ZoneAlarm by Check Point Software Technologies includes a few enticing extras such as a free year of credit monitoring, online backup, a two-way firewall and restoration tools. This internet security suite includes the expected modules such as an antivirus and antispyware scan engines, a firewall, parental controls, email protection, antiphishing and website authentication. A one-year license can protect up to three PCs or laptops.
Where this security product falls short is in third-party testing. ZoneAlarm has scored well with VB100 in the last few years with passing scores in 2010 and 2011; however, they have not been tested by WCL, ICSA labs, AV-Test or AV-Comparatives recently. Though they have scored well with VB100 – earning an average of 94% and 100% detection of polymorphic viruses – we would like to see more. The best internet antivirus products produce high test scores with a variety of test labs over a span of years. However, we will keep an eye on ZoneAlarm and report new tests results when we update this review.
We cannot say this software has the most attractive user interface, but it is relatively streamlined and simple to use. We did not experience any download or installation issues either. This software has the ability to scan files before you download them, and it has an active malware detector for websites. It has tools for detecting and blocking phishing campaigns, and it includes a two-way firewall to keep out intruders. This software also includes password-protected parental controls that can filter and block websites and monitor the time your child spends online. As with all security software, it can manage white and block lists of specific websites.
Should you require customer or technical support, Check Point provides 24/7 chat support; however, at the time we composed this review the link on their website to the "contact us" page produced a "not found" error and their upper navigation link produced a contact page that did not list a telephone number. In fact, most support links go to the indirect support section, which includes articles and FAQs but not telephone or email support options. We find this kind of run-around frustrating. We would like to see ZoneAlarm clearly post email and telephone support contact information and hours of service.
Though we did not experience significant frustrations with this security software, we do have a few concerns with ZoneAlarm. Our first concern is a lack of test score results from a variety of labs. Though they have tested well with VB100, we would like to see more test results with other testing labs. Our second concern regards their customer support. Though we like the 24/7 chat support option, we would like them to provide easy access to email and free telephone support as well. In the near future, we will look at this U.S.-based internet security company again to see if they submit their software to more third-party test labs in order to build up their antivirus testing portfolio.
