuring every 5 minutes or less, then eventually my computer completely freezes and I have to reboot. I'm giving this program the boot too. 8796 Zone alarm is good...for beginners... 4/23/2005 07:30:00 Recommended:   Yes  Posted by:  Dahfellah (2) Overall: If you are using dial-up like me ZA is great with virtually no problems experienced with it on my o/s Window XP. Tested it with Steve Gibson Research Page and passed with flying colours! Never had any hacking problems since installation.  8579 Problematic at best!... 3/21/2005 10:16:00 Recommended:   No  Posted by:  clayj2002 Overall: I've tried this product three times, twice free downloads and then buying the Pro version. My experience was the same every time despite the revisions Zone Labs made between my downloads. It starts out great, then ends up cutting you off completely from the Internet, and cannot be completely uninstalled. Zone Labs support will give you instructions to uninstall it, but hidden files will remain on your system even after you follow their instructions to the letter. I couldn't restore my system without it getting back in a few weeks later, and finally had to reformat my hard drive to get rid of it. Pass this one by. 8201 Excellent piece of program... 2/5/2005 00:25:00 Recommended:   Yes  Posted by:  santanudutta (2) Overall: I was first come to know about this product from Microsoft.com security bulletin. While using at first there was a minor problem with networking, but it solved. Then it is working smoothly. I really like this software. I recommend strongly for the use. 7682 Blocks too much... 1/7/2005 07:55:00 Recommended:   No  Posted by:  Rud-gr Overall: Nice program, too bad it starts blocking almost everything after a while. The longer you use it, the more problems you will encounter using the internet. Big pity. 7223 Nasty... 1/3/2005 03:49:00 Recommended:   No  Posted by:  kelticwolf79 Overall: This program worked great at first, then it seemed to rewrite my settings, totally sealing off all ports to where I couldn't get online. The uninstall didn't work, tried the add/remove from control panel, that didn't fully uninstall, no help from ZA, so I ended up having to do a full system restore just to get back onto the internet. 7160 Not this version 2... 12/26/2004 13:55:00 Recommended:   Yes  Posted by:  Reppiks (3) Overall: I agree with Ironbender. I had the same problems. Also every time I logged in to AOL my computer would automatically Re-start. Went to ZA for help but received little help. Guess I'm stuck with old version because it works fine. 7078 Not this version.... 12/23/2004 20:22:00 Recommended:   No  Posted by:  Ironbender (4) Overall: I have used ZoneAlarm (ZL26A) with no problems on all my network computers, connected to ADSL. When I have tried to use this latest version, I was unable to configure it on my network, and had severall connection problems. I have returned to the old version, which works fine again on all machines, including my net server. 7054 Awesome... 12/20/2004 19:18:00 Recommended:   Yes  Posted by:  chelsey Overall: This jerk was hacking into my computer and could see everything I typed once I was online.. I downloaded this and he was no longer allowed access. GREAT program love love love it. 7008 The best firewal created... 12/10/2004 02:27:00 Recommended:   Yes  Posted by:  Philip1941 Overall: ZA is the best firewall I have ever used.I am always on the computer as I am an animator and programmer.I can be sure everything on my computer is safe with ZA.I give it a 20 out of 10 i like it so much 6911 Dsl killer... 12/10/2004 01:02:00 Recommended:   No  Posted by:  Pat206 (3) Overall: ZA worked okay until i got dsl then i was always losing my connection no matter how i configured it! Since i have uninstalled it i never have had a disconnect. Now i just use the sp2 firewall with Avast! 4.5 and all the usual freebie anti spy programs and i have no problems. 6910 Problems... 12/8/2004 21:57:00 Recommended:   No  Posted by:  AungDin (57) Overall: After I began using broadband I installed ZoneAlarm. Then I could not maintain a connection to the internet. After a couple days of making adjustments and readjustments I contacted the cable company & asked for assistance. Their top man came out and after about 4 hours he surrendered and went home, said he'd send someone else to help the next day. The problem was not resolved until ZoneAlarm had been completely removed from my system. I installed Norton Firewall and have been at peace ever since. I guess you could say I was safe using ZoneAlarm but alas, I was internetless. 6894 Install this!... 12/2/2004 08:27:00 Recommended:   Yes  Posted by:  ikeiges (15)