Customer Reviews
The Good, the bad and the Ugly of ZoneAlarm 
2004-12-07
Till recently, words like "Firewall" and "Hackers" were limited to corporate networks. However, today firewall software for home computers has gained as much importance as the virus protection software and rightly so. With fast, always on internet connections and computers that don't need to be shut down every night, your home pc is an easy target for hackers looking for a host pc to run their web pages or applications, to steal informatin like credit card numbers and address or just to hone their skills. This is why you need the firewall. There is no question about it.
The real question to ask is "Do I need to spend close to 30 bucks to buy ZoneAlarm?"
The answer is NO.
Firstly, if you are on Windows XP you already have basic firewall protection. Please look at your manual to see how to turn it on. For most users this is enough. If you are really interested in getting more protection, read on.
If you have a router to share your internet connection with multiple home machines, then check the router manual. Many have firewall capability which is very powerfull and can protect you from most attacks. This firewall is as good as ZoneAlarm.
If you don't have either, you will need something like ZA. But before you rush to order it, I would encourage you to try the free trial version available from www.download.com. At this website, you will also find lot of other firewall programs for free.
Finally if you still wanna buy ZA then you should be aware of following problems:
1) If you have virus protection software like Norton or McAfee, ZA may actually mess your system up as all these softwares try to grab same files at startup time causing conflicts and system crashes. I had such a hard time that I had to uninstall ZA and clean up my entire system. The problem can be so bad that you may actually not be able to log into your machine at all.
2) Poor customer service: ZA doesn't have good, knowledgable customer service. If you run into technical issues, don't expect quick, easy to follow directions to get out of the mess.
That said, I still consider ZA to be a good alternative if you do not have Windows' built in firewall or router with firewall capability. However, do try the free version before you buy ZA Pro.
