Entered CNET Catalog: 05/22/2004
SKU: CNETZONEALARMANTIVIRUS
Manufacturer: Zone Labs, Inc.
CNET editors' review
- Editors' Choice: No
- Reviewed on: 05/25/2004
 ZoneAlarm with Antivirus's main screen displays an easy-to-read snapshot of firewall and antivirus activity. |
The ZoneAlarm with Antivirus interface is excellent. A left-hand column provides one-click access to the program's main modules--Firewall, Program Control, and Antivirus--and the configuration options are clearly explained and easy to change. Longtime ZoneAlarm users will feel at home immediately with the program, since it looks nearly identical to Zone Labs' firewall-only offerings.
Novices will like the 10-part tutorial that explains in detail ZoneAlarm's default settings. For example, it describes the significance of pop-up alerts (such as when an unrecognized program tries to access the Internet), and shows you how to use the Stop and Internet Lock buttons to block all Net traffic (if you fear you're under attack).
Expert users will like the granular controls for both the firewall and antivirus modules, including the ability to block incoming and outgoing pings, thereby making your system more invisible to Internet intruders. The E-mail Protection module allows you to add or delete file extensions from the list of e-mail attachments scanned. You might expect ZoneAlarm with Antivirus to get clobbered in a feature-to-feature bout with such antivirus heavyweights as Norton AntiVirus 2004 and McAfee VirusScan 8.0, both of which cost much more. Surprisingly, however, ZoneAlarm holds its own. The main reason, of course, is the firewall/antivirus combo. Neither McAfee VirusScan 8.0 nor Symantec Norton AntiVirus 2004 currently includes a firewall (although their pricier security suites do).
 ZoneAlarm with Antivirus's antivirus module allows you to run manual scans or schedule scans at recurring intervals. |
Still, ZoneAlarm with Antivirus isn't exactly packed with features. For instance, unlike most antivirus apps, ZoneAlarm with Antivirus doesn't defend against instant-messenger (IM) spam, IM-executable URLs, and other IM attacks. For that, you'll need Zone Labs' free IMsecure Pro. While Norton AntiVirus 2004 detects spyware running on your system, ZoneAlarm with Antivirus doesn't. On the plus side, like most antivirus apps, ZoneAlarm with Antivirus will scan e-mail attachments and quarantine suspicious files.
Rather than build its own antivirus software, Zone Labs licensed Computer Associates' Vet Antivirus engine, also used in eTrust EZ Antivirus, a program we previously found to offer speedy scanning and a mediocre interface. Zone Labs wisely pasted its very user-friendly ZoneAlarm interface over the Vet engine, and the results are positive. Unlike other antivirus programs, however, ZoneAlarm won't allow you to pause virus scans to run a computational- or disk-intensive task; your only option is to cancel them and start over. We prefer the pause option, but that's our only major antivirus nitpick. Firewall results
We tested ZoneAlarm with Antivirus's firewall against Steve Gibson's ShieldsUp security checker, which reported that our test PC was very secure and wasn't exposing its NetBIOS networking protocol over the Internet. In addition, our computer didn't respond to ShieldsUp's port-connection attempts, an indication of strong firewall protection.
| ShieldsUp common ports | ZoneAlarm with Antivirus | McAfee Personal Firewall Plus 6.0 | Norton Personal Firewall 2004 |
| Port 21-FTP | Stealth | Stealth | Stealth |
| Port 23-Telnet | Stealth | Stealth | Stealth |
| Port 25-SMTP | Stealth | Stealth | Stealth |
| Port 79-Finger | Stealth | Stealth | Stealth |
| Port 80-HTTP | Stealth | Stealth | Stealth |
| Port 110-POP3 | Stealth | Stealth | Stealth |
| Port 113-IDENT | Stealth | Stealth | Stealth |
| Port 119-NNTP | Stealth | Stealth | Stealth |
| Port 135-RPC | Stealth | Stealth | Stealth |
| Port 139-NetBIOS | Stealth | Stealth | Stealth |
| Port 143-IMAP | Stealth | Stealth | Stealth |
| Port 389-LDAP | Stealth | Stealth | Stealth |
| Port 443-HTTPS | Stealth | Stealth | Stealth |
| Port 445-MSFTDS | Stealth | Stealth | Stealth |
| Port 1002-ms-ils | Stealth | Stealth | Stealth |
| Port 1024-DCOM | Stealth | Stealth | Stealth |
| Port 1025-Host | Stealth | Stealth | Stealth |
| Port 1026-Host | Stealth | Stealth | Stealth |
| Port 1027-Host | Stealth | Stealth | Stealth |
| Port 1028-Host | Stealth | Stealth | Stealth |
| Port 1029-Host | Stealth | Stealth | Stealth |
| Port 1029-Host | Stealth | Stealth | Stealth |
| Port 1720-H.323 | Stealth | Stealth | Stealth |
| Port 5000 UPnP | Stealth | Stealth | Stealth |
| LeakTest | Passed | Passed | Passed |
To test ZoneAlarm with Antivirus's firewall using ShieldsUp, we began with IP Agent, a free utility provided by ShieldsUp that determines the test machine's current IP address, then contacts the ShieldsUp Web site to begin testing. Next, the Port Probe utility from ShieldsUp tested our system's defense against Internet port scanners. The test originates from the ShieldsUp server and attempts to establish standard TCP/IP (Internet) connections on a handful of commonly exploited Internet service ports on the test computer. More information on these tests and what the results mean can be found at ShieldsUp.
Antivirus performance results
In our CNET Labs tests, ZoneAlarm with Antivirus caused less of a drag on system performance than Norton AntiVirus 2004 but more than McAfee VirusScan 8.0. But ZoneAlarm with Antivirus scanned our 1GB drive much slower than Norton and McAfee. Here are our test results:
| Test system | ZoneAlarm with Antivirus | McAfee VirusScan | Norton AntiVirus | |
| SysMark 2002 Internet-content-creation (ICC) score | 233 | 221 | 234 | 223 |
| Normalized score | 100 | 95 | 100 | 96 |
| Percentage of degradation | N/A | 7 | 0 | 4 |
| Average boot time (seconds) | 40.8 | 55.6 | 48.38 | 52.72 |
| Scan 1GB directory; average scan time (minutes) | N/A | 2.44 | 4.75 | 3.59 |
ZoneAlarm with Antivirus uses the Vet antivirus engine from Computer Associates. To determine whether Vet effectively blocks viruses, we gauged its performance in tests conducted by independent antivirus laboratories. In Virus Bulletin tests with live viruses, previous versions of Vet earned the coveted VB 100 percent rating in six of its six most recent Windows tests--on a par with Norton AntiVirus, which also earned the title six out of its last six tests.
More information about how we test antivirus apps and firewalls can be found at CNET Labs. Like McAfee and Symantec, Zone Labs offers expensive phone support for ZoneAlarm with Antivirus: $2.95 per minute, available Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. PT. By comparison, Trend Micro, maker of PC-cillin Internet Security 2004, provides one year of free phone support.
 Zone Labs' Instant Support screen is a virtual chat tool that lets you probe the company's knowledge base with natural-language queries. |
Want no-cost help? Zone Labs' online chat is one option. The term chat is misleading, however, since you're really interacting with a Web-based knowledge base, not a human being. For example, type a question in the Instant Support box, and the automated system will suggest a solution. While we found Instant Support easy to use, we'd prefer to interact with someone with a pulse. On the plus side, the virtual chat tool did resolve a technical glitch we experienced with a prerelease version of ZoneAlarm with Antivirus.
User opinions
Select a User Opinion to view: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
User Rating: 
4/10
Complicated. Does not work with Vista
Pros: Looks Fancy with lot of settings and controls
Cons: Complicated. Does not work with Vista. Too many alerts.
Review:
I had to uninstall this as Vista was crashing while going into sleep mode.
No issues with Norton.
No issues with Norton.
User Rating: 
5/10
Not a Major AV player
Pros: Trusted Bran
Cons: Not a major AV Player
Review:
I am not so sure I agree with this high rating, I dont think zone alarm is a major player, for instance its not even reviewed here and at many other AV review sites. www.virussoftwarereviews.com
Cheers
Cheers
User Rating: 
6/10
Not quite ready for Vista!
Pros: Contains most expected features
Cons: Caused many delays on Vista
Review:
There are better values out there.
User Rating: 
8/10
A good deal. Also highly rated with Consumer Reports.
Pros: Easy to download, easy daily updates.
Cons: None so far.
Review:
After using McAfee Anti-Virus for several years I switched to ZoneAlarm. Very easy download and daily updates. Since Cox Communications already provides anti-spyware I didn't feel a need for it, too, and ZoneAlarm does include a firewall. For $7.95 extra you can have an additional years worth of daily updates...a bargain. Very happy with it so far.
User Rating: 
9/10
Great pack providing security for PC and quite for You
Pros: Easy to use, do everything without too much questions, easy configuration
Cons: For now none
Review:
I like this product, think that many would find this as a good deal, at least I would offer this product to my friends. I read some review in which mentioned that there were problems with instalation - I didnt have any of these - everything went smooth. I heard that in some cases instalation fail because of the presence of other AV instaled on PC - maybe this can be a case.
User Rating: 8/10
As always, Zone Labs has produced a top-of-the-line product.
Pros: Minimal System impact once the OS Firewall is disabled.
Cons: Zone Alarm blocks its own Antivirus update module.
Review:
Unlike McAfee (which has totally screwed up it's product by trying to incorporate too much. Believe it or not, it actually makes my system run hotter!), Symantec, and others Zone Labs has, so far, kept it's product simple and easy to use while still delivering a top notch product. I think these companies that try to structure their product to do everything are going to find that many of us, who know even a little about system security, would rather use 3 different products to accomplish our goals than have our systems destroyed by one product that's trying to do everything.
User Rating: 9/10
After using system hog Norton 2004, this is great.
Pros: Faster start up and shut down
Cons: None I see so far
Review:
Great firewall and anti-virus at a terrific price.
User Rating: 8/10
I love this product
Pros: Easy to use, no problems
Cons: No spyware protection built in.
Review:
I used Norton for years and thought that problems with antivirus software and a slower hard drive was just part of the price for using virus protection. Zone Alarm anti-virus and firewall is incredibly easy to use and I have never had any problems using the program. I have never noticed any impact on the speed of my computer. This is an excellent program.
User Rating: 4/10
Customer service & registration is a nightmare.
Pros: Installation is easy
Cons: Getting it registered to download updates is terrible
Review:
After using the free version for a few months, I purchased the firewall and anti-virus version of ZoneAlarm. Installation went fine, and registration appeared to go without a hitch. It was only during the configuration of the program that I found out there was a problem.
In the "Overview" section, where you can see details about the program, I found that I still had an unregistered program. What? It went through - I thought. I tried several times to reregister and all attempts failed. I went to the ZoneAlarm web site and was forced to use their automated "help" system (which fails to both help or work most of the time). I found little to work with, especially since the "help" it offered was geared more for ZoneAlarm Pro (thus I was missing some tabs it told me to work with that are not in the version of the program I owned). Great. Thanks Zonelabs.
That isn't the end of it. There is no provision to contact anyone by any means other than email - and attempts to do so resulted in 404 errors. Nothing straightforward to allow contact as you needed to use their stupid bot.
I reinstalled the program three times to no avail. Each time deleting registry info, etc., to try and alleviate the registration problem which would not go away. No registration means no updates aside from the single anti-virus update Zonelabs so graciously allowed me to obtain.
OK, I gave an hour and a half of my life to this rotten program (I had better words for it then - as well as many generations of the people responsible for it at ZoneLabs) when I thought to go to Broderbund. Gasp! After burrowing down through their web site I actually found the way to fix the problem! Turns out that, for whatever reason, there was a problem with the initial registration (that it failed to inform me of) and that info was kept in a "hidden file" in the all users profile. It was also in a Broderbund folder and not a ZoneAlarm folder so you would not think to look for it there. Who thought of this Secret Squirrel garbage? Once I deleted that folder I was able to reregister - successfully this time.
Oh! But wait! Now my software has a registration pending notation in it. I still do not have a fully functioning program and may have to wait up to five days to get a new key to make it so. If this is a copy protection ploy that penalizes a legitimate user it is appalling! My gosh! What a stupid system.
If I do not get my key soon I will be returning it to the store and demand my money back for this piece of work. The FREE firewall worked fine, but it is not worth it to buy if this is what you need to go through to satisfy their hyper-anal control issues. I recommend that you seriously consider another product. Sure, Norton is a pain, but NOT to this degree.
In the "Overview" section, where you can see details about the program, I found that I still had an unregistered program. What? It went through - I thought. I tried several times to reregister and all attempts failed. I went to the ZoneAlarm web site and was forced to use their automated "help" system (which fails to both help or work most of the time). I found little to work with, especially since the "help" it offered was geared more for ZoneAlarm Pro (thus I was missing some tabs it told me to work with that are not in the version of the program I owned). Great. Thanks Zonelabs.
That isn't the end of it. There is no provision to contact anyone by any means other than email - and attempts to do so resulted in 404 errors. Nothing straightforward to allow contact as you needed to use their stupid bot.
I reinstalled the program three times to no avail. Each time deleting registry info, etc., to try and alleviate the registration problem which would not go away. No registration means no updates aside from the single anti-virus update Zonelabs so graciously allowed me to obtain.
OK, I gave an hour and a half of my life to this rotten program (I had better words for it then - as well as many generations of the people responsible for it at ZoneLabs) when I thought to go to Broderbund. Gasp! After burrowing down through their web site I actually found the way to fix the problem! Turns out that, for whatever reason, there was a problem with the initial registration (that it failed to inform me of) and that info was kept in a "hidden file" in the all users profile. It was also in a Broderbund folder and not a ZoneAlarm folder so you would not think to look for it there. Who thought of this Secret Squirrel garbage? Once I deleted that folder I was able to reregister - successfully this time.
Oh! But wait! Now my software has a registration pending notation in it. I still do not have a fully functioning program and may have to wait up to five days to get a new key to make it so. If this is a copy protection ploy that penalizes a legitimate user it is appalling! My gosh! What a stupid system.
If I do not get my key soon I will be returning it to the store and demand my money back for this piece of work. The FREE firewall worked fine, but it is not worth it to buy if this is what you need to go through to satisfy their hyper-anal control issues. I recommend that you seriously consider another product. Sure, Norton is a pain, but NOT to this degree.
Updated
Follow-up information:
I did get fully registered by Zone Alarm the day following my initial review of their product here. That still does not change the fact that their registration scheme is a huge inconvenience.
Once I got everything fully activated, updated, and running correctly, I found it had become and enormous resource hog on my PC. It slowed EVERYTHING down! My PC, BTW, is a 2.4 ghz P4 with a gig of pc2700 RAM.
So, a quick uninstall later, my version of ZA went back to the store where I was given a refund. I was really disappointed by this as I was hoping for a better product to take me off Symantec. Not this time.
Follow-up information:
I did get fully registered by Zone Alarm the day following my initial review of their product here. That still does not change the fact that their registration scheme is a huge inconvenience.
Once I got everything fully activated, updated, and running correctly, I found it had become and enormous resource hog on my PC. It slowed EVERYTHING down! My PC, BTW, is a 2.4 ghz P4 with a gig of pc2700 RAM.
So, a quick uninstall later, my version of ZA went back to the store where I was given a refund. I was really disappointed by this as I was hoping for a better product to take me off Symantec. Not this time.
User Rating: 8/10
Excellent software
Pros: Fast antivirus scanning and excellent Firewall
Cons: I found no cons.
Review:
I have had problems with Zone Alarm Pro with its privacy sections. But I always liked the way Zone Alarm was easily configured for a firewall. I also liked the way EZ Antivirus from Computer Associates worked. I decided to make the purchase and I am very pleased. The firewall does not have the problems that the Pro version had and the antivirus scans as fast as the regular version of EZ AntiVirus 2005. I have tried several types of AntiVirus's, Norton-McAfee-PcCillin-etc., and found this software the best. The name brands caused major slowdowns on my computer or blue screens. I have had no problems at all with Zone Alarm with AntiVirus. After the years of misery of trying to find a good firewall and a good antivirus, I believe I have finally found it. Thanks Zone Alarm and Computer Associates for matching up.
I have tested both the firewall with several firewall test sites, Gibson Research, etc., and several antivirus test sites. I have found the results being well above normal. Both have received several recognitions for their testing results.
I am very happy with my purchase of ZoneAlarm with Antivirus.
I have tested both the firewall with several firewall test sites, Gibson Research, etc., and several antivirus test sites. I have found the results being well above normal. Both have received several recognitions for their testing results.
I am very happy with my purchase of ZoneAlarm with Antivirus.
