ZoneAlarm 2010 line released

For those interested parties! You know the URL.

 

Zonealarm 2010 gone gold!

Her is the link:

http://www.zonealarm.com/security/en-us/cdn/zaxs/20090819.htm

Download link here:

http://download.cnet.com/ZoneAlarm-...0908507.html?part=dl-69168&subj=dl&tag=button

I am installing right now to see if it is any different from last years suite.

 

Hi!
proper links directly from ZA servers (never trust outside servers)

ZA Extreme
ZA Suite
ZA Antivirus
ZA Pro

and...

ZA free has not been released yet. May be will be released when its ready.

Cheers,
Fax

 

is this a stable release?

 

It scans much much faster than 2009 edition. I have 2 harddisks with 117 GB in use. The old version used 1 hour and 22 min to scan this. The 2010 edition scanned everything in 33 min 55 sec. Thats good.

I have tried Avira 9 and the scan time was 35 min. So zonelabs has been speeding up their scantime.

The interface is similar to the 2009 edition. Now antivirus/spywarescan is one scan. Last year it was 2 seperate scans. And thats good.

It feels lighter than last years edition. My boot time is shorter than the 2009 version. I have not clocked it, but it feels lighter!

 

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As noted the hard drive encryption feature is optional and costs an additional $30.

 

Is ZoneAlarm 2010 still using the Kaspersky engine?

 

Yes it is.

 

Most people who are aware of my past posts and opinions about firewalls and security software know that I don't pull any punches and I tell it like it is. I just installed the latest ZAES v9.x earlier today (on a system using WinXP Pro SP3) and I have been testing it out throughout the day and so far I would have to admit that ZAES v9.x is working fantastic!

My initial interest was in the integrated Force Field browser security features of ZAES. It works with IE and FF browsers and seems to provide an ultimate layer of browser security and protection such as virtualization similar to other browser security programs that many on this site have raved about for the past few years. What is really nice about ZAES is how well this technology is integrated with the rest of the security suite.

I was initially worried about the resource usage because of all these new features (AMD 2600+ CPU with 1GB DDR RAM) but I find that my system performance seems to actually be much better with the latest ZAES v9.x than it was with ZASS v8.x. This is important because I am also running SAS Pro with real time protection enabled and I have yet to run into any conflicts or any noticeable degradation in system performance (on boot-up, shutdown, while web browsing, etc.). I also noticed a significant decrease in the number of alerts that ZAES produces compared to earlier versions of ZASS (8.x and before).

I am still testing it out but so far today I would have to say that this is one of the smoothest, coolest, easy to use, resource friendly, feature filled security suites I have ever tried. ZAES v9 combined with a full active subscription version of SAS, MBAM or another favorite ASW program could be the ultimate setup for a subscription based set of security software. I will be curious to see the future independent based AV, ASW, an anti-malware performance tests results for this new ZAES v9 suite. There are also a few additional features I would like to see implemented in the force field browser security but for now my system is running as smooth as glass.

 

ZoneAlarm Pro running nice and lean with NOD32 version 4.0

Regards,
NNard

 

Hi NNard,

Actually you brought up an interesting dilemma I now have. The Security and Privacy settings section that existed in previous versions of ZASS no longer exists in ZASS v9. My reason for wanting to try ZAES is to evaluate the Force Field browser features and whether those along with using enhanced browser security settings that already exist in IE and FF would provide a similar or better level of security that when using ZASS with all the features of the previous Security and Privacy settings section enabled. I have determined that with ZAES v9 a similar or actually...a much better level of security can be achieved (with Force Field virtualization enabled). It seems to not only be better than my previous setup using ZASS with the Security and Privacy settings maxed out but it runs MUCH smoother with far fewer settings hassles and conflicts to deal with.

My next test will be with ZAP v9 when it is used along with NOD32 v4.x . It makes sense that there would no longer be comatibility issues because the problems I had with ZAP v8.x and earlier were related to the ZAP Security and Privacy settings...which I am guessing no longer exist in ZAP v9. I will have to download ZAP v9 and run it through the gauntlet. Then I will have to determine whether I like NODv4 with ZAP (and SAS Pro) or....ZAES v9.x. with all of its extra cool Force Field browser security features (and SAS Pro).

 

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I'm glad to hear that your experience jives with Checkpoint's claims RE low impact and speed. Can you say more about how ForceField is integrated into the suite? I'm also quite interested in the encryption add-on for my laptop, though it seems a little expensive. I'm hoping the suite will go on sale at Frys soon to make it more attractive.

By the way, I wonder if you can upgrade to this new version if you have an active subscription to Extreme Security 2009?
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SoCalReviews:

Privacy settings have been removed as well as the anti-spyware feature. There is a checkbox available upon installation for browser security (forcefield). I recommend you give it a spin - it is quite lean and running great.

Regards,
NNard

 

Checkpoint has made many claims about new ZA products in the past and they have not always panned out the way they stated. I really have not read much of the usual sales propaganda about the new v9 releases from reviews or from the Checkpoint web site. However, after my experience today using this new ZAES v9....I have to say that their claims of improved reliability and efficiency are the real deal...at least they have been so far today for me and on my fairly out dated computer system running WinXP Pro SP3.

You can ask one of their reps but I believe your ZAES 2009 subscription should be good for use with the new ZAES 2010 (v9). I have not tried the laptop encryption security feature. Although I have a laptop I don't have any plans to use that feature on it...at least not yet. It does look like a really intriguing feature if you are concerned about your mobile laptop or desktop private data security. You might want to ask others in this forum or check out some other web site reviews about the feature before you enable it...i.e....how well it works...its resource usage when implemented...etc.

If you are upgrading from another product with another license make sure you follow their recommended uninstallation procedures. Its quite easy but you do have to pay attention to the details. If you are upgrading from a previous version of ZAES then follow any recommended instructions from their web site about that....but you should be able to use your same license for the new ZAES v9 if you have an active subscription for ZAES v8 (or version 2009). If you have any questions just call or chat from their web site with their customer service reps. The sales reps were very helpful in explaining licensing and upgrade questions when I chatted with them today through their web site based chat window.

 

The browser security is a slim version of forcefield.

 

Thanks for the info NNard...I will give it a try. The ZASS v9 had most but not all of the forcefield features. It lacked the Force Field virtualization component which IMO is a very nice option to have. I am guessing that the virtualization component is missing also in the new ZAP v9.

I wonder if the existing Force Field components along with some tweaking of the browser security settings still can't provide as good a security setup as the Privacy Settings options provided in previous versions of ZAP. If ZAP v9 is combined with NODv4 it probably provides a somewhat different set of enhanced AV and browser security features that you don't have with ZAES v9. It would however give you the option of having the virtualization feature which is what I really want to have.

Hey...Maybe I will try NODv4 along with ZAES v9 with the AV disabled....I have run ZASS v8.x (AV disabled) that way with NODv2.7 and it worked ok....but....Ya...I know you aren't supposed to have two AVs installed and ZASS and ZAES give pop up warnings about it (I don't recommend this for most since if things go wrong it could cause big problems or unrecoverable errors)...but if that setup with ZAES v9 (AV disabled) and NODv4 does work without conflicts it might offer the best of all options and features! This is getting interesting...

 

Thanks...got it...That was my assumption.

 

SoCalReviews:

Good luck on whichever combination you decide to go with - please post back on your results - version 9 is running great

Regards,
NNard

 

Thanks NNard...I will report back any results...good talking with you...take it easy.

 

Take care and good talking with you also.

 

Do any of ou have experience with the Pro version? Seems like this thread is about ZA extreme with that forcefield thing.
Does the current licence for Pro work with this new release?
Any observations about it vs NODv3?
Any issue with the NOD proxy port 30606?
Has the interface for expert rules changed yet?
The Great Guru Oldsod over on the ZA forum has posted numerous suggestions when Checkpoint asked for feedback. Are any of those changes reflected in this new version?
If this post should not be here, in this thread, forum moderator is welcome to delete

 

As confirmed by SoCalReviews yes, you can update to the latest ZAX with a valid ZAX license.

Running ZAX on VISTA 32bit and so far so good, quite solid. Considerable less resouces used as compared to previous version 8. Once they will ironed out any bug popping up (normal for new releases) this new line will be a real winner.

...and for the leaks stressed users this version should perform much better and move up on the matousec list even if, a super old version, is still marked as 'good' in there.

Cheers,
Fax

 

Just to clarify since I don't know if you understood our previous posts but ZAP is an abbreviation we used for ZoneAlarm Pro so yes we have been discussing it in this thread. Zone Alarm or ZA Version 9 products or ZA v9 is the same as what many now call the new 2010 Zone Alarm products.

If the new NODv4 works with the new ZAP v9 as it was stated by NNard in a previous post then I would make the assumption that NODv3 also should work with the new ZAP v9. Many of the proxy based problems that NODv3 and NODv4 had with previous versions of ZAP apparently are no longer a problem with the latest ZAP v9 or ZAP 2010 or whatever you want to call it.

I wouldn't focus too much about our conversation about the new Force Field component that is in ZAP, ZASS (Zone Alarm Security Suite) and ZAES (ZoneAlarm Extreme Security). Force Field is simply a newer component in the latest ZA products that adds an additional layer of security for your web browser.

I hope this information was able to help answer your questions about the new ZAP v9 (2010). I think it was appropriate to ask your questions here and there are many informed ZA users that can help answer your questions. You might also want to take a look at the Checkpoint web site and the official ZA user forum for even more information and support relating to the newest ZA products.

 

Hi Fax... Do you have any experience with the laptop security feature or hard drive encryption security feature...or whatever it is called? That question was also asked in the post by Victek123 that I replied to. I didn't really have an answer to that question. I am sure I will learn about that newer feature at some time but I know nothing about it right now...thanks.

 

If any of you guys would like to break off a separate thread for ZAP input, I've put one together over here. Please participate if you would!