Someone once told me that Internet Security Suites are like directory enquiry services. There's dozens of them around but they all essentially do the same thing. Personally I beg to differ. I've had mix experiences with different Internet secuirty suites in the past, so I decided to give this lastest edition from Zone Alarm a chance, unfortunately for the most part I'm disappointed with the results.

When receiving the software, my first impressions were good as the back of the packing lists everything Zone Alarm has to offer and comparing it to the giants Norton and McAfee. Needless to say, that the manufacturer's description is impressive and it became obvious that Zone Alarm would offer everything I could possibly need. That was until I realized that it doesn't list what the software doesn't offer. Zone Alarm lacks Antiphishing protection as well as Safe Surfing tools. As well as providing no function for earsing or shredding files - something which I believe is essential to an Security Suite. So it doesn't offer everything, not the biggest failing, but more disappointments were to come.

I would like to have been able to say that the installation was quick and trouble free. However it was not. It took several attempts including two complete system freeze up's (if that's the technical term) and several restarts. Zone Alarm did finally install - very slowly considering. While the program is running is does considerably slow down my computer, much more than Kaspersky does or McAfee did (which I used before Kaspersky). I have a quad core processor and 4Gb of RAM - surely that should be enough to run Zone Alarm in the back ground without slowing down every thing else I'm doing. I've seen reviews in computer magazines and online that claim that this lastest version of Zone Alarm is streamlined and has minimum impact on system resources. After using the software I personally can't see how this could be. Maybe Zone Alarm just doesn't like my computer. After the intallation and another reboot I updated the database definitions would took two attempts to get all of the available updates. I then ran the first complete scan (which completed itself in around the same time as my current Kaspersky suite).

The virus scanner is not Zone Alarms but actually Kaspersky's engine, so at least we know it will work perfectly well in that respect. And the firewall itself seems excellent. Zone Alarm would be an excellent solution for novice users as it provides a one click fix it interface. After everything had settled down, I set about exploring and fimilerising myself with the software. The interface is impressive, well laid out and easy to understand and customize.

Sadly Zone Alarm isn't for me at all. I uninstall it (which was easy and quick) and resumed my normal Internet security suite. At the moment Zone Alarm is cheaper that all the other Internet Security Suites I looked at, but I feel you should pay a few pounds more and get software that offer's you complete protection. To be honest the software doesn't seem quite ready, and offers nothing to presume either new users or existing users to pick it over all others. So in conclusion, I would personally recommend that you avoid this one.

(I'm a reviewer on Amazon, and some my reviews are copied from there to dooyoo. Please feel free to check out my Amazon profile under my real name of Mr Andrew M Kerr.)