ZoneAlarm Free Antivirus + Firewall Version: 12.0.118.000 released:

[Littlebits]

ZoneAlarm Free v.12.0.118.000:
New: Security Toolbar One-Click uninstall.
Fixed: Added logic so that Toolbar is not installed in Internet Explorer 11.
The Changelogs are posted here.

Download (ZoneAlarm Free Antivirus + Firewall)
Download (ZoneAlarm Free Firewall)

Enjoy!!

 

[Cats-4_Owners-2]

Hi Littlebits. Your post prompted me to read user reviews for ZoneAlarm. The toolbar fix may rectify the most common complaint expressed by users. Since we use Bitdefender Free, Malwarebytes, Zemana Anti-logger, & Windows Firewall for our Windows 8.1 system, I wanted to ask: 1) What are your thoughts on ZoneAlarm? ..and 2) Do you see weaknesses in this, our computer's (freeware) armor?

 

[Littlebits]

Are you talking about the stand-alone firewall or ZoneAlarm Antivirus?
The firewall is probably the best third-party firewall available if you want simple network control without advanced features.
But third-party firewalls are no longer necessary for home users unless you are using Windows XP and before.
Home users rarely get hacked, there really isn't spyware applications like in the previous days, most home users have routers with a hardware firewall and Windows Firewall has improved very much and now offers sufficient network control.
ZoneAlarm AV uses Kaspersky (an excellent AV engine).

With Windows 8.1, the default security features alone are enough for protection. If you utilize UAC and SmartScreen then you shouldn't need other third-party security products. UAC will stop any kind of malicious file as long as you don't allow it. On my Windows 8.1 laptop, I don't even have any third-party security products installed on it and have been using it for awhile and it has never got any infections.

Your best protection is your own actions when it comes to downloading and running files. Windows 8.1 gives you the tools you need to help you, if you decide to use them.

Usually weakness it not in your security setup, it is in your own actions, since no security setup will provide 100% protection.
Just make sure you know how to use the security products effectively, if not then move to products which are more easy to understand.

BitDefender Free has a lot of false alarms when I used it on my system, it permanently deleted some safe files on my system because of its high false alerts. These files were not detected by any other AV engine either only BitDefender. So be careful because some of your important files might come up missing.

Enjoy!!

 

[Petrovic]

ZoneAlarm Extreme Security 12.0.118.000

ZoneAlarm Antivirus & Firewall 12.0.118.000

ZoneAlarm Internet Security 12.0.118.000

 

[Cats-4_Owners-2]

Are you talking about the stand-alone firewall or ZoneAlarm Antivirus?
The firewall is probably the best third-party firewall available if you want simple network control without advanced features.
But third-party firewalls are no longer necessary for home users unless you are using Windows XP and before.
Home users rarely get hacked, there really isn't spyware applications like in the previous days, most home users have routers with a hardware firewall and Windows Firewall has improved very much and now offers sufficient network control.
ZoneAlarm AV uses Kaspersky (an excellent AV engine).

With Windows 8.1, the default security features alone are enough for protection. If you utilize UAC and SmartScreen then you shouldn't need other third-party security products. UAC will stop any kind of malicious file as long as you don't allow it. On my Windows 8.1 laptop, I don't even have any third-party security products installed on it and have been using it for awhile and it has never got any infections.

Your best protection is your own actions when it comes to downloading and running files. Windows 8.1 gives you the tools you need to help you, if you decide to use them.

Usually weakness it not in your security setup, it is in your own actions, since no security setup will provide 100% protection.
Just make sure you know how to use the security products effectively, if not then move to products which are more easy to understand.

BitDefender Free has a lot of false alarms when I used it on my system, it permanently deleted some safe files on my system because of its high false alerts. These files were not detected by any other AV engine either only BitDefender. So be careful because some of your important files might come up missing.

Enjoy!!

 

[Cats-4_Owners-2]

It was reassuring to hear Windows 8.1 is truly secure. Ironically, it was our newest Acer M5 w/Windows 8.1 that unexpectedly announced "a kernel error has occurred on disk" after which it shut down. From this point it neither stayed on, nor responded to most of my commands, touch or click. Most of today I've gently attempted to move it toward either a restore point or to refresh. While writing from our old yet still trustworthy XP, the newer lap top has completed it's re-birth. It is now Windows 8, no longer has Malwarebytes, Bitdefender (1 less worry!), & instead has (yet to be dealt with) McAffee Security Suite trial version. Littlebits, if you were me, would you uninstall McAffee, & do you feel I should go forth without any AV on Windows 8?
Lastly, do you think it would benefit me to re-install Zemana Anti-logger? Now, I'm off to re-do windows updates & reclaim Windows 8.1!

 

[Amiga500]

ive been considering going av free but the action center warnings are very annoying.

 

[Ink]

If you open the Action Center, those messages can be Turned Off. You just have to remember you have no AV.

 

[Gnosis]

BitDefender Free has a lot of false alarms when I used it on my system, it permanently deleted some safe files on my system because of its high false alerts.

HEARD THAT
It is a terrible security program for novices that do not usually think to set it to quarantine ALL threats found.

 

[Gnosis]

If I were you I would find a McAfee uninstaller link for said McAfee trial version. Then I would simply put Avast Free Edition on there. Just thinkin' out loud.

If you don't want an AV you could use Sandboxie to replace an
AV, which is a good trade-off in my opinion. Then utilize the Dr. Web Link Checker browser add-on to complement it if you are not sure about a download that you want to release from the sandbox and onto your computer. You can also visit Wilder's Security, where there is a discussion of how to set up HitMan Pro to scan everything you download. That is a great complement to Sandboxie as well.

 

[Exterminator]

Like Littlebits said ZoneAlarm is by far one of the best firewalls I have ever used.Educating yourself about security and knowing what you are doing and where you are going online is one of the most important things you can do for yourself.Downloading only trusted,well established software is another.With a plethora of free giveaways and extended trial licenses makes it tempting to use products that you might not even have considered before or heard of.Some can hurt you rather than help you if you aren't sure what you are doing,especially those that delete files and registry entries.If it sounds too good to be true it probably is.
However this can hold true for well established security software if you are not fully educated on it's use and how to know what is really a threat and what is a FP.Sure pop ups and warnings are annoying whether it's UAC or an AV but it is far better than the alternative.
I guess thats why we are all here.If you aren't sure ask someone here,no question is a dumb question and I am sure you will get the answer you are looking for.
If you are going to try an AV,firewall or Suite,educate yourself on it before you try it.I will say that if you are unsure of what settings are right based on your system and expertise,Umbra Polaris is by far one of the most knowledgeable members on Security software.If you don't know ask Umbra,it will be well worth your time.

 

[Cats-4_Owners-2]

Thank you, Gnosis. I did find & use the McAffee uninstaller, so now I am now entirely AV free! Sandboxie sounds very effective. Was one of your postings about a very 007 seeming super secure laptop which lists a very high level of security including Sandboxie ..or was that Mr. Umbra Polaris? Also, what's your opinion of using a portable version browser?

 

[Littlebits]

It was reassuring to hear Windows 8.1 is truly secure. Ironically, it was our newest Acer M5 w/Windows 8.1 that unexpectedly announced "a kernel error has occurred on disk" after which it shut down. From this point it neither stayed on, nor responded to most of my commands, touch or click. Most of today I've gently attempted to move it toward either a restore point or to refresh. While writing from our old yet still trustworthy XP, the newer lap top has completed it's re-birth. It is now Windows 8, no longer has Malwarebytes, Bitdefender (1 less worry!), & instead has (yet to be dealt with) McAffee Security Suite trial version. Littlebits, if you were me, would you uninstall McAffee, & do you feel I should go forth without any AV on Windows 8?
Lastly, do you think it would benefit me to re-install Zemana Anti-logger? Now, I'm off to re-do windows updates & reclaim Windows 8.1!

I also have a Acer laptop that came with McAfee Internet Security pre-installed. The first thing I did was run the uninstaller for McAfee and then downloaded the McAfee removal tool and ran it. After rebooting, for some reason Windows Firewall and Windows Defender was disabled, because I had to enable both. Windows Defender on Windows 8 is a full AV (updated Microsoft Security Essentials), you really don't need to add another third-party AV, but Avast Free and Avira Free are some good choices if you don't want to use Windows Defender.

For anti-logging products, they are only good for blocking malware that tries to log your keystrokes. They don't remove the logging malware infection. Your main concern would be to remove the infection instead of blocking its logging ability. So if your system is already infected with a logging malware, anti-logging products can block their logging ability and provide some benefit but if you don't have an infected system, anti-logging products will just eat up your system resources and sometimes flag legitimate processes. You will have to decide for yourself if you need to use it or not. I never use anti-logging products because I never get infections.

Enjoy!!

 

[Cats-4_Owners-2]

Like Littlebits said ZoneAlarm is by far one of the best firewalls I have ever used.Educating yourself about security and knowing what you are doing and where you are going online is one of the most important things you can do for yourself.Downloading only trusted,well established software is another.With a plethora of free giveaways and extended trial licenses makes it tempting to use products that you might not even have considered before or heard of.Some can hurt you rather than help you if you aren't sure what you are doing,especially those that delete files and registry entries.If it sounds too good to be true it probably is.
However this can hold true for well established security software if you are not fully educated on it's use and how to know what is really a threat and what is a FP.Sure pop ups and warnings are annoying whether it's UAC or an AV but it is far better than the alternative.
I guess thats why we are all here.If you aren't sure ask someone here,no question is a dumb question and I am sure you will get the answer you are looking for.
If you are going to try an AV,firewall or Suite,educate yourself on it before you try it.I will say that if you are unsure of what settings are right based on your system and expertise, Umbra Polaris is by far one of the most knowledgeable members on Security software.If you don't know ask Umbra,it will be well worth your time.

Thank you, exterminator. I have read some of Umbra Polaris' posts, and yours as well. You're both encouraging & helpful too! I listened to what was said on threads comparing Outpost, Online Armor, & PrivateFirewall. I chose PrivateFirewall for our older XP. I don't know what an FP is, but shall follow your advise to educate myself. Oh, I just realized it's 'False Positive' isn't it?!

 

[Gnosis]

..or was that Mr. Umbra Polaris? Also, what's your opinion of using a portable version browser?

Must have been Umbra. He has an abundance of security software experience.
Never used a portable browser.
Personally I have my Sandboxie icon to where it opens MoFox. I have Comodo's virtual browser if I need to open a second sandboxed browser. Comodo is light and fast.

 

[Gnosis]

Here is my config:

PC Environment: Private
Security Awareness: Advanced
Exposure to Malware: Low
Anti-Malware Testing: No
Operating System: Windows XP 2002 Service Pack 3 32bit
Architecture: 32-bit
Real-time Protection: Comodo Internet Security Premium 6 (Auto-sandbox, Geek Buddy, and Killswitch not utilized); Threatfire BB Level 5 (radically customized); Sandboxie Free Edition (drop administrator rights; delete contents of sandbox upon closing; quick recovery)
On-Demand Tools: MBAM, HitMan Pro
Web Browsers: Mozilla Firefox
Virtual Comodo Dragon

Browser Addons: Adblock, Better Privacy, Ghostery, Google Translator for Firefox, Self-Destructing Cookies, Dr. Web Link Checker, Flash Video Downloader
OTHER TOOLS: CCleaner, Wireless Network Watcher, HiJack This, Autoruns, Treesize, Process Hacker II, PCHunter, MBAR, Avast anti-rootkit (mbr fix)

Nice job choosing PrivateFirewall. A lot of advanced users prefer it.
To be honest, all you need is UAC, Windows 7/8 firewall, and Sandboxie Free or Avast Free.
We are major nerds here, so we are always tweaking and experimenting. I have seen some of the configs at Wilder's Security; wow, no way I would use anything close to anything I saw. They were solid security set-ups, but a lot of useless tools were utilized and they were paying for things that they did not need to pay for, and the paid products they used like Bitdefender and Kasperksy had sluggish written all over them. Besides that, my FREE config is better than any I saw there by far. This is the site to come for config assistance. My security is a little off-the-hook and controversial, but most here are really good and not so unorthodox.

 

[Cats-4_Owners-2]

See, this duplicate is a result of the windows 8 (I'm still trying to download 8.1) still freezing...

 

[Gnosis]

Sandboxie is great for all types, esp. kids that love playing spam and malware infested online games. If you get the paid version, you can set it to force start everything you run on your PC. So if you plug in an infected USB, Sandboxie has you covered. You can only sandbox one application at a time with the free version, which usually happens to be a browser.

 

[Cats-4_Owners-2]

I also have a Acer laptop that came with McAfee Internet Security pre-installed. The first thing I did was run the uninstaller for McAfee and then downloaded the McAfee removal tool and ran it. After rebooting, for some reason Windows Firewall and Windows Defender was disabled, because I had to enable both. Windows Defender on Windows 8 is a full AV (updated Microsoft Security Essentials), you really don't need to add another third-party AV, but Avast Free and Avira Free are some good choices if you don't want to use Windows Defender.

For anti-logging products, they are only good for blocking malware that tries to log your keystrokes. They don't remove the logging malware infection. Your main concern would be to remove the infection instead of blocking its logging ability. So if your system is already infected with a logging malware, anti-logging products can block their logging ability and provide some benefit but if you don't have an infected system, anti-logging products will just eat up your system resources and sometimes flag legitimate processes. You will have to decide for yourself if you need to use it or not. I never use anti-logging products because I never get infections.

Enjoy!!

Littlebits, you've served up such unexpected 'food' for thought ..& more pondering! I wasn't aware Defender was (essentially) Security Essentials! We've used the latter for our Vaio Laptop with Windows 7. Our Windows XP pc has Avira free installed, & thanks to my reading more & more helpful threads here, I mustered the confidence to finally get around to uninstalling remnants of AVG from years back that had constantly taken away system resources unnoticed. Would Defender likely be able to block & remove logging malware then? Finally, I must ask, is your consistent immunity to infections perhaps the result of 2 parts wisdom and possibly 1 part of something else additional like (maybe) Sandboxie, or do you use some kind of "Jedi" virus "Mind Trick"?
Ultimately, I thank you once more & again!

 

[Exterminator]

Sandboxie is great for all types, esp. kids that love playing spam and malware infested online games. If you get the paid version, you can set it to force start everything you run on your PC. So if you plug in an infected USB, Sandboxie has you covered. You can only sandbox one application at a time with the free version, which usually happens to be a browser.

Sandboxie is a must have in my opinion.I use the free version,since many bad things happen online I like browsing in the Sandbox.The benefits of the free version are well worth the money.