How effective is ZoneAlarm Free Antivirus with Firewall 2013?

Here's another independent test made on ZoneAlarm Free Antivirus with Firewall 2013: http://www.faravirusi.com/2013/01/2...aluare-si-test-in-dinamica-by-faravirusi-com/

It includes static detection, dynamic detection and anti-phishing test results.

 

It feels so light that I'm almost afraid that it will float away.

I don't understand why you say it is heavy

It's very fast.

You must have a software conflict.

 

I used this suite for about 6 months and never had any slow downs or issues with it running on win7 32/64 machines. The memory usage is a bit high around 250meg on my setup but it runs light on the cpu and disk. The AV updates once a day but that is not a concern considering the other vectors it covers within the suite. The ads show up randomly at bootup, are are a one click away type deal. It really is a great value for a free suite. I'm currently hooked on the BD free and win7 firewall setup otherwise I would go back to this.

Ice

 

I haven't seen any ads. The first time I see an ad, I'm uninstalling it.

It will be in the trashcan with Avira!

 

If I remember correctly, they started after about a week or so of using the suite. Then they appeared randomly after that. Maybe once a week etc..... It was really no issue just say no thanks and it's gone.

Ice

 

I installed it a week ago or so, and saw an ad right away when I rebooted. I'm not a fan of ads, so I uninstalled it, but lately I've been thinking of giving it another try....

 

The free version doesn't have ads or nag screens but it will offer occasional update offers to the paid version. Which one is free to decline.

 

Ok, that must be what I saw.... thanks.

 

Yes, sorry not an ad but a update offer to the paid pro version. Again no real hassle, one click and gone.

Ice

 

Thanks for the info !

 

Is it possible to set an update time? One update in the evening would be ok, but one update about noon is useless because my notebook is offline.

 

No.

 

The new avast would make an ideal companion for the zonealarm firewall as apparently an issue has been fixed between the 2.

 

You can perform a manual update whenever you want. We run ZA Free av on 3 pc's at home, and don't really find it much of an issue, although some people do. Also, I've found that if you don't use a pc for a day, it will usually auto-update soon after start-up, regardless of the time.

 

That's interesting, maybe I should try it again.

 

I'm currently using just the free ZA Firewall and considering trying the AV. If you add the AV can it later be removed leaving the firewall in place or is it necessary to uninstall the whole thing?

 

Unfortunately not, they are two separate products. You need first to remove ZAfree and install ZAfree+AV and vice versa.

Btw, you can test the new beta of ZA extreme. The beta license is valid for 60 days.
www.zonealarm.com/beta , Haven't' tried myself but it should be pretty stable

 

Sorry I wasn't clear. I have ZAfree + AV without the AV module installed. I have the option to add in the AV, and what I'm wondering is if I don't want to keep it can I remove it without uninstalling the firewall too? I'm guessing I probably have to uninstall everything and then reinstall the firewall, but I thought I'd ask

Thanks, I might give this a try in my VM.

 

Uuuhm I did not know that you can install ZAfree+AV without the AV. Or you mean you installed ZAfree and it give the option to install the AV part?
As far as I am aware, after install, you can turn the AV off but not remove it. Some kernel drivers (Kaspersky) will be still loading at boot.
But may be something has changed recently?

Watch out for the VM, historically ZA never worked on VM. So, you may get weird results or unexpected issues.

 

Sorry if I'm getting the product name wrong. Here's a screen of the product window with the option to install the AV

 

Ok, yes... That is ZAfree. The "Install" most likely will bring you to installing ZAfree+AV package and then you will not be able to simply remove the AV component at a later stage. You will need to uninstall and install back the ZAfree only.

 

Yeah, that was my guess too. I may try it though since uninstall/reinstalling really isn't a big deal. Thanks!

 

You're welcome!

 

The protection may be superior but I tried it again and it slows down my computer too much. Maybe I should get 32 GB RAM instead of 4 GB. Please share your experiences with Zonealarm.

 

I have never tried zonealarm before.I have heard the full suite can be quite heavy although im not sure about the firewall on its own.
I was considering trying it seeing as it uses the kaspersky engine but i dont want to install something which slows down computer too much.