Deleting ZoneAlarm a good idea?

[CindySue22]

Hi all, I've got ZA running on my PC right now (the free version), but haven't had a resident anti-virus program since I only go online about once a week or so with this computer (drive a semi, so only time I hook up this desktop is when I have a free day on the weekends-afraid my laptop won't play flightsims like I want to see them 🙂 ) ; I don't do anything dumb like open up unknown attatchments or anything, and I run TrendMicro's "Housecall" every once-in-a-while.

HOWEVER, while I have never had Housecall find anything previously, in the past week it found 5 instances of malware! Not viruses per se, but some kind of Java trojans or worms or whatever- FS Fortnight was the last one found. (Got them all cleaned out per TrendMicro's instructions.)

So I figured I'd go ahead and download and install the free 30 day trial, see if I like it (at one time I had Norton, then I tried another free, highly recommended AV app, but had problems with both of them eventually interferring with my flightsims, in one way or another, and that is a NO-NO!), but once install starts, it says that I should uninstall ZoneAlarm.

I don't really want to do this, as ZA seems like a pretty good program.

What is your advice?

 

[Unforgiven]

why not just delete zone alarm, install what you need, then reinstall zone alarm after that?

 

[CindySue22]

Hmm, never thought of that. I'll try, and report back how it goes.

 

[wayliff]

Did you try AVG??? www.grisoft.com

I use it combined with ZA and never had a problem.

 

[CindySue22]

I did as suggested (reinstall ZA after installing anti-virus), and so far all is well. Once again, thanks for the thump on the head. 🙂

 

[jdwagers]

I have talked with people that have all kinds of problems with ZA and I tried the pro didn't like the $$ so I went with the free
ones I tried tiny personal firewall it worked fine and had no problems next I tries Seagate personal firewall it seems ok too am trying to figure out which one that I will keep ! Seagate seems to have more advanced options but both do the job ! you can get both at zdnet.com go to downloads type in firewall and go shopping, No viruses on this site either ! Good luck

 

[Tango57]

Originally posted by: jdwagers
I have talked with people that have all kinds of problems with ZA and I tried the pro didn't like the $$ so I went with the free
ones I tried tiny personal firewall it worked fine and had no problems next I tries Seagate personal firewall it seems ok too am trying to figure out which one that I will keep ! Seagate seems to have more advanced options but both do the job ! you can get both at zdnet.com go to downloads type in firewall and go shopping, No viruses on this site either ! Good luck

just to correct, i think you meant "sysgate" personal firewall. 🙂 if you're having problems with ZA you might want to try another free firewall such as Kerio firewall and for free antivirus Avast

 

[lenjack]

Been using free ZA for years without the slightest problem. One of the first things I install on a new build.

 

[Zepper]

Yes, ZoneAlarm is usually fine. It is mostly folks that try to uninstall it without reading and following the proper procedure that have problems. Most of the free firewalls work pretty well: ZA, Sygate, Outpost, etc. I'm using Sygate because it was included along with Trend AV in VCom's System Suite v.5 - my fave utility suite for Win.
. The only time that you might want one of the better ones like ZA Pro, is if your machine is online 24/7 like it can be with a cable modem or DSL.
. You can also get CA's internet security tools for a 1-year free trial. There is a link to it on M$ web site and it comes on a disk of Critical Updates for Windows that M$ is offering. Search in the Operating System section here on- free - to find the link to the free disk. It works pretty well and doesn't seem to get in the way as much as some others we could name...
.b h.

 

[Bleep]

The biggest problem with trying to remove Zone Alarm is that you cannot just delete it or uninstall it. You have to edit the registery to get it all off, and if you dont do this if you try and install zone alarm again you will have a ton of problems.

Bleep