ZoneAlarm Free is, as shown in the title, the free version of the already world famous ZoneAlarm Pro. Of course, Zone Alarm Free has fewer features than the commercial version developed by ZoneLabs, but nevertheless it is a worthy firewall which provides a high degree of security against unauthorized intrusions.
ZoneAlarm is quite easy to use: if you are using it as a beginner, ZoneAlarm will automatically configure the protection settings for your machine. As for advanced users, they have full control over program access rights, they can add or remove programs from the monitoring list. The structure of this firewall is extremely well designed and covers different every level of your PC’s security: inbound protection, outbound protection and email protection
The inbound and outbound protection are insured by the Program Control center which identifies all the programs which require access to trusted resources (Windows applications, other programs) or to the LAN or Internet. The users can manually configure program access as the firewall asks for permissions every time a program or a component is trying to access the trusted zone or the Internet. The level of security for the Internet zone and the Trusted zone can also be manually set. Users can choose between three levels of security: off, medium and high. The e-mail security is limited only for VBScript.
Pluses: ZoneAlarm warns you in case you try to submit your eBay password to a fake eBay site; this is possible through the Cooperative Security Alliance – on organism which features security technology suppliers, service providers, OEMs, and systems integrators.
Drawbacks / flaws: The “Anti-virus monitoring†feature checks whether antivirus programs are installed on your machine and shows their status; though, this feature is not very accurate. In my case, I had Panda Titanium 2006 antivirus installed, running and updated, but the firewall did not identify it.
In conclusion: A very good free Internet security solution which protects you from hacking attempts or other unauthorized intrusion attempts.
version reviewed: 6.5.737.000
Publisher:
Zonelabs
License:
Freeware
Size:
5.0 MB
OS:
Windows 98/Me/NT/2000/XP
We did not scan ZoneAlarm Free 6.5.737.000 download for viruses, adware, spyware or any other kind of malware.
For your safety, please have a decent antivirus installed, with updated definitions that will protect you from virus threats.
Our Security tip:
Use Firefox instead of Internet Explorer to prevent Spyware installation!
