ZoneAlarm free installation

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I have been using ZoneAlarm free for a long time now. Today I got a popup window to tell me that I an using an old version which is no longer supported, and need to upgrade. I’m currently using version 11.0.000.020, so I downloaded the latest version which turns out to be 11.0.000.504, which to my mind is a very minor upgrade. Certainly not so major that the current version should no longer be supported!

When I went to install it the only option is to do a Quick Install with default settings, no chance of a custom install. So biting the bullet I select the Quick Install button to then get the License Agreement, which contains two check boxes to set ZoneAlarm Search as my default search provider and as my home page. I want neither, so click on the Agree button. This gives another popup which states ‘To enable “Agree” please check the two boxes’. Talk about forcing users in to doing things their way! I cancelled the installation.

Now I know I can undo these changes later if I go ahead with the install, but I strongly object to having any and all options taken away from me.

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Bob,

IMHO it’s time to go elsewhere for your firewall. Comodo perhaps? :cheers:

May the Forces of good computing be with you!

RG

PowerShell & VBA Rule!
Computer Specs

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I’m beginning to think the same thing

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Bob,

IMHO it’s time to go elsewhere for your firewall. Comodo perhaps? :cheers:

Based on this thread, does anyone really NEED a special firewall? I once was VERY paranoid about this. After I went to Windows 7 Pro, I happily use the built-in firewall.

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Based on this thread, does anyone really NEED a special firewall? I once was VERY paranoid about this. After I went to Windows 7 Pro, I happily use the built-in firewall.

It’s just another option. Many 3rd party firewalls (e.g., NIS, Comodo, Online Armor, ZA) are HIPS, so they provide a lot more security features than a simple network firewall. To me, they provide another security layer and that’s why I do not run any system of my own without one.

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If you want to stick with Zonealarm, you might try uninstalling the current version before installing the new one.

Jerry

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I haven’t used one (other that the router hardware firewall) happily for years and I don’t install them on my clients PCs. But you will find varying opinions on this. A lot of people don’t feel safe without one. To each his own.

Jerry

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This also happened to me yesterday. ON the first screen there is a very small box available to check and this takes care of the problem.

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FRIDGES – thanks for that tip, it got me looking harder. With my installation, on the second screen (the one with the check boxes for ZoneAlarm Search) there is “Skip all offers” (no check box) in light blue on a dark blue background. Not very easy to notice! But it is a link to continue the installation without installing all the garbage. Worked like a charm, finally.
I think I need new glasses

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Same here. I looked all over both screens and saw nothing.

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jman037 – As I said – “Skip all offers (no check box) in light blue on a dark blue background. Not very easy to notice!”
I actually looked at that screen on a number of occasions before noticing that option, blue on blue is a good way to hide stuff

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I used to use Zone Alarm some years ago on an older ‘home-brew’ XP Pro computer but I found there were many clashes with other anti-malware programs. The later versions may be better but I went to Ad-Aware (paid) – no problems yet.

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i had no problems like that with zone alarm
but i did have issues with ad aware

the ms firewall is good enough with mbam and mse etc in place

i would use zone alarm but there were other issues
like concern the mossad was using it to access our pcs
and some incompleteness in shutting down holes in/out of the pc
maybe the paid version fixed that access issue

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Some people just like the firewall to control outbound traffic, stop applications sending info to places they’re not sure of. I don’t think the firewall in Windows 7 allows that. But as was said, if ZA continues this underhanded way of getting it’s settings in place, maybe it’s time to change firewalls.

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I stopped using ZoneAlarm with this ‘new update. It seems whenever there’s an update and I install, it always stops with an error. This has been going on for what seems forever. I just did a clean Windows install and don’t know if I’ll install ZA again. The only thing I like about it is the ease of allowing or denying programs both in and out. And your automatically Stealth until you allow. If I use again I will image my 2 drive system before I play with ZA again.

Programs can be denied net access with Windows firewall but it’s not a one click process.
1. From Control Panel open Windows Firewall
2. Click Advanced Settings (left section)
3. Click Outbound Rules (left section)
4. On the right side click New Rule
A screen will pop up, select the program and it’s done.

I believe there are 1 or 2 third party lightweight apps that work with windows firewall to make things better and easier.

It’s not the best firewall, your not automatically invisible (stealth) which could lead to possible danger. But so far it’s working with no ill effect and it’s just so nice not loading an additional firewall which I’ve done since XP. Only time will tell.

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Yes, the newer installs require glasses to locate the skip all offers after checking the two boxes in an earlier screen but it is foolproof. I have used it since 1999 or so without a single issue other than they stopped supporting W2K a while back and that piqued me a bit after deleting the working version to install the newer one, so had to retrieve an older version to keep it protecting that system. It is flawless in stopping all outgoing I have not previously approved as evidenced by data flow monitoring and that is the most important aspect of a firewall to me. I can almost always repair any incoming snafu’s but once data leaps over the barrier, it is in someone else’s hands. I do not use any other ZA product other than their firewall, as I have found their other products deficient when compared to others such as MalwareBytes AV. Someday another better one may come along. See Consumers Union latest mag on ratings for various suites perhaps if you enjoy suites. My experience is that suites suffer badly in at least one aspect so I do not ever use them. MSE is very weak as is their firewall. If you have never had issues using them then you have never been where you should not have been.

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If you use a router for your connection, make sure that its hardware firewall is enabled in its web-based configuration setup. Then you just have to have the Windows Firewall enabled in WinXP, Vista, Win7 and Win8. I still use Windows XP Pro and I have not had any malware issues. I use Microsoft Security Essentials as my real-time malware scanner/monitor, Malwarebytes as a secondary manual scanner and I set my DNS servers to the IP addresses provided by OpenDNS, which protects against bad sites. – http://www.opendns.com/. Look under Free DNS. Those two IP addresses are the ones that you use for your TCP/IP connection instead of the ones provided by your Internet Service Provider.

The following Q&A shows how to set OpenDNS in XP. It is easy to adapt the information to later versions of Windows via Networking in the Control panel:

http://www.pcbuyerbeware.co.uk/ComputerProblems/HardDiskDriveProblems/how-to-convert-internal-laptop-hard-disk-drive-into-external-drive.htm

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Windows 7 Firewall Control by Sphinx Softwareworks well with the built in firewall to control outgoing traffic. It often interrupts installs when they access the web to update or visit a welcome page etc. Makes a loud clang when it does (always makes me jump) but it’s then easy to enable access for permitted apps.

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ZoneAlarm! Oh what fun I had with that…….. NOT!!!!!! I was using Comodo Internet Security, when I updated it to the latest version, I had a big problem with the AV side. It was building a cache for over 7 hours! Not good, so I uninstalled it. Then thought, I need a firewall. I’d used ZA years ago and decided to try it again. Talk about screwing me over.

1st, it changed my homepage to them. OK, not a deal breaker. I can change it back.
2nd, it changed my search to them. OK, I can change it back.

Well, ZA was going nuts when I was downloading podcasts. Eating 100% of the processor. Not good. So I tried to uninstall it. It got halfway through the uninstall and crapped. So I did a dirty rip. Deleted any and everything to do with ZA. Then spent hours editing the registry to get rid of all traces.

Guess what? I couldn’t connect to the internet. Browsers wouldn’t connect. AV program couldn’t connect.

3rd, ZA CHANGES your DNS server to THEM.

I ended up having to reformat because I couldn’t find in the registry where ZA had written that.

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Did you try changing your DNS servers (2) manually? This is a not easy to find option.
– Open Network Sharing
– Click Change adapter settings
– right click ‘Local Area Connection’ */ Properties
– Highlight ‘Internet Protocol Version 4 (TCP/IPv4)’ and click Properties
Here you have a choice, either: Obtain DNS server address automatically’ or ‘Use the following DNS server addresses:’

The 2nd choice is always better if you know your best DNS server alternatives.

For me the default AT&T DNS is the slowest of all public DNS servers. I happened to talk to one their repair people when there were issues and he gave me 2 other DNS servers. It so happened that these are apparently the fastest of all public DNS servers available according to Steve Gibsons ‘DNS Resolver’ software.

I highly recommend Gibson’s software. It shows all available DNS servers and speed tests them all including yours. Depending on your provider, you can use most of these DNS servers instead of a slower default server.

I know this is ‘after the fact’, but it’s good to know.

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