billyellis
Posts: 154 +1
I have used the Zone Alarm Firewall for years, but I would like to recommend against it for anyone in the market for a firewall who has not yet installed one.
It works OK. I have never had any problems with the Firewall itself.
However, the newer versions include a program called Force Field (ISWSVC.EXE) that according to ZA is a virtualized environment for browsers to prevent malware from harming your system.
Uh, only problem is, if you search the web, you will find numerous forums with complaints that this program can not be shut down, manually or in the settings. It runs ~2% of your processer 24/7, whether your browsers are open or not, whether you are even connected to the internet or not, and every registry tweak attempted fails to prevent the program from starting up. It interferes with all sorts of other programs, including power saving settings and screensavers, never letting them come on and thus putting lots of unnecessary wear on your hardware.
If you go to the Zone Alarm User Forum, company employees pretending to be helpful "independent users" mock and disparage any questions about how to shut this program down ("Uuuhm, it seems quite a pain to be forced to turn off services when offline" - in response to a specific question about how to shut it off when NOT online). The forum is a fraud and a joke, and is nothing more than a front for the company to pretend to address user concerns while really just trying to embarass people for asking questions about problems with their software.
Yesterday I posted a response to a thread saying that I had uninstalled Force Field (in the Add/Remove Programs menu under "Zone Alarm Toolbar" instead of its actual name to make it more difficult for inexperienced users to find and remove the correct program). I listed the commonly reported problems with this program and a question asking what the program was really doing, since a browser virtualization program has absolutely no need to be running without the browser or internet. I asked whether any solutions had been found in the months since the previous post, hoping to find that the issues had been resolved and I could reinstall with a few simple tweaks.
http://forums.zonealarm.com/showthread.php?p=286399
Shockingly (not really), the thread was locked and my post was deleted for "oudated thread + language + users/product disparage - sorry against forum rules." Since I did not use any inappropriate 'language' (I think I used the heavily offensive word "crap" once; oh the horror!) or disparage any users, the post was deleted and any further discussion blocked simply because I had the nerve to point out that the company line on what this program is doing does not meet the logic smell test and asking for a better explanation.
Since the company is not helpful, and is instead rude and belittling to legitimate concerns about what exactly their software is doing on my computer. I highly recommend against going anywhere near Zone Alarm, and I suggest using a different firewall if at all possible.
It is a shame, because as I said, I have never had a problem with ZA before. Only now that they are trying to be MS-lite and shoving extra programs with dubious purposes down my throat am I turning away from them. They used to be good.
EDIT: Adding screenshot of thread from this morning, because now they have removed evidence that they even deleted my post. IF you go to the link above now, my deleted post spot is gone.
It works OK. I have never had any problems with the Firewall itself.
However, the newer versions include a program called Force Field (ISWSVC.EXE) that according to ZA is a virtualized environment for browsers to prevent malware from harming your system.
Uh, only problem is, if you search the web, you will find numerous forums with complaints that this program can not be shut down, manually or in the settings. It runs ~2% of your processer 24/7, whether your browsers are open or not, whether you are even connected to the internet or not, and every registry tweak attempted fails to prevent the program from starting up. It interferes with all sorts of other programs, including power saving settings and screensavers, never letting them come on and thus putting lots of unnecessary wear on your hardware.
If you go to the Zone Alarm User Forum, company employees pretending to be helpful "independent users" mock and disparage any questions about how to shut this program down ("Uuuhm, it seems quite a pain to be forced to turn off services when offline" - in response to a specific question about how to shut it off when NOT online). The forum is a fraud and a joke, and is nothing more than a front for the company to pretend to address user concerns while really just trying to embarass people for asking questions about problems with their software.
Yesterday I posted a response to a thread saying that I had uninstalled Force Field (in the Add/Remove Programs menu under "Zone Alarm Toolbar" instead of its actual name to make it more difficult for inexperienced users to find and remove the correct program). I listed the commonly reported problems with this program and a question asking what the program was really doing, since a browser virtualization program has absolutely no need to be running without the browser or internet. I asked whether any solutions had been found in the months since the previous post, hoping to find that the issues had been resolved and I could reinstall with a few simple tweaks.
http://forums.zonealarm.com/showthread.php?p=286399
Shockingly (not really), the thread was locked and my post was deleted for "oudated thread + language + users/product disparage - sorry against forum rules." Since I did not use any inappropriate 'language' (I think I used the heavily offensive word "crap" once; oh the horror!) or disparage any users, the post was deleted and any further discussion blocked simply because I had the nerve to point out that the company line on what this program is doing does not meet the logic smell test and asking for a better explanation.
Since the company is not helpful, and is instead rude and belittling to legitimate concerns about what exactly their software is doing on my computer. I highly recommend against going anywhere near Zone Alarm, and I suggest using a different firewall if at all possible.
It is a shame, because as I said, I have never had a problem with ZA before. Only now that they are trying to be MS-lite and shoving extra programs with dubious purposes down my throat am I turning away from them. They used to be good.
EDIT: Adding screenshot of thread from this morning, because now they have removed evidence that they even deleted my post. IF you go to the link above now, my deleted post spot is gone.
