**NEW** ZoneAlarm 2015 ZoneAlarm has released to all users of Paid and Free products 13.0.208.000 The following is new: Note: not all listed below applies to all product’s. To see what’s been updated in the ZoneAlarm product you use go to our release history pages. Release History Click Here New: Advanced Real-Time Antivirus (Real-Time Cloud Protection) New: Threat Emulation New: Find My Laptop New: Anti-Keylogger New: Privacy Toolbar with Internet Explorer 11 support Updated: Antivirus engine Updated: UI minor adjustments Improved: Enhanced Browser Protection (Web Monitor) Improved: PC Tune-Up
Nothing new in the free version. Updates are still once in 24 hours. Cloud protection not available in the free version. Engine is the same Kaspersky.
Most visible improvement is indeed on retail versions and 0/day protection. The in-house threat emulation engine is doing a remarkable job (at least for what I have tested it). The output (PDF file) when a threat is been detected is very informative. IMO nice feature...
... and to complement the above the link to the AV-test.org commissioned test. -http://www.av-test.com/tests/projects/AV-TEST_Checkpoint_ZoneAlarm_Jan_2014.pdf-
I would be probably still using either ZA free or Pro, if it wasn´t for the unhandy GUI (fax knows all about it ) and the mediocre HIPS.
Hmm...how can it be heavy but not affect the system performance? I assume you mean that the resource usage is quite high but it feels light on the system. And does not slow it down.
Probably he refers to RAM usage in the AV portion of ZA as ZA give priority to RAM rather than HD swap. This makes the processing faster and consequently the "lighter" effect or no impact on the system
hmm i still find it very heavy. especially web browsing wise. while it is MUCH better than ever before its still heavy to me.
ZoneAlarm update release 13.1.211.000 The following is new: Note: not all listed below applies to all product’s. To see what’s been updated in the ZoneAlarm product you use go to our release history pages. Release History Click Here Updated: Antivirus Engine improved compatibility with Windows 8.1 Update 1 Improved: ZoneAlarm client protection from Heartbleed vulnerability Improved: Stability and performance enhancements
I can get ZoneAlarm as a throw-in with another product I have... it's just hard to determine if it's any good. They purchased a stand alone test and did well: http://www.av-test.com/tests/projects/AV-TEST_Checkpoint_ZoneAlarm_Jan_2014.pdf Apparently the firewall is pretty good: http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2455972,00.asp
I am still using 11.0.768. I updated to 780 through GUI when it was available but it did not work good from what i remember so i uninstalled and went back to 768. Someone told me..Fax i think it was..it was best to uninstall and then update to new version rather than update over the top of ZA. Don't know if i should to a clean install of 13.1.211 to get the better heartbleed protection..... ZoneAlarm® Free Firewall version 13.1.211.000 Improved: ZoneAlarm client protection from Heartbleed vulnerability Improved: Stability and performance enhancements ZoneAlarm® Free Firewall version 13.0.208.000 Updated: UI minor adjustments ZoneAlarm® Free Firewall version 12.0.118.000 New: Security Toolbar One-Click uninstall. Fixed: Added logic so that Toolbar is not installed in Internet Explorer 11. ZoneAlarm® Free Firewall version 12.0.104.000 New: Windows 8.1 support. Updated: Antivirus engine. Improved: AV detection. ZoneAlarm® Free Firewall version 11.0.780.000 Improved: Antivirus detection. ZoneAlarm® Free Firewall version 11.0.768.000 New: Updated AV Engine. New: Web scanner - blocks web threats before they reach your browser or hard drive. New: Forcefield removed, replaced with new and improved Site Check technology and security toolbar. New: Latest version of Firefox is supported. Improved: Stability and performance enhancements.
I would not recommend to keep version 11. This is not because of the heartbleed protection but for the improvement of the antivirus part. As detection in version 11 is currently suboptimal as compared to version 13 (Kaspersky bugs fixed with later releases + updates to the AV engine). And yes, clean install is the best approach, ideally followed by running their removal tool, clean.exe (to be downloaded fresh as it keeps been updated). Note that KAV is very picky on other security products installed, if you plan to run ZAfree+AV with other security tools always fully shutdown them before proceeding with ZA installation/removal and only turn them ON once everything is confirmed to working fine. Adding your security tools to the ZA exclusion list (do the same on the third party tools) is also warmly recommended to avoid excessive RAM/CPU usage and conflicts. For the rest, note that free version may have a weak 0day protection as it does not include cloud 0day protection present in retail versions. IMO, the best value for protection is provided by ZA Extreme with the combination of the full implementation of the KAV engine + the in-house cloud heuristic scanner (Threat Emulation). I hope this helps!
I found a link for the ZA removal tool on bleepingcomputer.com. Is this the best place to get the latest version of the clean.exe
no, unless it links directly to ZA servers. The link should be: http://download.zonealarm.com/bin/free/support/download/clean.exe As already mentioned this is updated frequently, always best to download it fresh. Also: NEVER use the ZA removal tool BEFORE having uninstalled ZA from standard win7 control panel "uninstall a program". Also always download the latest ZA installers from ZA servers, all installers are here: Looking for the latest version? Hope this help!
do we know if za has the same (excellent) detection rate as kav, if we ignore the definition update frequency?
So the "threat emulation" feature is present only in the Extreme Security package? Please confirm it, also I noticed that this is the most expensive product in their website ...do you by any chance know better prices for ZA?