App Review ZoneAlarm NextGen Extreme Security 2024

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Shadowra

Sorrento

Level 11
Verified
Top Poster
Well-known
Dec 7, 2021
527
I'm fully aware of that & most VPN's do also, but having paid for a rather fast speed I really don't want it slowed down by using anything but Wireguard or similar - I appreciate some don't mind being slowed down but I do Anyway, I shan't post on this thread again as I feel I made my point :)
:)
 
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Faxx

Level 1
Sep 7, 2017
16
I tried it with IVPN, Bullet on Wireguard + Mullvad as well as Hideaway which uses none of those protocols, all showed DNS leaks - As mentioned they appear to work until you check for DNS Leaks? I have asked support for a refund explaining my issues but the reply asks what problems am I having - My hopes are not very high? As just bought a 5 year licence for a VPN which is more expensive than Zone - I didn't realise there even was a Wireguard VPN issue until I did a DNS check, then did a bit of research. Still that's life ?

IP-X
DNS Leak
Here with NordVPN no issues with VPN leaks. Sometimes it help a fresh install of the VPN software on top of ZA, if you have not already tried.
 

Faxx

Level 1
Sep 7, 2017
16
Can anyone verify.

I know some Security Vendors allow combining Licenses

EX: 1st License is 1 Year.

2nd and 3rd License are also one year.

Combined they would become a 3 year license
Yes, you can turn OFF the automatic renewal under your ZA account ('Myproducts' section).
On combining, I don't think you can with ZA, via the account interface. Probably manually by contacting an agent (?), not sure.
 

tofargone

Level 4
Jun 24, 2024
174
ZoneAlarm is an Israeli antivirus developed by CheckPoint.
Formerly based on the Kaspersky engine (discontinued following US sanctions), CheckPoint turned to the British company Sophos.
It also combines all the features seen in Harmony (Machine Learning, Cloud, File Reputation etc etc).
Let's see what it's worth together!



User interface :
ZoneAlarm's interface is clear, but rather messy for my taste. It's suitable for novices because... there's no configuration!
Just install and forget about it, and ZoneAlarm does the rest!
Admittedly, this user-friendly approach is well-suited to novices, as it takes them by the hand, which may annoy geeks.

In terms of RAM consumption, ZoneAlarm can be a bit of a power hog, and I did experience a few slowdowns...

Web protection: 9/10
Despite an undetected file (which mysteriously disappeared from memory), ZoneAlarm blocked all malicious downloads.
Surprisingly, ZoneAlarm did not block the links, but emulated the downloaded files using its extension!
This is a good idea, as it can scrutinize every bit of the file and determine whether it is malicious before it arrives on the computer, but this operation monopolizes a lot of resources on the machine...

Fake crack : 1/1
ZoneAlarm has blocked the installed files.

Malware Pack : Remaining 17 files out of 154.
ZoneAlarm combines Cloud, Machine Learning and the Sophos engine to detect malware, and let's face it, it's formidable!
At runtime, ZoneAlarm surprised us by managing to catch up with all the executions I ran!
Worse still, it even had the luxury of stopping attempted injections! Honestly, that's unheard of - congratulations CheckPoint!
It's just a pity that it alerts on each file, grouping them together would be much better.

Final scan :
Autoruns : 0
NPE : 0
MBAM : 0
KVRT : 2 (rest of JS detected, not active)

Final opinion:

ZoneAlarm is a pleasant surprise in the world of antivirus software. In just 1 year, the publisher has made enormous progress!
By combining a number of technologies (from Harmony), ZoneAlarm has given itself a more serious image and a new aura.
All that remains is to work on optimization, as ZoneAlarm is still rather heavy.
ZoneAlarm is highly recommendable.

@Trident and @Jengo request

I would love to here more from the members here at MWT concerning these test results... I haven't experienced any slowdowns either. Loving ZA
 

vonvon

Level 3
Verified
Well-known
Nov 25, 2014
115
A brief update on my feelings after a month of using ZoneAlarmNG on two computers. Still very satisfied, no noticeable slowdown of the computer, a strong feeling of security and a very discreet antimalware with a product update that went smoothly. I'm sticking with this product.
 

JB007

Level 26
Verified
Top Poster
Well-known
May 19, 2016
1,580
Hello,
I'm posting here because you are many ZoneAlarm' users.
I decided to try ZoneAlarm Extreme Security Next Gen and I have installed it on 2 PC (trial).
On 1 PC I cannot use Chrome because when I try to write anything on the search bar Chrome shutdown! I have tried to disable anti keylogger and restart the PC but the issue persists.
No issue with Edge and Firefox but Chrome is still my favourite browser for a long time.
I sent a request to the support but no answer yet.
I hope @Trident can help me;)
 

Antimalware18

Level 11
Verified
Top Poster
Well-known
Jan 17, 2014
503
I actually had to uninstall it a few days ago, A few bugs started appearing. Like for one my keyboard would experience sudden death and just randomly stop working
unplugging and re-plugging back in didnt work, only thing that would work was a complete restart. checked drivers and everything after and all was good.

Second i couldnt get NordVPN to connect to any server. Tried with Zone alarm firewall disabled and then the whole program disabled, then it would work. there might be a work around for that but i couldnt find it and was too busy to really look into it much.
Its a good program but it needs some maturing.

right now running the free trial of Eset Smart Security and im thinking about purchasing a liscense.
 

Jonny Quest

Level 21
Verified
Top Poster
Well-known
Mar 2, 2023
1,081
I actually had to uninstall it a few days ago, A few bugs started appearing. Like for one my keyboard would experience sudden death and just randomly stop working
unplugging and re-plugging back in didnt work, only thing that would work was a complete restart. checked drivers and everything after and all was good.

Second i couldnt get NordVPN to connect to any server. Tried with Zone alarm firewall disabled and then the whole program disabled, then it would work. there might be a work around for that but i couldnt find it and was too busy to really look into it much.
Its a good program but it needs some maturing.

right now running the free trial of Eset Smart Security and im thinking about purchasing a liscense.
And that's the rub, and a good reason to trial an AV, as those things that do sneak up after using it for a while. I had that happen to me with AVG free, ran great for about 2 weeks then started having glitch issues. Still one of the main reasons I'm using F-Secure, it's very stable. On 4 PC's and my phone, I haven't had any issues for about 1 year (I had uninstalled it on 2 devices to run, test other AV's over that time). Granted, it is a minimalistic AV, but that does have its advantages.
 
Last edited:

Antimalware18

Level 11
Verified
Top Poster
Well-known
Jan 17, 2014
503
And that's the rub, and a good reason to trial an AV, as those things that do sneak up after using it for a while. I had that happen to me with AVG free, ran great for about 2 weeks then started having glitch issues. Still one of the main reasons I'm using F-Secure, it's very stable. On 4 PC's and my phone, I haven't had any issues for about 1 year (I had uninstalled it on 2 devices to run, test other AV's over that time). Granted, it is a minimalistic AV, but that does have its advantages.
I understand, thats what happened with zonealarm, never had those issues with AVG, and I generally like F-secure, its offered through my ISP for free with my plan but for some reason on my PC it causes windows explorer to lag and glitch really bad.
 

Digmor Crusher

Level 24
Verified
Top Poster
Well-known
Jan 27, 2018
1,396
And that's the rub, and a good reason to trial an AV, as those things that do sneak up after using it for a while. I had that happen to me with AVG free, ran great for about 2 weeks then started having glitch issues. Still one of the main reasons I'm using F-Secure, it's very stable. On 4 PC's and my phone, I haven't had any issues for about 1 year (I had uninstalled it on 2 devices to run, test other AV's over that time). Granted, it is a minimalistic AV, but that does have its advantages.
Likewise, zero issues using F-Secure. I can get ZoneAlarm free thru my ISP but choose not to do so because of issues that have been brought up here.
 

Faxx

Level 1
Sep 7, 2017
16
The anti key logger part can give issues, it is still a "left over" from the previous ZA version which is not installed by default (for a reason). Not enough to turn it off, but need to be removed fully. So, recommendation with ZA Extreme, don't install that optional feature, if everything else is ON then the value added of the keylogger is very limited.

Regarding NordVPN, I am running it alongside ZA Extreme without any problem. So, it should be something else in your specific setup. If you have not tried, always install NordVPN after ZA.

Cheers,
Fax
 

Vitali Ortzi

Level 23
Verified
Top Poster
Well-known
Dec 12, 2016
1,290
I was talking more about learning resources. It’s not a coincidence that I was summoned when you asked about ZoneAlarm, I am in the process of becoming CP reseller. Although I am more oriented to Harmony, the business portfolio, ZoneAlarm is a rebrand.

I am in touch with the management team and engineers.
Convince them to get into more enterprise tests
 

Amnesia

Level 1
Aug 23, 2021
47
Thanks for testing @Shadowra , ZoneAlarm and Harmony are currently the must have Antimalware people can get.
Their protection is now the best there is. Proof again, those big companies like Gen Digital keep trying , but bloatware their software so much it simply does not work so good anymore.

I always say, keep it simple, thats why ZA now is running on my system and with some tweaks its running very light ( for me )
Their business endpoint security is also very effective
 

Vitali Ortzi

Level 23
Verified
Top Poster
Well-known
Dec 12, 2016
1,290
Thanks for testing @Shadowra , ZoneAlarm and Harmony are currently the must have Antimalware people can get.
Their protection is now the best there is. Proof again, those big companies like Gen Digital keep trying , but bloatware their software so much it simply does not work so good anymore.

I always say, keep it simple, thats why ZA now is running on my system and with some tweaks its running very light ( for me )
What are some settings you have modified?

In my Celeron n4000 laptop with 2b ram(only some of its as actually even usable for different reasons like igpu sharing ram ) and emcc storage it was horrible and even disabling everything on the gui still caused performance problems looking at performance tests on av test , other sites of checkpoint on actual average hardware it works well
But on low end it's a disaster

For now I'm using comodo on it as it usually doesn't take much performance(cruelsister settings)


But looking how checkpoint works really only with average+ hardware I guess it's probably a bad idea for embedded devices and other low end devices
 

TuxTalk

Level 12
Verified
Top Poster
Well-known
Nov 9, 2022
576
What are some settings you have modified?

In my Celeron n4000 laptop with 2b ram(only some of its as actually even usable for different reasons like igpu sharing ram ) and emcc storage it was horrible and even disabling everything on the gui still caused performance problems looking at performance tests on av test , other sites of checkpoint on actual average hardware it works well
But on low end it's a disaster

For now I'm using comodo on it as it usually doesn't take much performance(cruelsister settings)


But looking how checkpoint works really only with average+ hardware I guess it's probably a bad idea for embedded devices and other low end devices
Nothing because i dont use Windows anymore
 

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