AT&T Tech Support 360
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CNET editors' rating:
3.5 stars
Very good
Detailed editors' rating - Average user rating: 2.0 stars out of 8 reviews
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Product summary
The good: ZoneAlarm Anti-Spyware 6 finds and deletes most spyware, offers an easy and intuitive interface, and performs very fast system scans.
The bad: Expensive; doesn't find as much spyware as some popular free programs; requires a lot of user intervention; offers poor support options.
The bottom line: ZoneAlarm Anti-Spyware 6 catches most spyware and provides a deep level of protection but requires more user intervention than its competitors.
Specifications: License type: Complete package; Min processor type: 450 MHz Intel Pentium III; Min processor type: 450 MHz Intel Pentium III See full specs
CNET editors' review
- Reviewed on: 02/28/2006
- Released on: 10/01/2005
ZoneAlarm Anti-Spyware 6 is the latest stand-alone application from venerable Zone Labs, long respected for its excellent free firewall software. Here, ZoneAlarm Anti-Spyware 6 uses this firewall technology to specifically address spyware, providing a deep level of protection; unfortunately, it also requires a significant amount of user intervention until it learns your system. In testing done by CNET Download.com, ZoneAlarm did very well, finishing near the top of the list for removing known spyware, and it finished second only to Lavasoft Ad-aware for overall performance. ZoneAlarm Anti-Spyware 6 costs $29.95 for one year of updates and is also included in ZoneAlarm Pro and in the ZoneAlarm Security Suite.
Installation and setup are pretty straightforward, though after accepting the license terms and clicking Install, you'll still be faced with some annoying optional survey questions that you must either answer or bypass before you can proceed. When you start the program for the first time, a configuration wizard walks you through the initial security settings and provides a quick tutorial. The interface is intuitive, so new users will find it very easy to use, and the interface will be familiar to past ZoneAlarm users.
Not surprisingly, ZoneAlarm Anti-Spyware 6 uses a firewall approach to dealing with spyware and adware, and it actually includes three layers of firewall protection to cover the network perimeter, each program you've installed, and your computer's operating system--including the registry and the file system--from attack by spyware. This approach catches and stops much of the malware out there.
ZoneAlarm Anti-Spyware's default protections are pretty aggressive. Immediately after installation, it was necessary to click through two warning dialog boxes just to get a browser window open to view the contents of a link from ZoneAlarm's own interface. The documentation warns that there's a required training period for the software as it learns what programs you use to access the Internet, and this requires responding to a lot of warning dialog boxes--some more easy to understand than others. In our informal tests, ZoneAlarm Anti-Spyware 6 had to be trained to allow things such as browser and e-mail access to the Internet, iTunes wireless streaming to a home stereo, and even the operation of screenshot-capturing software.
Continue reading- See more CNET content tagged:
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User reviews
- Average user rating: 2.0 stars out of 8 reviews
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